So heres the deal. I was checking out a certain blue '55 Chev Last year in K.C. Thats an original Kustom from back in the day, which happens to have a Nailhead. I won't mention any names but some of you will know thw car in question certainly. Does anybody know the in's and outs of putting a 'nail in a tri five? What does it entail? I dont have a prob fabbing motor mounts, brackets etc, but my car is a daily driver with an interior and I dont want to cut my firewall. Can anybod shed any light on the subject?
Do It theres a Nail head picture on another thread..I'll go get it not a tri 5 but i bet its close..ask this guy Lobucrod
shoot - we put a 389 Poncho in my 55 BA in HS and motor mounts were the only problem - easily addressed in auto shop. This was before there were any commercial mounts for that swap available. If a Pontiac and or a BBC will go in, a nailhead should be no problem at all. Usual hang-ups will be motor mounts, radiator inlet/outlet locations, and carb linkage. None of these preclude this exchange. Nailheads look neat in anything...get busy dj
Double check the sump (deep part) location on the Nailhead's oil pan and compare to the crossmember area.
It's in my '50 Chevy Sedan delivery. Took some doing. Of course I had to fab the motor mounts and tranny x member. Other then than after finding the right manifold to clear the frame on the right side it just slid in, with some coaxing. Surprising enough the stock 65 wildcat left hand exhaust manifold cleared the steering gear....barely with the engine centered in the frame. The sump on the pan is a little farther back than half way and there is about 3/8" clearance between it and the stock center link. Left hand starters usually are a problem in these cars but the drag link misses it about 1/4". Hey a quarter is as good as a mile in this business. I had to cut more from the front body mounts than I liked but hey its in there. If it dont fit, take a big HAMBer to it!
A Marine friend had a dual quad 425 in his '55 210 sedan with a turbo 400. Looked like a fairly straight forward swap to me Beside that, the car was super smooth and would haul ass!!
Something pretty unique...I can picture it now and I LOVE the idea, but then I'm a buick nut from back in the '50's. Certainly nothing special about just another routine SBC...I just get totally worn out with them when I go to shows. "Got torque!"?
I like nailheads, but I wonder if the nailhead is becoming the sbc of the traditional mindset. Just curious.
All for unique and different. Go for it. Once it's done even the Chevy guys will like it.. well some of them anyway.
57-'61 364/401 or a '65-'66 GS Skylark. They're getting pricey off the car, I can usually get a whole 364 with one for less.
There are at least as many Hemi's running around. And quite a few old Caddy's these days. But the SBC is still the SBC of the traditional crowd.
Just because "everyone" is using them doesn't reduce their strengths, history, desireability and good looks. Nailheads have been consistently one of the standard "alternative" engines here, it seems, for as long as I have been here. And they a used for a completely set of different reasons than a SBC. There are only a handful of different traditional engine types to choose from in the first place; so tell us, what's the Next Big Thing in the world of traditional engines? In my short time on the HAMB, I have seen the Y-block get hot and then cool off a little, Poly motors get a little notice every now and then, SBC's get a lot of hate and love, the Hemis are in a league of their own,(always have been), Nailheads get the love, Flatheads rule, Mopar, GMC and Chevy sixes are common and well-respected. There are others, but I'm done.
Go for it but stick to the 64 and up 401 or 425 due to transmission choices. They had the turbo SP400 or ST400's and I don't think you want the early dyno ones. Adapters are available but a lot spendy.
No more than Flatheads or Hemis or about anything else you could name. I think the nail is an extremely good idea for the Five-Five, but, if you must stick with strict tradition there isn't anything more traditional than an SBC in that car. The nail head would be a pretty straight forward swap shouldn't need to cut the firewall at all. Might have to hammer the tranny tunnel a bit but it shouldn't hurt the interior. It there just happens to be a clearance issue with the radiator you can always move it to the front of the core support, a common solution for sure. Oh yea I forgot what size hat do you wear? Just curious.
If I do it I'll be using a 401 with a 364 oil pan. I'd like to go to a 5 speed too, not sure what a pain in the dick adapting it would be but that would alse eliminate my trans tunnel issues by not using the huge switch pitch 400. I think that using a 'nail in a tri-5 is super traditional but would have been an oddball even back in the day, not to mention being a way better design than the sbc will ever be.
I like nail heads well enough but if you mean inferior breathing by superior design you are absolutely correct. I think that the nail head swap was probably more common than you realize. It is a good choice for a power plant for your 55. I probably wouldn't go as far as to say superior design but it is a very good choice.
Huge, it's a TH400, they get put in those things all the time... but really for the manual setup, http://www.transmissionadapters.com/Nailhead_install.htm
409's aren't seen much anymore in tri fives. Sure they're out there but more costly to put together from scratch than a SBC.
Yep. Popular Hot Rodding even had a how-to on it. If I remember right it went in pretty easy as everyone here has said. Fab engine mounts and rear tranny crossmember. Rear sump pan. Forget which exhaust manifolds they used, may have swapped sides.
Real 409s are even more costly than nailheads to build and the good old Buick is cheap. I've seen bare 409 heads go for more than a grand. 409s were neat engines (had one in a bisquit). But past the cool factor there were much faster engines to be had.
Why not? Better than a "bellybutton" motor (everybody has one). For the nailhead in my 52 Chev, I used a 58 dual exh. left on the left side (it kicks up, like some mopars, over the starter) and a 59 single exh. on the right side. No clearance problems at all. And as a plus, I can drop the starter or the oil filter with out a problem. GO FOR IT!-Jim
Had to dig a little through the 'library' to find it-Feb. '70 (later than you would think) pg. 28: '55 Chevy + 400 inch Buick = Super Chevick!' No scanner so here's a synopsis. The title is misleading, it's a '59 401 nailhead, not a 67-69 400 BBB. '63 Dynaflow and 4 speed both used. Hurst BU 202 front mounts, CT automotive rear trans cross member. Don't know if it's a requirement but they cut out the frame 'ears' the bell housing normally mounts to. Lengthen driveshaft. '59 Pan has rear sump and clears cross member but has to be 'dimpled' to clear the tie rods at full crank. First says 'any late model exhaust manifold should clear steering box', then says 2 57 'left' exhaust manifolds were used (right side reversed) but it says that the frame has to be boxed on the left side to clear. ? Stock radiator ahead of the support (like a 235), move lower hose outlet to opposite side. Adapt wiring, fuel line, throttle linkage, exhaust. Cruise.
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