A guy my brother-in-law works with just purchased a 59 Buick project car with a nailhead motor and an auto ******. He says the car has a closed driveline, and that the engine fired up and ran without making any odd noises after he put the distributor back in and added new plugs and a shot of fresh gas. The trans is whatever funky ****** came in 59 Buicks?? The guy wants to run a small block Chevy drivetrain, and is likely going to pull the stock nailhead and ****** out this weekend. My brother-in-law and I got to talking about whether or not this package would be workable in my 49 Chevy or not. I had my heart set on a more modern inline motor for ease of installation and trouble-free operation...but I could really dig a nailhead powered old Chev, too! (Although "down the road" plans call for a 348 motor in this car!). Has anyone here dropped a nailhead into a 49-54 Chevy? Will it physically fit? Can the stock Chevy rear axle be used with the torque tube adapted to the Buick auto ******? I'd really appreciate any input I could get on this...I'm still leaning more towards the simplicity of an inline motor swap using a whole donor car...but if I can score this Buick drivetrain dirt cheap...I may be swayed...if it is a semi-practical swap! Whaddaya say????
First off, go tell the guy wanting to use a smallblock that there's a reason the car has a bigblock. It's HEAVY. 4500-5000 lbs. worth of heavy. Trans should be an enclosed-driveline switchpitch dynaflow. Might have the oddball triple turbine one, but I doubt it. Approximate physical dimensions of a nailhead are as follows. 28" wide x 33 1/2" long x 29" tall. According to the same site, a W-motor is wider, longer, and taller. As far as fitting it to the axles, I don't have a clue. I don't think it'd be terribly hard. However, I'd suggest having a spare rear in the pile o' parts in case you break it. Nailheads are really torquey ya know. Even if you have the lowest output 364 for that year, you're still looking at over 300 ft/lbs. of torque. If it's the "hot" 401 from an Electra, it's 425 ft/lbs. BTW, that extra 100 ft/lbs can be felt a LOT, trust me.
455, that's different. NO WAY it can be a 4-speed auto, unless it's aftermarket. Has to be either 3 speed manual or dynaflow. Dynaflows had switch pitch so low and drive can both feel like they're shifting when in fact it's the switchpitch kicking in and out.
Hmmm nailhead modified... nailhead 3/4 ton 48 Chevy... nailhead 2000 Silverado Watshegonnadowi***? Jay
I like inline engines. they look cleaner. like a "inline' V tin Harley looks better than a across the beam four. If I had a Fleetline it'd stay a inline six. Anything from a 235 to a 292 Truck torque monster. just to get that CRUISER CAR rolling. If I wanted somethig fo racing it's be a car that weighs way less than 3000 pounds. My 40 GMC weighs less than 3000 lbs...and it's still too haeavy to bother building into a racer.
Couldn't the ****** be a 4 speed Hydro? I just looked at a 58 Caddy he**** with one. Go with the nailhead!
Use the nailhead i think also, just adapt a later 64-66 th 400 buick behind it and put a open drive rearend in it! if ya decide to do that i can tell you exactly how to adapt the trans, i did it in my A tudor. ***US
If it's a stock 59 Buick than the trans is either a dynaflow or a 3-speed manual. I'm going the newer trans route myself. Just gotta swap the parts from one TH400 into the nailhead case I have.
FH, I think that would be a real neat swap, especially if you could hook up the enclosed driveline to the stock axle. Although I have no idea if it's possible. Like Fraz said, the trans is a dynaslow. You will not be happy with that trans, as it co$t$ a lot to rebuild and will never be a performance trans. The nailhead isn't exactly cheap to work on either. From your experiences with the later model stuff, i would recommend to go with the later 250 six with T350. That is bulletproof reliable and cheap as dirt, especially compared to the nailhead and dynaslow. If you do get the nailhead, the T400 (really called a super turbine 400) option is not exactly bolt in place of the dynaslow either. You need a different flexplate and a crank pilot bushing to adapt the crank to the T400 converter. Overall, I think you should just go with the 250 six.
Fat Hack You can get an addaptor for 700R4 to Nailhead http://transmissionadapters.com/53-66_nailhead.htm I remember a hot rod mag with how to on Nailhead to 50 Chevy once in the 60's. 59 Buick will have a Dynaflow the bell housing pattern is the same as the 64 to 66 Nailhead with T400. I think you have to modify the flex plate on t400 to fit Dynaflow crank. I vote for the Dynaflow Judd
The Jalopy Journal
