The spec engine for a Camaro in CMC1 is a 5.oL. You can set up your engine one of two ways. Carberated or EFI. I chose to go Carbed because its a simple setup, its cheap, and its easier to diagnose and fix when you are having problems at the track.
I started out with an 86 IROC TPI 305. *FREEBE* Thanks Shawn. I ran a leakdown test to check for any major problems before I pulled the cylinder heads. The engine had been sitting for a while and it was cold when I did the test so I got quite a bit of variation from cylinder to cylinder. The best being 5% and the worst being 20% leakage past the piston rings. When I pulled the heads I found all of the cylinders to be in great shape with only very minor wear. The bad news starts when I started pulling the heads apart. The valve guides are worn to the point where they are just outside of the acceptable specification, the pushrod guides are showing some wear, and the castings themselves are just awful. The intake entry is considerably smaller than the gaskets. There are casting bumps in the roof and floor of the intake port. The list goes on. These heads would respond very well to some port matching and bowl work, however, the CMC rules state that the cylinder heads MUST be left alone (NO PORTING). At this point I am going to sort through the other two sets of 305 heads I have laying around and see if they are any better.
I was able to start collecting the short list of performance parts I need to finish the build. I bought a used Edelbrock Performer intake off of Craiglist of $25 (can you believe that) and a 4776 Holley carb for $100. I still need to buy the Performer Cam and lifter kit and the spec Canton oil pan.
