[William]

I am soooo tired of reading ridiculous claims about the Hemi 302. They usually mention Smokey Yunick, but fail to include what he had to say about it. The small-block hemi head was never released for production or used in competition. Here’s why, direct from Smokey.

Hot Rod Magazine June 1977 “The Littlest Porcupine” by C.J. Baker

C.J. Baker was a close friend of Smokey.

“The truth is that these heads suffered from some serious design problems. Although the desired intake flow improvements had been achieved while retaining the 2.02-inch intake valves, the Trans-Am requirement of retaining the stock small-block cylinder head bolt pattern necessitated the use of a rather poor-flowing L-shaped exhaust port, which was the design’s biggest shortcoming.”

Super Chevy Magazine August 1996 interview with Smokey Yunick.

“I remember those heads. They were a wild-ass dream that Vince Piggins had when he was running the show at Chevy. I remember that they weren’t worth a crap.”
“After a lot of work and dyno testing, we were able to get a 302-engine using the hemi heads to make about 450 hp at 8,000 rpm. Unfortunately, at the same time we were able to increase the horsepower with those heads, a regular headed 302 was making from 485 hp to 500 hp. That was when De Lorean cancelled the project for good.”

Best Damn Garage in Town by Smokey Yunick

“While working for John, my first job was to try and salvage a hemispherical head project Piggins had championed for the small-block. Matter of fact, last time I worked for Chevy, I worked on it. At that time, it was a one-half million-dollar trip to Shitsville. Well, after three months, we finally deep-six it forever.”

Equally foolish is the claimed weight of 2,890 lbs. Shipping weight for a minimally equipped Z/28 would be around 3,200 lbs.