Nailhead guys I need info

Just picked up a couple nailhead eng & trannys. The first one is all aluminum w/ a dual path tranny. But, the second one has alum heads & cast block. It has a ST300 tranny behind it. WTF is it? DAVE

 

those aint no nailheads man, the all alloy one is a 215, and the iron one is a 300 no help on the trans though

 

What is considered a nailhead? I always thought that if it had horizontal valve covers it was a nailhead. Learned something new today. Are they worth a shit? Price was right tho.DAVE

 

the 215s are worth keeping, the heads off the 300 are good to put on a 215, those are sometimes called baby nailheads, or pinheads, they just kinda look like nailheads. they were in the small cars, (skylarks). look up D and D engineering. Miles M has a few of those motors.

 

Thats good to know, the 215 is the better of the 2. Only prob is thst the Dual Path tranny was always junk. Dont know what I'll do with it, but its a cool looking eng. DAVE

 

Real nailhead has dizzy in the back. As stated you have a 215 and 300. The hot set-up is to use the crank from the 300 in the 215 to get a large size lightweight. look at www.V8Buick.com and there are guys on there that can help out with what to do with those engines. Or sell them for a profit and someone can use them. Back in the 70's many a V-8 Vega had a 215 transplant in them.......

 

They 215s are real popular for swaps into MG's and Triumph's. you can get a bellhousing for them and bolt up a 5 speed from an S10 and have a great little motor.

 

If I'm not mistaken, these were also used by Rover, and some speed parts are available, like a multi-carb intake.
Raw aluminum block, heads and intake would look great in a track roadster!
-Brad

 

Yes this is true, Rover still uses this motor. If you find one from 77-85 the bellhousing and 5 speed trans is a good score.

 

GM manufactured two versions of the all aluminum 215 engine in model years 61, 62, and 63. One version was used in Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs (rare) and the other version was used in Buicks. The heads are completely different. There are some minor differences between blocks. You can put Buick heads heads on an Oldsmobile block but you can not put Oldsmobile heads on a Buick Block.

GM sold the tooling to Rover of England. They started producing the engine in 1968 (or so) and kept it in production until a few years ago. The best Rover engine is the 3.5. A lot of parts interchange. The European Rover owners like to run the stock Olds/Buick 4 barrel intake with ann Edelbrock carb. They do this because the stock Rover carbs are a pain in the ass to keep tuned. And it usually fools the government inspectors. I sold a 4 barrel manifold on EBay to a gent in Germany for $75 recently.

The iron block Buick engine is most likely a 64 300. The heads will fit on the Buick and Oldsmobile blocks but they have big combustion chambers and really drop the compression ratio. They are frequently used on Rover blocks and on 215s that have been stroked using a modified 300 crank. The only 300 parts worth keeping are the crank, heads (complete with rocker stands, the 4 barrel intake, the flywheel or flex plate, and the front cover.

Edelbrock makes a manifold and the Holley 350 and Edelbrock 500 carbs are about right. Used two carb manifolds are available.

Crowler grinds cams.

The 215 bell housing bolt pattern is unique. If yours came with a stick tranny keep the bell housing and fly wheel. They are premium parts.

The stock automatic transmissions are junk.

D&D fabrications http://aluminumv8.com/ has a lot of good stuff for these motors. NAPA lists some parts. And you can find just about any part you need with a web search.

I am building an Oldsmobile 215 for my lakes modified "T" project. The one I found was in pretty good shape. I'm giving it fresh rings and bearings and a mild Crowler cam. D&D Fabrications offers a number of standard and automatic transmission adaptors. I am using one of their small bell housing (S10) 700R4 adaptors. The engine weighs something like 310 pounds dressed out and the tranny with converter is less than 140 pounds. I'm hoping to bring the little "T" in around 1,500 pounds total.

 

Hi Bib Overalls, hello all

You post was informative, Thanks.
FWIW: Several websites state the Tempest/LeMans used the Olds engine, but the two I've seen used the Buick version.

Regards, Norm

 

Dave

The 215 was allowed to run in Midget class cars and are still sought after for Nostalgia racers.

You can find out more info by checking out "Badger Midget Auto Racing" (BMAR)

http://www.bmara.com/history.htm

Mark