I just bought a car with a chevy V8 TPI and I was told its a 1987 305 and was a corvette engine. I can't find any info that a 305 went into a corvette only 350's. is there a easy way to see if its a 302/305/350. I'm so confused right now.

 

you are right, there is no 305 in a corvette

all these blocks are small blocks u probably know, the 302 was never offered in any 3rd gen camaros, or any gm car in the 80's i think

corvettes had a 350, or 5.7l tpi small block with aluminum heads
the best us fbodies got is the 5.7 tpi with cast iron heads

the way to find out if urs is a 305 or 350 is check the vin code
the 8th digit is the engine code, i don remeber which letter stands for which engine, i just know the letter h is the 305 4bbl that i have

 

I don't have a vin. the engine is in a 75 porsche. the exhaust manifolds look like they were white and straight. Is there another way to find out. I tried to look for a casting number but I couldn't find it.

 

casting # is on the block behind the driver side head.

 

Try spraying some brake parts cleaner with the supplied extension tube to the back side of the driver cylinder head - on the block actually. The casting number is right at that location. Right before the mating location of the motor and trans. Search the web for Mortec.com and you will be able to run the casting number to check out from what model year and engine size your motor is. Also, I beleive in 87 is when the blocks started getting stamped with "GM 5.0L" or "GM 5.7L" at this location. Believe me, the brake parts cleaner will work excellent to help you out.

Hope you have a 350, 305's need to much work to make them "rock".



-PL

 

I tried to look but visibility is at a minimum, I can sort of see the distributor and the top of the valve covers. I hope i'm in the right location. I'll try again with a tiny morror and some brake cleaner. The car runs very strong but that could be that it weighs 2100 pounds.

 

word of advice,if anyone tries to sell u an engine and he uses the phrase"its a corvette motor"keep walking cause one its all bull and 2 he probably dont know squat about what hes talking about...kinda like the old days(im dating myself now)when folk would say "its got a 3 quarter race cam"thats was hee haw talk for a bigger cam...or when someone claims the "engine was blueprinted "ask them if they know what that means or does???youll be suprised..now i dont wanna be misunderstood here,as far as mechanically or superiority wise goes,gm never made a "corvette"engine any better than any other engine..thats not to say a nova engine was the same as a corvette engine,but tAKE THE OLD CAMAROS,YOU COULD ORDER ANY ENGINE YOU WANTED AD IT HAD THE SAME INTERNALS AS THE CORVETTE MOTORS..IN THE PAST GM WOULD TRY TO LEAVE SOME "UNIQUE"OPTION TO THE CORVETTE TO MAKE IT STAND APART FROM THE OTHER CARS,BUT TAKE THE OLD 425 HP /427 CID ..YOU COULD GET THAT ENGINE IN BOTH CAMARO AND CORVETTES....IN THE LATER YEARS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED THE CORVETTE WOULD HAVE A FEW EXTRA ADVERTISED HP.BUT ALL THAT WAS WAS A SIMPLE EXHAUST TWEAK OR A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT CAM OR INTAKE,BUT WITH THE LS1 ENGINES,THEYRE ALL THE SAME..GEEZ THE OLD DAYS OF THE TPI YOU COULD FIND THE SAME ENGINES IN ALL VETTEES AND F BODYIES

 

Actually, the vette TPI motors were a bit different. They came with 113 casting aluminum heads, which people pay $$$$$ for, compared to the crappy 083 f body 350 TPI heads. These heads bumped up compression ratio for vettes higher than f bodies, and they also flowed much better than 083's. You should try pulling a valve cover and checking the casting on the head.

 

The word "Corvette" being used by a seller for any engine parts is a RED flag and extra care needs to taken. Sellers like to take a lot of liberty with that word.

 

ok here is the story about this motor. It came from GM and was sent to another company to be tested for reliability. The motor never got tested and was put in this car instead. The only thing Corvette related was that they said it was for one and that it was a 305. Now I'm wondering if it was some kind of prototype that never got used. The heads on it look like they are alluminum but I don't have any numbers on it yet. I'll try to stick a magnet on them to verify.

 

1. Many people actually DO swap in Corvette engines into other platforms.

2. A 3/4 race cam exists. In fact, several of them exist. Made by Crane, currently. Look into it

3. Many Corvette engines WERE different from other platforms. That's especially true with the 1986.5 and later L98s. Iron vs aluminum heads, EGR, etc. Look into that also...

 

Many of you are missing the point.
Which is, that the non-enthusiast or person of little knowlege will say things like, "Yah this car has a Vette engine in it." Whereas the enthusiats will say things like, "it has a ZZ4 short block, but I kept the L98 aluminum "Vette" heads, and ....etc.
One is an attempt to impress the other to inform.