I am curious to when nailheads were popular powerplants and what gives them the nailhead term? Are they very reliable? I remeber stories from my dad tellin me when the bbc's were in he had to be different and built a few big nailheads because the bbc were too expensive. I would like to know some history on them, thanks in advance.
They were called nailheads cause the valves are vertical and resemble nails.. They are a low torque motor and were used allot in the mid 50's to mid 60's Try the search function I'm sure there's more info on here..
Nailheads kick ass. They started in '53 with the 264 and went all the way up to dual quads and 425 cubes in '66, with 360 H.P., and 465 Ft. Lbs of torque. Big block Chevys came in on the Nailhead's coattails.
I always thought they were called "nailheads" because of the small diameter valves Buick used (made up for size with lift and duration) compared to other early OHV 8's.
Back when Buicks were popular hot rod engines no one called them nail heads except in a derogotory way. It was actually a put down throwing off on those small valves. Some owners would consider "nail head" to be fighting words. Now days people seem to think it is a proper name for any Buick engine.
Yeah it is funny but those little valves put out a lot of torque. Ask anyone who owns one. Now I sound like a flathead guy, except with 325 horsepower instead of 85 to back it up.
Some high-level history... http://www.carcraft.com/thehistoryof/65502_buick_nailhead/index.html Nailheads rule.
I have a stock 65 425 dual quad Buick in my 40 coupe with the switch pitch 400.Love the way it runs although it is not a real fast car,it has plenty and goes down the highway all day long at 80.
Hot Rod Magazine first coined the phrase in '54, (or thereabouts) "The Nail Valve Special", referring to the Buick engine that powered Max Balchowski's "Old Yeller" specially prepared road race car. (this American Hybrid Hot Rod was sweeping up on the 'Tea Baggers' and Ferraris.
There are a ton of good threads on here concerning them as well as a social group. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=266 '66 was the last year... The kind of look like nails stuck in wood with the horizontal top surface. Blake's link is a good one as well.
Just a few of my favs... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=330306&highlight=nailhead http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283521&highlight=nailhead http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533399&highlight=nailhead http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120558&highlight=nailhead http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=381615&highlight=nailhead
BUICKS & NAILHEADS Forever ! i ran the shit outa my 55 buick with the stock (never rebuilt or messed with) 322 up and down the coast of california for years, just add oil.
this thread is so fricken exciting to us! thanks for all the favorite thread links! Our nailhead will be sitting in the corner of the garage for awhile before we can use it...but we really can't wait to dress it up and run it. this is almost as good as christmas
Nope the MZ coded engine in '66 was still a Super Wildcat 465... And the single 4 barrel engines were up from '65 with the Quadrajet.
And, they can be made to run the numbers. How about a 10.8ET@125MPH in a 4spd. street driveable '66 Skylark GS at about 3500 pds. with driver. Tom T.
Gary Weldon's salt car is the world's fastest nailhead in a roadster too... http://rodcustom.automotive.com/45848/1928-ford-model-a-roadster/index.html
How about a "what do you think" question? See these marine headers in the photo.... If I ran this engine in a car, and decided to run these headers because I thought they were bitchin', would they hold up to exhaust heat? (they'd be run dry of course). Your 2 cents please.
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