i picked up a 401 nailhead to put in my A... what do you guys think would be the best/easiest/most obtainable trans to put behind this thing? auto trans...which would you use? manual tans...which would you use? leaning towards manual...but havent made up my mind 100% yet. looking for info/ideas on both...
use the th400 trans from the later years of nailheads man trans bellhousings are rare and expensive. flywheels are hard to find you could buy a kit but then again you will be into all the stuff you need pretty deep in the pocket book zman is the nailhead guru p.m. him tk
I scored a '64 Skylark GS bell housing on epay few years ago (not cheap) and bolted a Tremec 5-speed behind it for my deuce hiboy. Using a set of '47 Ford pickup truck pedals it was pretty simple to mate the clutch pedal to the Buick clutch shaft assembly in the bell housing. Very similar to early Ford shaft. Carmen Faso, Tonawanda, NY, has forged steel flywheels for nailheads.
forgot to put this in the original message. the 401 i picked up already has a trans adapter and an early ford toploader bolted to it ('32-'48 style? - - i have to get #'s off it). should i leave it together and run it that way? just looking for a setup thats going to be reliable....
I have a switch pitch super turbine 400 3 speed automatic trans that came out of a running and driving 65 Buick. Supposedly these are good automatic transmissions to run behind nailheads. I'm in northern nj but will be at carlisle at the end of April. Message me if you are interested.
Sounds like you have the goodies for a manual trans setup - if so, you're ahead of the curve. Stock 401 puts out 445 ft-lbs, so 'reliability' of the toploader is strictly dependent on yer driving habits.
Since you have the Buick to early Ford adapter already you can use Speedway's early Ford to GM adapter (standard Chev pattern) and go with any GM manual (Saginaw/Muncie T-10 etc.) or T-5 or Tremec TKO units. The early Ford to GM adapter is available with either a conventional throw out fork/arm or the early Ford style cross shaft T/O setup. Ray Ray
A nailhead with a toploader already bolted to it..... Damn, sounds like a pretty good setup already. I'd run it!
I'm thinking the same...i've never messed with either so i was just trying to get some feedback. I think I'll run it with the toploader and see what happens! Thanks everyone for the input...I'm sure I'll be looking for some more!
dollars to donuts you will grenade that toplader if you hammer on it...even in a light car do what hnstray says and have miles and miles of burnouts tk
Well I think I may be back to the drawing board... The toploader I have must be out of a one ton-has a brake on the back of the trans. More info: the trans adapter I have is made by "Speed Gems". Hnstray... I could use two adapters? What would I have to do with the flywheel/clutch/etc? Also if it helps.... By the #'s I got off the motor it's a '59-'60 401.
lol, no need to PM, I can smell a Nailhead thread good advice, both the regular SuperTurbine 400 and Switch Pitch versions from the 65-66 Nailhead equipped Buicks are hands down the best way to go with an automatic for the Nailheads.. There's plenty of info in previous threads if you decide to go that way... Sounds like you're well on your way to a good manual setup. Good, they're GGGRRRRREEEAAAATTT as Tony would say. I'm not real up on toploaders, but I'd be looking at what other ones would work with the clutch and adapter. Maybe a later one will. Any toploader guys out there know? Another way to go for sure, before the bellhousings were being repopped I actually did one with multiple adapters. Works... but one thing to do when picking a manual tranny for these engines is to get the wide ratio if you can. And really no need for an overdrive in a light car like that, it'll pull a good highway gear and still get up and go like nobodys business... Torque rules.
thanks zman...and everyone...i guess i have quite a few good options to choose from. i'll update when i decide which way to go... i'll have to post some pics of this project... its a 30 model a. i have the back half of a roadster, with a closed cowl...going to either make it a roadster or make it into a sport coupe. working on finishing the frame and then i'll go to the body. so i have some time before i have to decide on that...
I'm using an M20 with a Bendstens kit. I have been recommended to source a wide ratio Super T-10 due to the torque the big nail puts out. Still trying to figure out if I will run 3.00 or 2.75 gears, but I still have time to decide while I look for a S T-10. Image courtesy of Coalition Imagery Zman is definitely a great resource for NailHeadBuick info, thanks again for giving us newbies information. You can check out my 30 project in process in my sig below, I still have much to learn as well.
Interesting... with the big trans, it sounded a bit like this setup might be out of a 57-59 GMC truck, when 322 Nailheads were used for power.
well the complete setup came out of a 1-ton 48/49 ford pickup. all the #'s on the engine come out to definately be a 401. but the trans had some weird #'s on it and i havent found anything to match them yet. its definately an early toploader but which version i have no idea... i'll post some #'s i get off the trans and maybe you guys will know what it is. i have a buddy of mine that has a '39 tranny that will bolt right up to my existing speed gems adapter. still leaning that way to keep this a low $ deal
Yes to all of this. If you simply must shift gears put a manual valve body in it. Do not use a lockup converter unless you are just building a cruiser.
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