MadMike's 73Z - the Nasty is back

[MadMike]

I kept my mouth shut about this for a while. But today was the day.
This engine is the thing that put the "nasty" into my z28 back in 1987. Then I melted it in 1988. It sat in my dads garage for 15 years until I got my hands back on it. Now it's easily more potent than back then.

This is for my 1973Z. Just gotta screw on some accessories and drop it in. The cars ready for it. me too?





What it looked like the last time it ran. Came unglued at "high" RPM and at "very fast" MPH. I'm fortunant I didn't loose my 80Z at the time.

[BonzoHansen]

Nice pistons

[72CamaroSS]

Talk about melt down!

Hopefully the NASTY will live longer this time. Have fun!

[KJZ28]

EEwwwwwww, those slugs are gooey looking.

[tom3]

Running just a bit lean maybe? How many cubic dollars in the new mill? (yeah, I'm too nosy) Sure looks nice, lots of good parts on there.

[enjoideviantly]

what did you do to the valve covers? I LOVE them!!

[POS71RS]

Originally Posted by enjoideviantly

what did you do to the valve covers? I LOVE them!!

Moroso has sold them in blue, yellow, red... maybe another color for years.

Good to see the Nasty only gets Nastier with age Mike. Specs?

[enjoideviantly]

oh i thought they were painted after buying. news to me

[5spd540]

Nice engine. I have never seen a piston like that oof.

[MadMike]

I've mis-placed the cam specs. I'll get them from Dennis. It's a Reed Roller cam. I told dennis what I was after and bought what he suggested.

In the meantime, this engine is a 1970 Vette 300HP block, 4bolt main, steel crank. That's all that's left from the thing when it ran back in the 80's. It's all been cleaned, tested and machined.


It's got edelbrock performer RPM 64cc aluminum heads.
comp pro-magnum rocker arms & pushrods.
It's still 30 over. Pistons yeild 10.2 - 10.4:1 compression
Weiand xelerator intake
holley 750dp & mechanical fuel pump
hooker super comp headers
MSD pro-billet distributor w/ Mallory hyfire 6c box & associated coil.
Edelbrock cover. ATI damper. Ram flywheel & Hayes 2700# clutch.

I've been thinking about the best way to procede. I'll bolt a bunch of stuff onto the front of the motor and put some of the pipe plugs and stuff on it. Then I'll pull my hood, assemble the back end (clutch/scattershield) and stab the thing into my car.

Working on small blocks is easy. But I did throw my back out yesterday muscling the engine into the garage.

The pistons melted (all 8) because back then I didn't have a clue what was going on. The guy that built the engine set the advance as far forward as he could. I think the old saying was "power timed". He cut the nipple on my vac advance and plugged the advance port on the carb. One night as I was putting the beat down on someone (350 formula) I was pulling away with much quickness, and somewhere well over 7000 RPM I detonated for a second or two... and that's all it took. Back then I couldn't find my ass with both hands (now it only takes 1 hand to find it these days). I had gotten into the habit of twisting my engine up as high as it would go cause I really liked that metallic screaming sound it made. That turned out to be really expensive. Back then I was a broke 19 year old and I believe I sold the block and crank to my dad. When I wanted it back a couple years later, he wouldn't let me have it, nor would be "sell" it back to me. I tried to get it back about 4 times over the years and he'd simply say "nope... it's mine and I want it". Then when he moved, and I moved his stuff, he told me to take it back. Lesson learned.

The objective for this whole mess is to take this thing to Atlanta dragway. The car will be streetable. The guy who machined & assembled the engine is a friend of mine. I told him I was going to be beating the piss out of the thing and he said it'll be fine, just keep the RPM around 6500. He has several engines that run for years under this abuse. hopefully mine will be the same.

When this engine was installed in my 80Z it became nasty. So nasty I had to go get another car (a 1970 RS Camaro) that was suitable for a daily driver. My 80Z had turned into a tempermental monster and driveway decoration.

After I destroyed it, I bought a 454 and continued to drive the car that way from 1988 to 1995 when I parked it. The 454 was basically "stock", but it sounded & looked badass. This thing and the ZZ4(30) that's in the 80Z now could run circles around that combination.

[BonzoHansen]

You gotta save those old piston & rods. Mount them on some wood or something, lol. That's a trophy.

[Widowmaker01]

"Back then I couldn't find my ass with both hands (now it only takes 1 hand to find it these days). I had gotten into the habit of twisting my engine up as high as it would go cause I really liked that metallic screaming sound it made."

Sounds like we're brothers from a different mother. Although mine didn't melt down like that, it was knocking like a diesel when I sold the whole car.

Congratz...sweet looking setup!

[MadMike]

Just got the cam specs:
242/248 duration @ .050 int and ex. Lobe sep is 108 and lift is .588 int and ex.

BOING

[BonzoHansen]

Carlisle or bust....

[MadMike]

Got excited and showed Laura the engine last night.
She made that "whoopie" gesture with her finger.
I was stupid and told her how much money was sitting there and I'm happy to report she made no other gestures (related to shoes, frying pans or rolling pins).