65 buick motor trans

Does anyone know what engine/trans combos came in the 65 buick le sabre?Have not looked yet but the guy that owns the car said it is original and it says rocket on the breather.GM didnt put an Olds motor in these cars did they?

 

they were all buick engines. One book I have says the lesabre only got the 300 v8 in 65. it would be the two speed auto 300 trans used with that.

 

Do you think that would make a good engine trans combo for a rod project.I can buy the car for about 300 but wasnt sure if the buick engine would be a good powerplant for my project.

 

.........right, but even the 300 is a nailhead. Look for the valve covers to be vertical instead of slanted.

 

Sounds like I might be on to something here.I am going to go check under the hood in the morning and see if it is a nail head.Are there any bellhousings out there for this engine to run a 4 speed?

 

the 300 is NOT a nailhead, and it takes the "modern" Buick-Olds-Pontiac bellhousing, so you can get a manual trans on there reasonably easy, if you can find a flywheel.

That reminds me, I gotta sell that Buick 225 V6 flywheel

 

What year did production on the nailhead end?

 

it is not a nailhead,,its a uselss motor tranny combo...nothing is made for them and nothing fits...if it has a vally pan its a nail if theres a goose neck going into the intake its a three

 

www.buicks.net should have some info for you

you can find bellhousings that go from the buick motor to a ford 4 speed which are much easier to find than a buick manual

 

Thanks for the info,still going to find out what motor is in it,just in case it has had a useable transplant.

 

just for your info, here is a nailhead and a 300. The nailhead has the valley pan and the valves are vertical, and the top of the head is horizontal

 

66 was last nail

 

The 300 inch engine is part of the small-block Buick line, which also included the 340 and the 350. The 300 was introduced in 1964, and was basically an enlarged version of Buick's 225 inch V-6 (same bore and stroke). In 66, they increased the stroke to make 340 cubes, and in 68, they increased the bore for 350 inches.

While nailheads used "pentroof" cylinder heads, the 300-340-350 engines used conventional wedge-chamber cylinder heads.

 

Probably just a 300 since it is supposed to be all original but I am curious about the supposed rocket on the breather.

 

Didn't know that. I thought Buick used all nailhead until '67. So what was the cubes of the little nailheads that came in Skylarks in '64---maybe 65 too? I just saw one for sale. Thanks.

 

Also if production ended in 66 what buicks was the nailhead offered in?

 

300 came in the midsize cars, nailheads in the bigger cars, then in 67 the 400/430/455 series engines took over in the big cars.

the 64-67 skylarks and specials got the V6 or 300, 66-67 also got the 340, 68 up got the 350. There was a bit of crossover among different models over the years....and I don't have a really accurate list of what was used in which models.

 

This is a four door Le sabre.I didnt think they made them any bigger than that.

 

people get these confused with Nailheads because the valve covers sit in a similar fasion as the Nailheads do. one obvious thing will be that the dizzy on the Nailheads is in the rear and the smaller motors it is in the front. that and what was mentioned about the intake are the most obvious ways to tell them apart at a glance.

last Nailhead was the 425 in 66.

the little motors are still neat i think and so do many other people. the're are SOME speed parts available but it's a bit harder to find. it can still be a neat motor in a small rod especialy. and the transmision selection is much better than the Nailheads (unless you get an adapter for the Nail).

 

maybe this has already been covered elsewhere, BUT..., were there ANY nailhead cars that came stock from the factory with a MANUAL transmission???? Or were the auto's the only thing behind FACTORY Nails???

 

There were nails with factory manuals but they were very uncommon.

 

Sure there were....but you never see them. To give you an idea of how rare they were, there's a '63 Wildcat 4 speed car on Ebay right now that the owner claims is 1 of 8 that were so optioned.

 

I have two complete factory manual setups from 65-66, hard to come by...

One will go in my roadster, the other might end up in my International... I sold one last year and thought about selling another (I'm broke) but people balk at the price... I got $900 for the last one, they've gone up since then....

 

63 wildcat had a manual but wicked rare i saw a bellhousing for one on ebay at like 750 dollars right now. i have a 63 lesabre and putting a manual trans in it is not worth it so you are better off with the 300 for that purpose though nailheads rock.

 

I've got a '65 LeSabre with the 300. It's running the sp400, since the motor is a factory 4-bbl with 11:1 compression ratio. 2-bbl had sp300's. This is all junk I've recently learned on Buick sites I've googled.

I just replaced the timing chain/gears, since they like to let go early, due to the nylon cam gear teeth. Replacements are metal and only $30 at Napa. My cam gear was shredded, with nylon bits all over the inside of the timing cover, and this is a pampered car bought from a lil' ol' lady!

Strong little motor, plenty of scoot with the factory AFB. With that being said, I'm thinking of yanking it out to put in a light hot rod, and stick something else in the LeSabre. What sucks is I'm running premium fuel, and still pingin' like crazy with that compression ratio.

 

and the reason was because Buicks were concidered some what of a luxury car. not too many people wanted to shift their luxury cars.

the good news. the aftermarket has stepped up and is making (and has in the past made) bellhousings so that you can run a manual trans behind the Buick torque monsters. i have a sweet lookin finned aluminum bellhousing that is suppose to adapt an AMC manual trans to a later Nailhead (364, 401, 425). the earlier Nailheads were slightly more likely to have a manual because of the poor quality and relative newness of automatic transmissions. i have a factory cast iron manual bellhousing and flywheels for my 322 Nailhead. interestingly enough my 322 came (from the factory) in a Chevy or GMC heavy truck. or so i was told by the friend i bought it from. it is pretty believable too because of the governor that is still on the motor.

Bedntsens (or something along those lines) makes adapter for just about anything including Nailheads. the owner sometimes hangs around the HAMB too. they are'nt cheap but i've heard nothing bad about the quality.

 

if ya go search 310 nailhead,you'll learn everything ya need.i'm gettin a afb off someone for pretty cheap(if he can find it).if i use the motor,it'll be goin in my "T" so i don't "need" to much power.don't know what yer project is.like i said,search that thread and you'll learn.i sure did!

 

I WENT AND CHECKED UNDER THE HOOD AND IT IS A 310 WILDCAT.It must be of the 300 family.Anyway it is all original 65 le sabre with 67000 original miles on it.NOT SURE BUT MIGHT STILL BUY IT.Also got wind of a 59 le sabre for sale cheap that runs so might check it out.

 

the adapters for nailheads i have seen are pretty good quality but a bit expensive for my blood. that 300 is aluminum then since it came from the 225 family? not sure but i think it is

 

No. '64 engines had an iron block with aluminum heads/intake. '65 engines were all cast iron.