hi im starting work on my car soon and lookin for some input. I have a 54 buick 4dr and i want to swap in a fresh 350 with a th350 any one know of any problems i'll find other tham new mount locations? any help would be great,I have the original nailhead and tranny still in car but dont know any thing about them and have the others layin around probably a temporay swap till i can go through nailhead and trany. thanks again for your time p.s. any one from the Rhode Island area thanks anain for your time Tony
other than the mounts you'll have to swap out the rear end too. see the driveline ya got now is a closed driveline and the 350 is an open. i have seen one hamber pull a conversion to open on the stock buick rearend. havent heard much other than that. what size motor do ya got? and what tranny do ya have? if ya got the dynoflow tranny i would definatly swap it out. especially if ya got a daily transportation other than the buick and a little bit more dough, i would definatly look into just rebuilding the nailhead and finda transmission adapter to a th350 and replace the rearend to an open. way kooler...
thanks nail rik im new to old buicks any idea were to find more info on this open/closed drive line ,as far as the motor i havent seen enough nailheads to destinguis bettwen 322 or 401 yet is there an easy way to tell differance .got th e car in the fall as an aniversery gift and just wrap it up for winter and just started cleanin and goin through it, it needs work to ride, electrical is shot gotta patch floors and needs tires and im tearin brakes down this weekend to see how they are would just like to cruz it as is rat style fro now just to the cruz nites at the beach near my house and work it alittle at a time when money alowes? thanks for info tony
From owning a 1954 Buick in the past, KEEP THE NAILHEAD. I can understand why you would want to change it, but you will thank yourself later if you keep it. If not, sell it to me, honest. However, if you do swap, the only thing that comes to mind, like stated before, mounts and driveshaft. I love them old nailheads....good luck and post pix!
From an older post of the same topic. Click Here As much as I hate the idea of putting a chev into a noble ol' Buick. I'd hate more for you to get half way into this project and decide to ditch it because it's too much of a pain. Here is a reprint of a post from another board dealing with retaining the torque-tube and rear end when using a TH350/400/700R4. It is full of bad grammar and is somewhat hard to follow, but it may save you some time and help your conversion. If you have other questions, I can forward you the contact info for the individual who wrote the instructions. Remember, It would be just as easy to install a Nailhead as it would a chev. This works with a transmission with the 3 mounting holes in the output tailshaft. the area's where you see *asterics* are a point where you could do this or not, i did not venture in the option discussed, and i am not sure it will work but once i bring you to each point, you will understand more, and you might have some idea's about it. ultimetly you will understand it better as you bring the car to each level. with the torque tube still sitting there, and the motor and trans. out. you hopefully have one half of the univeral shell cover that went onto the transmission and you should have the other half of that universal shell cover still around the collar of the torque tube. if you take the free half shell and flip it around and spoon it together with the one that is on the torque tube, you end up with a captured torque tube bell end within the sandwiched spooned halfs of these two shells. i hope i explained that correctly! eventually you will clean both of these items and you will be pumping heavy axle grease between these two spooned shell piece's when you final assemble everything. also there was a half loop/or saddle style bracket that was also an original piece...save that piece too, as your 2 shell piece's spoon together, this half round saddle bracket will support this entire union....* it also has the insulated support/mount to the cross member, save all that also. ok with all that stuff above out of your way, you look down at the torque tube end, and inside you see the spline end, the only critical changes here will be. finding a slip yoke end to match the spline of this tube, they are available! you need a good driveshaft company locally to get this for you, you can save the old universal, and take it with you to find your match, the slip yoke style will be mirror imaging the one that you will find on the end of your new transmission, they typically are 4-5inches long. so what you have here is 2 back to back slip yoke's basically! the only problem i was concerned about was, the torque tube will be secured in one spot, and the engine and transmission will be basically secured in one spot, so i didn't want the yoke to oscillate back and forth so what i did was i looked at the end of the torque tube spline shaft it has a center mark from when it was originally made, so i drilled and tapped it, right where it sits, i used the bolt from the old transmission spline end that was used to hold the old universal onto the outputshaft of the old transmission. then, since both slip yoke's have different splines to them, i did not assemble the universal until i floated the engine and transmission in. so im sitting there with half the yoke on the torque tube side, and depending on the yoke you get the interior of the yoke now becomes critical, cause the bolt and washer now has to be screwed into it to hold it in place, and my memory says depending on the yoke length, and how far it slips down inside the torque tube compared to how far the original one slipped down it, you might have to use a little common sense here so it does not bottom out here, i used some machined washers to drop down inside if the yoke before i slid the yoke onto the torque tube spline, you may not have to do this but be looking for this yoke and the fact that it might hit a non-spinning collar inside, what your attempting here is to secure this half of the yoke onto the end of the torque tube spline, and allowing for and spline shaft front to back movement that is not present with everything at rest but it will move slightly front to back when in motion, and you only need to allow maybe an 1/8 in im guessing, that worked for mine. i secured the bolt inside of this yoke, and then tack welded the bolt head and then made sure the bolt head cleared the universal yoke when it would finally go together..it was just a slight grinding the bolt head needed. no problem. before you do this you should have noticed the spline originally has a manufacture steel and rubber seal floating on a spring, it kept the transmission oil in the torque tube from spilling out, as you probably have seen it already, make sure the seal is good, get a new one if not! and put it in before you get your half yoke in there and bolted down, and tac-welded. at this point take your half clam shell and go to your local plumbing shop, believe it or not, if they have a variety of steam fittings there, they will have a steam ring that if you can picture these larger valves that get held together with long bolts to hold a fitting together, well that's all you need! i found one the exact diameter, and i could not believe it but the 6 hole's in the half shell matched up almost dead on with the steampipe clamp ring holes. this ring is pretty beefy the one i found was an in thick. so now we return to the site , and before cleaning up you want to cut the 2 spooned shells in a little scallop at the very top for clearance so you can install the yoke halfs and be able to get at it.you'll know how much to scallop both halfs as they sit together, it's all common sense, for practical clearance to put the yoke's together. now clean everything up, put axle grease between the two shell halfs, keep the spooned halfs together temporarily with a couple of ty-wraps assemble the two yoke half's and grease the fittings. i band sawed the steam ring in 2 equal parts. right down the middle leaving a nice equal bolt pattern 3 per side equally of the steam ring. you can now find bolt to temporarily bolt everything together to give you an idea where everyhing will end up, that 1/2 saddle *support will sit where ever you want it, i put it on the rear side of the spooned clam shell halfs, facing the rear-end, and the steam ring halfs now, will fit onto the other side of the spooned clam shells on the transmission side. you can put 4 temporary bolts in now, 2 at top, and 2 at bottom through all these components as they sit. at this point you have your engine dangling on the hoist from the front still, and you hopefully have already removed both original motor mounts perches. that are bolted to the inside of the frame 4 bolts each. now you can settle the engine down inside as low as you can go, without hitting the steering column or the steering mechanism with the oil pan. 2 things here, the exhaust manifolds have to be replaced with advanced adapter header manifolds, (http://66.220.22.198/commerce/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=2090&czuid=1065112861636 they are real small and fit down between the steering column tightly, and port out to the rear. the oil pan? not sure, mine fit just right and cleared all steering gear. you may have to use a reverse oil pan. the front of the motor must be nestled as far down in front on the motor mounts as you can go, and the rear, or, (the transmission cross bar support that you will be making must support the transmission rubber mount pad as high off the frame as possible),...you'll need to judge this positioning of the transmision support bar and height, by looking down the torque tube specifically to see how the tube passes through the X member frame opening. the torque tube needs to be towards the top of this X member center frame opening, but not touch the top, mine has a 1/2" inch clearance from the top, this position is also critical for centering also it will actually determine how your rear tires track in accordance to the body, it is called the rear thrust angle, i just made sure it was center and towards the top.... the reason your doing all of this is to center it, and try to get the most angle here, because of the 1-3 degree angle differential required. you have to try and obtain this 1-3 degree difference between the transmission angle, compared to the torque tube angle, 1 degree minimum and 3degree's maximum is a required standard, for proper universal loading, and operation. now you can see why the engine needs to be nestled down as far as it can go. the mounting holes of the engine mounts are in close proximity to where the original engine perches go, this is your choice here, i cut my original perches down to exact height and welded a top plate in at a slight angle to match the motor mounts on the engine, you can offset the plate on the engine, which means if you get a heavy plate bolted onto the engine itself and it extends further to match the perch tops, now you can see how to mount your engine and where you need to put the isolator mounts, this is pretty much your call, i just wanted to tell you i cut of the original straight eight engine perches. you may want to save your original engine perches and just make something that lines up with the hole mounts in the frame....it'd your call... the other brace you need to design is exactly where your transmission single rubber mount falls, you will need to install a cross brace here, it's your call, home made, or a factory brace that is cut off to fit between the frame at that point, what ever is easiest. now that the engine mounts you have installed and the transmission cross bar support is in, you can finish off the last connection. going back to the split steam ring, this is what your looking for, 2 steel plates will sandwich those 3 holes on the tailshaft of the transmission, the plates will be large enough but not bigger that the 3 hole dimention vertically just large enough to hold a washer and nut as a threaded rod goes through each hole and out each plate side, your just making a sandwich here, with 3 threaded rods and nuts, now the secret is how long should this plate extend? it will separate the yoke slip shaft 3/4 of an inch away from the end of the tailshaft, this is a normal factory distance, if you shove the yoke all the way up into the tail shaft and hit home, you pull it back about 3/4 of an inch. then then you'll know how long these plates need to be. the plates need to extend right to the steam ring surface and then turn outward, if you put a 90 degree bend on each plate outward it will cover the face of the steam ring half, you then mark the point where the plates need to extend to then remove the plates and put a 90 degree bend in each plate, and put them back on, then mark the point of how they sit onto these steam rings, then mark the point where the sit onto these rings and remove them again, and weld them to the rings, dont forget to make sure the 3/4 " space is there on the yok and the tailshaft end still. once you weld the plates to each steam ring half you can grind any extra metal out of the way, i left 1-1/2 inches sticking out after the bend so i had plenty of material to work with. after i weld it, i ground down the excess, and painted it. once you reassemble everything it's pretty self explanatory, but the optional ideas of the way that saddle braket gets rubber mount to the cross frame thats already there is up to you, it needs to be firmly spaced to where it gets finally positioned and you may have to drill other holes into that cross member that is there because it does not line up exactly as it was connected from the original position, but use your best judgement, space it out and isolate it with rubber somehow, this will help support this union.
For additional Buick info be sure to check out: http://buicks.net/ http://www.v8buick.com/ Also the HAMB's search option now works, and is sure to provide you with coutless hours of good reading.
I'm doing a 57 Buick Special in my shop right now. We are using a sbc and 700R4 combo in it. Rather than hassle with the torque tube we swapped in the center section from a 63 Wildcat. We went from a 3.23 rear originally to the Wildcat's 3.42's which should work better with the O/D tranny.We used the 57 axles but they are bigger than the later models so we had them thinned down and resplined. Next we put the car up in the air on 4 ramps so that we could work under it easily and still have the weight on the wheels. We fashioned a new bracket for a mounting point for the radius arms approximately where they were located when attached to the torque tube. This set-up should work well unless the customer gets carried away with his new combo and honks it hard enough to cause the rearend to rotate upwards under power. We may have to fab a ladder bar type arm to relace the originals if that happens. Good luck, Bob
thanks every one for the infomation it has given me fuel for the fire to chew on ,i guess its off to the boneyard to look possible donors . heres a pic ,its not that shine its just rainin thanks again for takin time tony
Just in the process of finishing a 55 Buick Special with a 350/350 combo. Air bag suspension, front disc brake conversion, open driveline conversion,flamed, pinstriped,etc. If you're interested in details PM me. Pappy
I've got a '54 Special. If yours is a Special, then it's a 264-inch Nailhead. If it's any other, it's a 322. I'm collecting parts to build a '56 322 for mine. It'll drop right in. I'm going to convert to an open driveshaft, and will put a manual Ford behind the Nail with an adapter bellhousing. (check e-bay). Get a factory Shop Manual. You'll be glad you did. Master Power Brakes has a dual reservoir conversion kit. Get one for the first Corvettes--it bolts in. Mine has a remote reservoir. (I might have had to make a longer rod, I don't remember). Replace the front shocks, and especially the sway bar bushings and end links--it'll drive much better. Later, -Brad
Here's mine I say keep the Nailhead there is more pride in owning a Nailhead, they are great, I rebuilt the heads, carb, water pump, generator, trans. and had a new u-joint made recently, it's a pain, but it's worth it, man I don't regret my 264, it's a dream..
[ QUOTE ] I've got a '54 Special. If yours is a Special, then it's a 264-inch Nailhead. If it's any other, it's a 322. [/ QUOTE ] the special came with both the 322 and the 264. i had 322 in my '54 special. hey chuckle head, ya got any more fotos of that '54? i really dig the scallops and stripes. ya dont see that often on a buick...
if you already plan to put in the nailhead afterwards, well if you dont know the nailhead LEARN it. get your self a shop manual and go through it... if its stuck and worthless you can pick up an running 401 nailhead and drop in instead sure you need to get another driveline anyhow but you will get a stronger better engine and if you pick up i belive its 1963-1966 401 or 425 they have an version of the 400 transmission on the back
hay pappy id realy like to see some pics of the convertion (specialy the rear end)if you have any ,to everyone else thanks for the ideas it gives me a few options to consider thank to all p.s. the HAMB rocks!!!!
The pics posted above were from the original installation on my '55 Special. Shortly after the install, I found the axle housing had cracked slightly near where the lower part of the ladder bar brackets were welded. The cracks were due to my ignorance in incorporating the strut rods to the front ladder bar brackets which made the axle too stiff and put an extreme amount of pressure on the brackets. Since these pics were taken, I've removed the struts, welded up the cracks and repalced the two lower solid rod ends with steel rod ends with polyurethane inserts to provide a little extra give. So far, it's working fine with no signs of stress cracks.
I haven't done it yet, and haven't even started collecting the parts yet, but my plan is to use late '60s-early '70s Chevy pick up truck trailing arms and the cross member they attach to. For the dif, I'll probably use a Mopar 8 3/4, or a '57 Chevy I've got. With those, I can use a limited slip dif. I'll cut all the coil spring and panhard brackets off the original '54 housing and transfer them. Should be plenty stout, and won't stress the axle housing. Now, locating that front cross member for the trailing arms inside the Buick X-frame will be a bitch, as will routing dual exhaust around the under-the-floor master cylinder and clutch linkage... -Brad
new update i have a line on a 425 caddy runs strong with trans. anyone have any info on them it might be a cooler swap then the chebby 350\350 .im sure there will be the same drive line problems but ill go with like a triangulated 4 link or somethin like that ,is the 425 any good and is there stuff avalible for them. thanks in advance tony
Hey Stresser, I'm from Lincoln,Nosurfs from middletown,CTFuzz is from RI,Buick38 is from cumberland,& theres alot from Mass, but close to RI, thirtycoupe is right over the line in Attleboro,AV8paul is in Sagamore.Thats afew that I know of. Alot of us go to the Cruise on Friday nites at the McDonalds in cumberland,its a pretty good cruise with Bruce from B101.We'll be there friday at about 6, you can go up 295 to Mendon rd,head south & its about 2 or 3 miles down on your right, right after Dels&just over the Train tracks Hope to see ya there. JimV
cool ill see if i can get there this week,can i bring a freind hes got a 70's j10 pickup with a blown straight 6 rock crawler?
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