Brand new dz302

The DZ302 was a 302ci Small block chevy offered in the Camaro. Amongst many, it is thought to be one of the "holy grail" small blocks. Many people speak poorly of them, but, very few have had the chance to experience one. When I was younger I worked almost exclusively on muscle cars, and one of the guys I did work for had me adjust the valves on his DZ302 in a Orange/Black with Houndstooth 1969 Camaro. At the time, I didn't know what I was working on was so valuable. I thought it was just a solid lifter small block. He took me for a ride in it a few times, and two things were pretty damn clear: A) Why I was constantly adjusting the valves B) Why a DZ 302 is a special motor. There aren't many other v8s of the era that are comfortable at the RPM range a DZ is, and while it can be easily replicated today, the real deal is so cool. To those poo-pooing on the price, I wouldn't be so hasty. The muscle car market is insane, and a close personal friend sold a used DZ motor in the late 1990s for over $10k. There aren't many of them left, and there are plenty of people willing to pay big dollars for a "date code correct" block. Don't forget, many people of the muscle car hobby would have a hard time understanding why anyone would pay anything for a flathead or a 302 Jimmy.

I too remember that DZ having the longer thinner pad below the passenger head, but, if that is a real deal DZ (I'm not an expert at decoding DZ's and I'd suspect most people here aren't either) I wouldn't be surprised that the price to own one is getting up there.

The more I look at that motor though, that number pad isn't right. I think the early ones were 4" wide.... I'd do some research before I hung on to it.

 

Damn,the price of my 55 just went up

 

Get rid of the73' ho-hum body and get a 69' roller, then you'd have something!

 

I am in agreement with exwestracer, I dont even believe its a 302. I've never seen one with that style of pad, and #8 looks to be about 3.5" down the hole to me as well. I'm not saying the op is necessarily telling a whopper, he may just be a dupe, but to me, that looks like a 350 service block with pop-tops. I'm calling bs.

 

I think just by dating of block, due to the number pad STYLE, it's probably unlikely that it is a real DZ. I've read up some more, as that had me scratching my head, and that style number pad didn't show up for awhile.

The rest of what I said about the DZ though, I'll stand behind. A real deal DZ will bring big dollars. When you consider that there are guys out there paying $3000 for a correct "date code" carb, and $2000 for a correct intake..... it's insane man. I haven't seen any DZs going that high, but, I'm not exactly in the market either.

And you know, something else comes to mind, most of the huge dollar figures you hear are for a motor wearing some crazy rare intake or something.... Usually some crossram. Those are the numbers that usually stick with people, and that's how the really large numbers for even just a plain motor start working through the rumor mill.

 

DZ de-code's it!

And I saw a '67, MO coded 302 engine in a dragster back in the early '80's up in South Bend, IN

I liked ta fell over!!

And fwiw, they made (2) of them, the early one with the small journal crank and the later one with the medium journal crank!!

I've posted many times everywhere about my old homemade "junk301" that was made out of, well, junk parts!

'55, 265" truck crank;
heavier junk 283" rods;
a worn out stock bore, small journal 327" block;
a junk -097 little Duntov solid lifter cam with coffee canned lifters;
'55, 265" little valved heads that I ground the h*ll outta;
W/JCW, 1/8" overbore, 1/8" tall, 1/2 round domed el-cheapo cast pistons that cost back then something like $39.95/set of 8;

was not balanced; and

had my 350SS engines Q-Jet intake and log exhaust manifolds on it.

Talk about a hoot once the little bugger hit about 3,000 rpm all the way up to 7,500 with new points and a week later, only up to 7,000rpm!!

My car still has it's stock M-20 4-speed and it's 12-bolt with 3.31's posi- so I would gently roll her outta the hole and once she was, as the 2-stroke guy's say, "up on the pipe", I'd nail her and go way up top, then shift and repeat!!

He, He!! being unbalanced, she had like 3 harmonics that she would go though to get up top so I could tell my rpm by listening to her!

AND she had a bad habit of throwing it's balancer a couple of times while driving down the Hwy at say 55 mph.

pdq67

 

When did this become a Camaro board?

 

stupid is as stupid does....

 

I love the story about the Hemi that was the power unit in the Georgia saw mill,

 

I'd sacrifice the bragging rights and let it go to a new home for that kind of stupid money. Isn't the '69 302 just a 010 block?

Blue

 

Hell, the old hemi engines can still be found out in the country all over the place running irrigation pumps!!

pdq67

 

Before this closes, (and it probably should) I'll just say as an owner of one for more than 35yrs, they are pretty damn special. When they get up there where they were designed to live, that's music. $40K is pretty nuts, all the same. 'Course, I thought a complete x-ram setup for $2K was nuts 30yrs ago at Carlisle. I'm no expert, but what's pictured don't jibe to me. Pads definitely different.

As for the boat anchor comment, I wouldn't trade mine for all the front distributor variety ever built, and that's alot of tractor motors!

 

The 302 blocks were a 386 casting #(at least the few that i've seen were), I don't think the 010 casting even existed until late 70's early 80's.

 

DZ replacement short blocks were pretty cheap in the early 70's...Dad bought one from the local dealer & ran it in his '57 Chevy (Limited Sportsman) stock car in 72-73ish.

 

$40k? That is where two fools met. The one that offered and the one that did not sell. LOL

 

I got some swamp land I'll sell you for 40g's......

 

What's with the crappy ass single row timing chain?

 

I would definitely be checking the casting numbers on that one. Something's not right looking to me. It's been 15 years since I had my RS/Z28 so I may be wrong. As said also, unless he has a matching NOS cross ram intake and the correct cross ram hood, he is about 30k too high providing it is indeed a real DZ motor

 

Well, just to correct a few things here. The 302 Z28 did come out in 67, and they built 602 of them, so they could be called a production model. In 68, they built less than 10,000, and not sure about the 69 production run.
I ordered one in Dec/67, and it came in March/68. It was an early one, cuz instead of having Z28 on the front fenders, it had 302. Paid just over $3700. out the door. Ordered with a 4:10 gear, cuz that was the highest that came from the factory. You could order a 4:56 and a 4:88 but the gear set then came in the trunk, and the dealer would install them. The same with the cross ram set up. The biggest problem with that engine was lack of torque. It was dead until you got around 4500 - 5000rpm, but then hang on. They would buzz up to 7500 - 8000 real quick. They were rated at 290 HP and 290 LB of Torque. In reality they were closer to 350 - 370 HP

 

A friend of mine found a late 60's built T-bucket last week that had an L-88 BBC in it, a Halibrand quickie, Magnesium Halibrand wheels and Hillborn injection on it. The owner has the receipt from the dealer in town where he bought the engine. Oh yeah, and the best part is that Von Dutch painted the car!!! He even has photos of Von Dutch painting the car back in the late 60's as well as the receipt for the $300.00 he charged him. The car has sat in a garage since 1969. The Von Dutch paint job is untouched and unreal. All true.

 

any chance of posting some pics, that would be great to see.
Al.

 

The car is most likely going to be featured the The Rodder's Journal, so I can't post pictures of it just yet.

 

that will be worth seeing. thanks.
Al.

 

I am pretty sure that the 60s blocks have a " chimney " at the rear of the valley, that vents the bottom end through a breather beside the distributor. I have a 69 327ci that has the chimney in the valley. I have a friend with a real 69 Z28 DZ 302, he would pull it out for 40k.

 

It would be strange to have an un-started DZ302 since that means that it would have had to come out of the original car before it was ever started! If you bought a replacement 302 in the day it would not have DZ stamped on it. It should have been CE for counter engine. I restored dozens of 67 to 69 Camaro's in the 80's and several were Z28 cars. The motor pictured doesn't jive!

 

I bet when the story was first told he paid $500.00 for it new and turned down $1000.00. Now after said story being re-told 300 times we're at extreme bullshit level.

 

Didnt someone on the board have a bucket with an original DZ engine that came out of a 67 Z? And somehow he and the owner of the Z hooked up and the guy made a pretty good amount of coin selling the engine to the Z guy.

I dont know anything about these engines. I know somehow I ended up with a Z coded Holley Carb and sold it on Ebay for a decent amount of money ... especially considering I was in to it zero.

 

Its a later 70s block as others have said...and no stamped info...most of the big bucks have evaporated from the numbers matching biz...no more home equity to tap..this reminds me of how every motor is a corvette motor and every four speed transmission is a M22

 

Its only brand new ONCE!!!!. So once its installed in the ouch! 73 camaro its a USED 302 .I ran a 302 in my ss years ago super fun if you love ear piercing RPM's but not the fastest on the street.Id sell that thing while the offers on the table,Hell I could build a 500 hp streetable smallblock and still have 33,000 or 34,000 left over HA HA HA !!!!!!

 

Shoulda sold it. Here is why. Running that motor in a 73 is just dumb. It doesn't even belong with that car. SO why install and run it in that vehicle? Build a nasty 355 or 377" SBC that will run circles around this 302 and have money to spare with what you got for selling this engine