302 Hemi

[JChlupsa]

Is it too late to edit my last post [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Mahalo for the insight

[Charley Lillard]

The Reggie Jackson car just sold recently so I don't think it is still going to the Auction..

[sYc]

Charley, Am curious, what affect do the heads have on performance? The reason I ask is this. Don Yenko spent big bucks with an overseas company called Westlake, in England. They had developed a 4 valve per cylinder head. Don commissioned them to do this with a 302 Chevy head. The prototype heads were sent to Smokey for testing. The results were no where near what West Lake had promised. Don made the comment that the Westlake head did not perform much better then a good set of regular competition heads. The documents and pictures related to this project make for interesting reading. I would love to find a set, and the special valve covers that go with them. Much like the hemi heads, they are unusual looking, to say the least. Tom

[Charley Lillard]

Wow, those would be a neat find. I think I have had this car for about 5 years but have maybe only put about 15 miles on it. Kind of afraid to abuse it because if something breaks I'm outta luck for parts. I have heard reports of hp ranging from 450 to 550 hp. I also heard that when Smokey tested them he reported that there was not enough of a HP gain over a properly setup standard headed crossram car to warrant production. I also heard that Smokey kind of sat on the program because at the same time he was selling Chevrolet on his Angle Plug Head design.

[sYc]

Charley; In the Yenko folder dealing with the Westlake project are a couple of letters where Don tells Smokey to "get busy" with the heads. Finally Don tells him to just send them back. Tom

[Stefano]

This is Historic info. for certain.

[Jeff Murphy]

Yunick and Yenko weren't the only American racing icons to hook up with Weslake Engineering (no "t" in Weslake) during the 60s.

Dan Gurney turned to them to build hot rod heads for the small block Ford, the engines for his late sixties Indy cars and the engines for his efforts in Gran Prix racing during 1967-68. Apparently some of the SB Ford heads made it to the street (see Engineering link below).

The GP car won a few races but wasn't all that successful. The car was ahead of its time in many ways, including the use of titanium parts - especially notable are the most beautiful headers I've ever seen. Many consider the Eagle Weslake to be the most beautiful Gran Prix car ever built. I had the chance to see the car this summer at a historic event here and can attest to both its beauty and the amazing noise the engine makes coming out of those twisted headers. The car went straight to auction after the event and was sold for $900,000.



Road & Track Salon on Gurney's Eagle Weslake

AAR History Site

Engineering Detail

Just got back from looking at this car. Holub had it delivered yesterday. Unbelievable car. He even let me drive it! Sounds awesome. Never heard of one till I seen it. He has a bunch of articles and documents pertaining to the hemi. It won't be at the auction!!!

[Norm reynolds]

How many of the hemi cars were there and how many are left today
It would seem that they are one of the rarest cars around. Any body know the
History on how the Hemi was developed
Norm

[Stefano]

I believe that 'Camaro Untold Secrets' has some details on the Chevy Hemi Heads.