Engine photos

[Jon Mello]

Thanks for the informative stuff on the Ford and AMC goodies. The Dominators are a pretty intimidating sight
and it's a little surprising that Chevrolet didn't make an attempt to run a similar set-up. Actually, they were run
on a small block Chevy, just not in a Camaro. As posted by Bruce302 previously, the Titus/Godsall Firebirds were
still running the small block Chevy engines in '69 and Pontiac homologated a special tunnelram-style manifold to be
able to use the Dominator carbs. They didn't run this set-up on a continual basis but did run it at St. Jovite in '69.

[Jon Mello]

Chad (OCTARD) posted this previously but it gives another view of the Pontiac manifold
for use on the small block Chevy with Dominator carbs.

[Jon Mello]

Robert L pointed out to me a "Smokey Yunick 302" on ebay. Here's the link in case anybody is interested in it.
Neither of us know the seller or anything else about the engine other than what's posted in the auction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Smokey-Yunick-Z28-302-Chevy-Chevrolet-AUTHENTIC-COMPLETE-ENGINE-/121029763632?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item1c2defa230&vxp=mtr

[Jon Mello]

Below is the certificate which accompanies the engine.

[yenkomark]

   I was at the Chicago show with my Yenko Stinger Canadian Prototype ( which had high score of the show, 998 /1,000 points )   I was near the AMC display, but had little time to look at the cars and parts. Have always liked AMC underdog status.

[crazyamc]

My brother and I spent two days visiting and interviewing Ronnie Kaplan this summer. He's 90 years old, was in a major auto-pedestrian accident in the mid 60's...  (Al Holbert crashed through a barrier, skidded through the paddock, striking Ronnie and launching him 50 feet into the air; he landed on his head, and most thought he was dead or soon would be...  " Yeah, I was a little loopy for a few years.. "- Ronnie Kaplan...        At 90, with his history, I wouldn't expect anyone to remember very many details. The details he did cover were very vivid, correct, and documented by recordings.  After a few minutes and a couple of pictures, some showing the difference in width to a normal intake, then the Donnybrooke video, we watched the "light" come on for Ronnie.... " A Goodyear guy tipped me off about what Holley was building for Ford.. I demanded "equal parts" or there would be hell to pay.. " RK.  His low-deck '69 block is described in several publications, as the masterpiece of his collaboration with Dave Potter, the designer of the original modern AMC V8...    In my research, which has been limited, I am sure this block and IR intake was run at the first race of Michigan. The Donnybrooke video also confirms they were still using the intake and carbs, but since the special low-deck block had been declared illegal much earlier, I personally doubt it was being run still.  John Martin had also stated that several races were lost due to not having the block..  My point is, if you're casting an intake from scratch, you don't make a piece that needs adapters. The intake CAN be run on a regular V8 with 1/2 inch spacer plates; I would imagine this was probably done at some point in the season..  The earliest Dominators were the 'sand-cast' ones for the Boss 302; as the drag racers and other engine guys started getting their hands on the IR style carbs, much confusion and mis-application, mostly from bad information from magazines and Holley caused a lot of problems..   My intake may have been well on its way to being morphed into a true drag race tunnel ram, but I assure you, it started out as AM 4488023...  Ken

[Jon Mello]

Ken, thanks for posting some of what you learned from Ronnie Kaplan. It would be great if you could post the whole interview either on this forum or an AMC forum where we can read it in its entirety.

Mark, that's a very impressive score for your Stinger prototype. If you are so inclined, would you post more about the car (and some photos) in the Corvair thread I started? Here's the link...
http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=9700.0

[Jon Mello]

A pretty decent look at the '69 Javelin engine compartment showing the big airbox for the 2x4
tunnel ram. This is from the April '70 issue of CARS magazine, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[1109RWHP]

That is the best picture I have seen yet.

[1109RWHP]

I see alot of the race motors running the belts with the yellow? stripes on them. What's the story with the belts, were they a performance belt and who made them?

[Jon Mello]

I see alot of the race motors running the belts with the yellow? stripes on them. What's the story with the belts, were they a performance belt and who made them?

Those are called "outside mass' racing fan belts and Dayco is the name of the manufacturer that made them. I suppose other companies like Gates may have made a special racing fan belt too but I know Dayco had the stripes on them. I'm pretty sure I remember the stripes being white though.

[OG69Z]

A couple photos of NOS Dayco belts as used on the Tom States A/S Camaro. The short belt is a Dayco part #33-4-3. It connects the water pump to the crankshaft only. This size is for a short water pump and factory pulleys for the 68 Z/28. The stripes are indeed white.


This longer Dayco belt is part number 43-2-3. It runs from the crankshaft to water pump and to the alternator. Again using factory pulleys.
Robert

[satman]

          Here is picture a of my partner Dennis and I putting the finishing touches on our race motor....... The cross-ram manifold that had just been released at the time was an easy bolt on for at least 50 hp. Not show in the picture was our crankshaft belt drive pulley that was reinforced due to cracking issues with the stock unit. In hindsight I think that the alternator location way up on the left header was poor as it necessitated the use of a extremely long fan belt, not the ideal scenario .

[Jon Mello]

Cool picture, Al. I guess if you could not afford a real Traco engine you could at least afford a can of gray paint to give the same look. 

[crazyamc]

Can someone more tech saavy than me post some of these engine pics?   https://revslib.stanford.edu/catalog?f%5Bpub_year_isim%5D%5B%5D=1969&page=2&q=trans+am&utf8=%E2%9C%93      Of most interest, of course, is the dual IR Dominator AMC.... with the spacer plates for a standard deck block.. Remember, this is Donnybrooke, not Michigan..   LOTS of details can be found if you go to the trouble of zooming in...   expand icon, thumb, zoom, "+"....    First picture I've also seen of a dual throttle cable Boss....  Ford guys say this setup was to blame for the Kwech crash at Michigan. Shelby mechanic Don Araki then came up with a mechanical set up; Bud Moore continued with the cables...consensus is that the dual cables never work right do to synchronization problems, (varying cable stretch.. )........ Don't waste DAYS on this site like me, literally thousands of photos!   Enjoy!  Ken