Has anyone used Total Seal rings in a Nailhead? I understand they cause lots of vacuum and this may be a problem with the Buick motor as they do not have valve guide seals. I'm about to re-ring a 401 and an engine builder friend sugested Total Seal rings. I believe Total Seal only makes the second ring for the 401 Nailhead...........Thanks. http://www.totalseal.com/
I used them in my 63 401 and they are fine. I did have my heads rebuilt using 65 and up guides that can use a viton valve seal. If your running just stock valve guides with umbrella seals you will have some issues with vacuum and oil being pulled into the cylinder when you really hit the go pedal. I highly recommend having the later guides and seals installed if you choose to run them. Any good machine shop will be able to do this for a very reasonable price (mine was 125.00 here in nc)
We've used numerous Total Seal ring sets through the years (not gapless) with not a single issue but I would recommend if/when possible stay with Speed-Pro (Federal-Mogul) line. There's nothing wrong with the Total Seal brand. We choose the Speed-Pro's first if they fit the application. (Add) What type ring pack are you looking into using?? I have a pump-gas Nailhead running out of M***achusetts with the same Speed-Pro's for over 7 years now with the same rings, it's a low 11 second ride! Thanks, Gary in N.Y. P.S. We use no "gapless" rings in any builds here, again, they may not be an issue, but we've had the chance to dyno many units with the rings (for off-the-street customers) and see no advantage whatsoever! We take the attidude "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
If your ring gaps for conventional type rings are correct to begin with, they will become effectively gap-less at operating temperature.
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