Cascade Crew

Xophertony · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:40 pm Post subject: hey paul!

when we were looking for my casting number you mentioned i might have "305 heads" did you mean 305 cylinder heads or 305 headers. at the time i thought you ment headers. but somone on TGO told me "heads" never means headers. so were you talking about cylinder heads?

also i have been digging around for the casting number and cannot find it. i did find my block cast date though. my block was poured on sept 26th 1987. neat bit of information.

i am trying to figure out how to pull those air tubes out for good. they are all kinds of in the way. they just add clutter. without them i would be able to see the casting number i think. i also pulled the coil out and have figured out to see the number on that side i will also need to remove the coolent feeding tubes that go into my heater core, and then move the master engine wire harness, and probably pull the coil mounting bracket off of the head. i'll probably head to my dads on friday and see if i can yank that stuff off.

Sellmanb · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 727 Location: Tigard, OR

what production date is the GTA? It would be VERY odd for someone to not only swap from an original 350 motor down to a 305, but make sure that the block that they get is going to match the production date of the vehicle.

What are your head casting numbers?

Xophertony · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:07 pm Post subject:

the production date on the engine would definatly NOT ever match the production date of the car. the cars production date is the day it rolls off the line. the block also may have been sitting in a crate for a year or two before it was put in.

my pontiac historical services data does not have the build date of my car on it (which sucks cause i want to know its birthday, you know so we could celibrate it) but i do know the shipped date 03-31-88. since the block was cast so late in 87 my GTA was likely one of the last to rol off the line. i realy wish i knew it's build date. i guess i will jjust celibrate the cars birthday on march 31st. cool it's coming up.

the 87 date on the block fills me with confidence, it is verry unlikley that a replaced engine would have a cast date so close to when my car was probably built. that would be odd considering that the engine if replaced would probably have been done at least two years later (i mean how fast could you realy blow an engine up)

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

The best thing to do is pull a valve cover and get those numbers on the head. That date is prolly about right for the block to be correct to your car. Hopefully it is a 350 that just needs a tune up.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:44 am Post subject:

The engine casting number is only on the drivers side back ledge.

Brandon and I think you might have 305 Exhaust Manifolds. LO3 the cheesy TBI ones that suck balls.

Heads = Cylinder heads
Headers = replacement for exhaust manifold... tubage!

KH29ROCKS3 · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 48

Hey Tony,

That is the original 350 for the car. I researched that when I had it apart to replace the injectors. Virtually everything was replaced with GM stuff on that engine with the exception of the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Maf is oem, O2 was oem, CTS was oem, coolant fan switch was oem, Injectors were oem, as was the intake and upper plenum set. I still need to send toy the remaining valve cover gasket and stem seals I have for the right bank. Did I ever tell you it had a 160 degree therm in it? The reason for your low Dyno #'s is those long legs that thing has in it now. Once you change that rear end, those #'s will come up signifigantly. When i drove it home the day i bought it, MIL on, running like crap, with the wasted original rear end, it had way mor etorque than with that rear end now. As I told you when i sold it to you, it was all I could come up with at the time. Change those gears and you'll be amazed. Email me your address again too, would ya?

Dewey316 · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:53 am Post subject:

Low gears dyno better than high gears. Less mass to accelerate over a given time.

A good tune-up, and checking out the sensor data, would probably wake that motor up.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:56 am Post subject:

[quote="Dewey316"]Low gears dyno better than high gears. Less mass to accelerate over a given time.
[quote]

Yep, we had a discussion about this at dyno. A numerically lower final drive ratio, will yeild more power. So 3.23 will make more power than 3.73.

Now at the track... ET's are another story.

KH29ROCKS3 · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 48

Maybe a prom tune and checking sensor data would be a benifit, I had just replaced all tune up parts about 3 months and less than 200 miles before I sold it to Tony. Note.....I did not use any autolite parts on it either, only good stuff!

Xophertony · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject:

it has 2.73 gears now, not 3.73.

oh hey bob. i got a rear end for it allready. i am waiting on 1le rear disc conversion parts to put it in, should be a matter of a few weeks. also the theory we came up with at dyno about the 305 was that it had been replaced about 1990-ish when the car was done being a rental car in honolulu HI. it original came from the islands... was sold at "courtesy pontiac, amc, jeep, renault." 1391 kapiolani blvd honolulu HI 96814. we figure it was a rental car as most of the cars shipped off-island are rentals being sold. they usualy sell em after 60K. thats probably why the rear end was wasted at only 120 thousand miles. this thing probably saw alot of burnouts in its early days Very Happy

the 305 bit was just a theory.

i'll email you my address.

Sellmanb · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 727 Location: Tigard, OR

Xophertony · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:58 pm Post subject:

well i could always use help. i dont know if i actualy need it. Very Happy

but if your voulontering i accept. i'll even buy you a burger and a beer or somthing when we are done. ed miller (ebmiller88 on TGO) says he should have the last of the parts he is waiting on in soon. says i should have my parts by next weekend, probably. i have sundays and mondays off too. wanna help me put it in next sunday? only problem is that my dads house (where we brought the rear end) has his race car in the garage. so i will probably be doing this in the driveway Sad

i just hope it is not raining. if i get the parts i will probably be converting the rear to the 1LEs on saturday. if i get the parts.

same guy on TGO told me that all V8s had the same "exhaust manifolds". that or i misunderstood him. (incorrect regardless). i am looking forward to "tube-age".

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 11:37 pm Post subject:

Tony, lemmie know when you're gonna do that rear swap. I work graveyard every other day, so my days are usually free.

Xophertony · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:19 am Post subject:

well i was about to say next sunday but that is when i am going up to the big WA to help with the 3.1 swap. maybe the weekend after

Sellmanb · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 727 Location: Tigard, OR

Either day works for me Tony. Just as long as it isnt the March 5th and 6th (have to move into apartment on those days off).

Just lemme know and I'll be there! Your dad's house has a compressor right? If you dont have an impact gun and sockets, or any other very useful tools to make it a 15 minute job then let me know how I can help. I had to pull the rear on my berly a couple times, it's pretty easy with the right amount of jacks and air tools Wink

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:57 am Post subject:

compressor, impact sockets. 3 air guns. 6+ jackstands. 3 floor jacks one KICK ASS jack. one crappy $12 jack. and one quick slide "dirt" jack (no wheels, skid plate). should go real quick. the brake bleeding is the only part i realy need help with. i always end up with air in the lines.

i am thinking weekend of the 25th

Sellmanb · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 727 Location: Tigard, OR

bleeding brakes does suck if you try doing it as a one man job lol.

I'll X out Sunday the 26th then. I seriously doubt it will take more than 2 hours lol.

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:54 pm Post subject:

rearend swap + brake bleed with two people. yeah. 1-3 hrs. closer to 3 if it's raining. thanks for the help. car work mostly takes me a while cause it's boring (sometimes)

Twilightoptics · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:49 pm Post subject:

Xophertony · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject:

i always use standard delco plugs. they seem to run fine on my mostly stock setups. us V6ers on TGO had a huge thread about it a year or so ago. seems even the modded 2.8/3.1 engines liked delco plugs best. now that i have an 8 i might need to do some experimentation and see what these engines like.