The point is if your spending money on 305 heads,,,don’t. If they are a freebie, we’ll that’s a price that’s tough to beat.
I raced many a 305 headed 350 back in the day so I speak from hands and wallet on experience, you can make them work especially when your short on cash. Though we certainly had a few that cracked in the hogged out ports after a few hot rounds.
If your starting on a set from scratch today, and I’m not where you are so don’t know about your situation, it just isn’t an effort worth burning into your VISA card limit for unless you’re racing in a limited equipment class.
The disparaging of 305 heads comes from long, or is that long ago, experience with them and having been on this forum a long time, also, back in the shop when young eager people drag ancient history into the shop like it’s the latest discovery of mankind and your left with trying to convince them that their thousand dollar investment in these heads is not in their best interests. I could always take their money, and there are plenty of shops out there that would, so unless they are running in a specific class requiring them I bust my butt to talk them out of pumping large sums of cash into them.
It should be noted that there are some guys out there that make big power numbers with these heads so it isn’t impossible to do that and have some decent reliability from them. But my suggestion based on experience is this condition is below the statistical norm. Gen I, Chevy SBC heads are not like the Chrysler LA where you can carve out a 318 heads ports to the size of a 360’s with impunity. Chrysler’s idea at that time of “thin wall” casting was a lot different from GM’s or Ford’s.
The aftermarket does provide L31, Vortec type heads that will accept the pre 87 intake pattern or the 96 up pattern. These can be had in iron which trades pounds up for less dollars or aluminum that trades more dollars for fewer pounds.So you can use your existing intake with these heads and don’t need to modify them for decent amounts of lift.
So anyway if these are a freebie in good condition, or nearly so, then take them and enjoy them. My concern is for people that spend lots of money fixing these when that investment into a modern chambered head reaps larger rewards.
Just a view from an octogenarian hotrodder/racer.
Bogie