Short lived 68 Z28

[70w30]

One drag racing story I forgot about;

There were quite a number of fast cars in this small town of 5000 people, one of which was a 69 442 W30. Well, one weekend a bunch of them head down to Byron and dad lines up against the W30. Well, the guy with the W machine has slicks and dad didn't bring his this weekend so this is going to be interesting he thinks. He still had the 3.73's in it at this point but had done the other work on the car so it was going to be a bear to launch to screaming, no torque 302.

The lights come down and the W30 leaves him like a bad habit on the line as the Z blows the tires off. Dad pedals and pedals the car and finally gets it hooked up and "on the pipe" and starts running down the Olds. The Olds runs a 14.2 while the Z ran a 14.3.

The difference is the MPH. 97 for the W and 110 for the Z. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] Dad never left home without the slicks again.

The guy with the W30 said he thought he had him easy until dad came screaming by him through the lights.

Being an Olds fan I don't mind this story as the 68-69 small bore 400's are complete stones.

And with a little work the 302's would really scream. According to dad when he got the car it was not fast at all. About a 15 second car. The intake ports were damn near triangular on the car from the factory. Some porting, headers and the TA cam transformed the car.

Wasn't much fun to drive around town though as it didn't get on the cam until 4 grand or so.

[earntaz]

Being an Olds fan I don't mind this story as the 68-69 small bore 400's are complete stones.

When I ordered my 69 W-30, I included the 3:91 gear and TH400. Many factory Muscle Cars of the day remembered only the tail lights on my Black 442. Only mod was a set of Hookers and tweeking the curve. TAZ

[markinnaples]

70w30, Great stories. Feel free to post any more old pics and/or stories from BITD. Great stuff.

[firstgenaddict]

Did your dad remember having had the long block replaced in the 68 Z? The entire engine looks like it has no paint, the oil pan, waterpump, and balancer all are painted orange which leads me to believe it had a long block done and with 5.13's I can understand if it did...

[70w30]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: firstgenaddict</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did your dad remember having had the long block replaced in the 68 Z? The entire engine looks like it has no paint, the oil pan, waterpump, and balancer all are painted orange which leads me to believe it had a long block done and with 5.13's I can understand if it did...
</div></div>

I noticed that as well. He has never mentioned it but the things they did under warranty back then it wouldn't surprise me. See the &quot;warranty replacement&quot; short block in the 396/375 Camaro. There was nothing wrong with that engine at all other than the owner wanting a 427. Was put in at the dealership.

On the flip side, I do know it was a two bolt block as he has commented on that as he feels the 4 bolts really were not necessary and spun the 302 up to 10 grand when it was in the Nova with the roller cam, rev kit and tunnel ram.

I'll ask him about it though as I am curious as well. I know the top end had been off the engine as he ported the heads but no idea why the block and heads would be bare.

[firstgenaddict]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 70w30</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I know the top end had been off the engine as he ported the heads but no idea why the block and heads would be bare. </div></div>

If it had been vatted or replaced is the only reason I could come up with...
The replacement idea came from a thread on here where it was stated warranty engines rarely were painted the correct color if they got painted at all... some of the service guys said it was based more on if a random can of engine paint was laying around. &quot; they didn't get paid to paint engines... just replace them.&quot;

[firstgenaddict]

[img]https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2015/03/full-254-23047-full_18292_23003_ppsupzr_copy.[/img]

[al8apex]

all the &quot;crate&quot; replacement short blocks I recall from back then were NOT painted

[70w30]

I just asked him about it and he did replace the engine under warranty. Said it was using oil.

Back then GM was pretty easy going with replacement engines compared to today. The pulled engines didn't have to be sent back or anything. And being the service manager at the time getting a replacement would have been no problem.

He also said they didn't bother painting them back then. It would just slow them down and they were paid on rate. The faster they did the jobs the more they made. Kinda surprised he didn't paint it on his own car but that's probably the commodity mentality again.

He helped me pull a 455 once and I basically got out of the way other than handing him tools. Was amazed at his speed while never appearing hurried at all. That was from his time in the shop and being paid on rate.