1969 Smokey Yunick Camaro

[69 Post Sedan]

A friend of mine (Boomer) took these pictures of a 1969 Smokey Yunick 302 Hemi Z28 at the Street Machine Nationals in St. Paul, MN.

Kurt

[William]

600 hp? What's he on? ZL-1 engines still don't do that.

The problem with the hemi head was that it made no more power than the standard head. Back in the day a Traco X-ram 302 was at maybe 425 hp. Chevy gave up on the hemi and passed it on to Smokey Yunick; the reason parts still exist. He gave up on it also and called it "...a one half-million dollar trip to $hitsville" in his book.

[John Brown]

Car show cars all make more horsepower than ordinary cars. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Verne_Frantz]

I'll bet those intake gaskets are hard to come by.....
Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img]

[iluv69s]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Verne_Frantz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'll bet those intake gaskets are hard to come by.....
Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img] </div></div>

How about a set of NOS rubber valve cover gaskets for the magnesium valve covers ??

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: John Brown</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Car show cars all make more horsepower than ordinary cars. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] </div></div>

L-O-L!

And as near as my research can show, it was a canted valve combination. Not a hemi. But what do I know?

Wayne

[smallblockhero]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Hotrodsled</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: John Brown</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Car show cars all make more horsepower than ordinary cars. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] </div></div>

L-O-L!

And as near as my research can show, it was a canted valve combination. Not a hemi. But what do I know?

Wayne </div></div>

that exactly right. i talked to smokey years ago about this head set up for about 2 hours. he said himself that these heads generally made 10-15hp less then what the tracos were making at that time period. he told me he had hundreds if not a thousand man hours into this design only to turn out to be fruitless.

[iluv69s]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Hotrodsled</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: John Brown</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Car show cars all make more horsepower than ordinary cars. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] </div></div>

L-O-L!

And as near as my research can show, it was a canted valve combination. Not a hemi. But what do I know?

Wayne </div></div>

With all due repect to those of you out there that have spoken to Smokey himself and that are more knowledgeable than me.I respectfully disagree on two points.

First, I just looked at my heads here and they sure look like a hemi head to me....what is actually the difference in a hemi head or a semi-hemi head anyway??? the chambers are completely round and the spark plug hole is in the center of the valves and close to the center of the chamber. Maybe they are not as deep a chamber as a chrysler hemi head???

Second,....I am getting ready to build my motor to put in my 67 Z and I am planning on seeing if I can get 600 plus horses out of my heads !!!

<span style="font-style: italic">&quot;With all due repect to those of you out there that have spoken to Smokey himself and that are more knowledgeable than me.I respectfully disagree on two points.

First, I just looked at my heads here and they sure look like a hemi head to me....what is actually the difference in a hemi head or a semi-hemi head anyway??? the chambers are completely round and the spark plug hole is in the center of the valves and close to the center of the chamber. Maybe they are not as deep a chamber as a chrysler hemi head??? </span>
<span style="font-style: italic">
Second,....I am getting ready to build my motor to put in my 67 Z and I am planning on seeing if I can get 600 plus horses out of my heads !!</span>

My turn: With all due respect to you, you're wrong regarding those heads being &quot;hemis&quot; and when that small block hits the dyno, I think you might be a little surprised. Here is something you might want to uh, ponder:



Author? Smokey Yunick and Larry Schreib; 1983

What you're looking at is a classic open chamber, canted valve head. It is sure no hemi.

Wayne

[Carleen]

http://www.guinns-engineering.com/Quang%20Le%20Hemi.htm

http://ricksclassics.com/one/00-One/cortez.html