Hot Rods NAILHEAD TRANNY INFO Needed

I fell into a 322 Buick Nailhead that has a clutch, flywheel, bell housing.....and, I would like to find out if we can come up with a 4speed or 5speed ****** that will mate up and work with the old engine. We have no clue as to what car the Nailhead/standard ****** came out of.

Any help would be appreciated.

Russ V.

 

You found some pretty good stuff there! The flywheel, clutch and bellhousing are the hard to find parts.

With some work, a NWC GM T-5 will work.

The bellhousing will need to be machined for the larger O.D. of the input shaft collar and have the 2 lower mounting holes welded and drilled to match the gearbox case.

OR

You can purchase a 264 / 322 Nailhead to early Ford trans adapter AND an early Ford to GM T-5 adapter and bolt the two together.

Most likely the 2nd option will be a bit more money, but both adapters are available and relatively inexpensive AND bolt right up.

You will have to change the clutch disc to the 14 spline input shaft (S10 or Camaro) and shorten the end of the input shaft by 3/8" so it doesn't bottom out into the end of the crank. This is super important!!! If you dont, you may crack one of the mounting ears off when you go to tighten the bolts.

The I.D. of the end of the crank is the same as a SBC, so you can use that input shaft bearing without any problem.

So that's about it. I have a post on here somewhere with better details from when I put a T-5 behind my 322.

Have fun!

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I'd appreciate a steer to your Nailhead/T-5 marriage post or photos that you might have saved. Send to rverbael@gmail.com

Here is the Nailhead going into my '42 convert.

 

I have an s10 5 speed behind the 322 in my shoebox. I found an old offenhauser trans adapter that mated the nailhead to an early 1950's ford trans. Made up an adapter plate between the offy bell and the 5 speed. Was not necessary to shorten the pilot shaft. I redrilled the flywheel to take a 10 inch modern diaphram pressure plate. Reworked the s10 clutch fork and adapted the slave cyl from an 85 Chev pickup. All works great. Have put about 20000 miles on it to date. E mail me at springgrange@personainternet.com if you want any more info.

 

I have the 6 bolt 3-speed ****** for that if you're interested. Plus all the other stuff you already have.