Buddy picked up a 67? Wagoneer - no paper and I have no clue what year, but it has a Buick 350 motor and has some tags that read Kaiser on them. So it must be 67-68-69 in there. Thing has no windows, it's really solid (weird for NY) but only worth it's weight in scrap steel from what I can see. But apparently Jeep continued to use a trans that bolts to a nailhead and used an adaptor to bolt them to the BOP pattern 350 motors? Questions: Does that mean that this trans, with possibly a change in tailshaft/rear case, could be used behind a nailhead? - or The adaptor could be used to run a known good BOP TH350/400 behind a nailhead? - and Specifically, can I use either with a '58 364? What about flexplate - torque converter? This is good potential tech, given you can buy the whole things for less than some of the adaptors being made to run nailheads with later transmissions, take this out and junk it and still get $150 from the scrapper. Should have Dana 44 or 60 axles under it, too, I guess those may be worth hanging onto - TIA -
are you sure that is not an AMC motor? Jeep used 2 different th400's behind their motors. One was a special cast case that directly bolted to their motor, the other used a cast iron adapter that adapted a BOP th400 to their motor. Never saw a buick 350 in a AMC.....except the iron duke 4 in the late 70's......and yes, amc made their own motors......
Jeep CJ's used Buick V6's in the mid 60's and the Wagoneers also had Buick V8's for a couple years, I think it was a little earlier, about 63-64.
Kaiser owned Jeep until 1968 or so; one of the tags even reads Willys. From my 1969 Motors Manual: 1966-68 J-100 series - V8 327, note 1 1968-69 J-100 series - V8 350, note 2 1966-69 CJ series and 1967-69 Jeepster - V6-225, also note 2 Note 1: For service procedures on this engine, see the Rambler chapter Note 2: For service procedures on this engine see the Buick chapter The Rambler 327 V8 has a rear-mounted distributor; this motor was designed by Nash and first used in 1956. The Buick 350 has a front-mounted distributor that also sits at a slight angle. This motor grew from the 300-V8 designed out of the 215s (or in place of them) and first used in 1964 when the Skylark became an intermediate size car; it was produced through 1981. It appears that when AMC redesigned their engine, Kaiser went to Buick for the V8 option. At some point GM stopped producing the V6, which was left exclusively to AMC until about 1977. I can't remember if GM sold them the tooling then bought it back or just what, it's not that relevant to this post. But there were also adapters to use the same transmissions with AMC motors, GM transmissions with AMC engine patterns, and other strange combinations. As I understand it the bolt pattern on the back of the V6 was originally the same as the nailhead, which differed from the later BOP pattern. Jeep continued to use transmissions with this case pattern after GM had standardized the BOP pattern and ceased producing the 401/425. As a result they had to use an adapter to install the Buick 350 in these trucks. I'm looking to find out what nailhead pattern this is, I'm not completely up on the changes but I believe there was a change and 57-64 may differ from 65-66; if I can use this on a '58 engine some hints on what to use for a flexplate would also be helpful. There may also be a bellhousing which would allow one to use a manual transmission behind a nailhead that would cost considerably less than the one adapter kit that is on the market.
If indeed it is the "round bell" TH400 it will bolt up to a 58-66 nailhead. And yeah, if you want to use it I'd imagine that you will want to change out the tailshaft and rear housing to a 2wd setup. Far as I know you will still need a flexplate from a 64-66 401/425. Will need to make the center hole larger to fit the Dynaflow crank, and an adapter for the snout of the torque converter.
You don't have to change the tailshaft, just remove the transfer case, and install a 4" extension housing. They use the same tailshaft as a short 400.
68-71 is when jeep used 350 buick motors. unless you have the title their is no way to tell what year it is. went through this on one i had and the record keeping doesn,t exist to id it. those jeeps are sought after because with manual transmission you swap bellhousing and small block chevy will bolt in.
Might be a way to go by the engine code or there may somewhere be a record of starting and ending serial numbers - I thought automakers had to standardize serial numbers beginning in '68? The answer to that will be in a Jeep book I suppose. Meanwhile, I think I may end up buying the thing and parting it out -
if you find out pm me i contacted 50+ owners and narrowed mine down to late 69' any pic's of the windowless wagoneer. they did have minor trim changes. save the windowless hardware and post it on full size jeep forum bet someone might give you a few bucks for that if it was complete.
68-71 is the correct years for the Buick 350 in Jeeps. Prior to that was the AMC 327. Both engines used the Buick "nailhead" pattern TH-400. REASON: GM sold the nailhead pattern trans well after the nailhead engine bit the dust. Jaguar even used it. GM sold it as a "universal" mount trans because the nailhead engine had a deep flange on the back, requiring a shallow bell housing. The shallow bell left an inch or two for an engine adapter that the buyer could have made for their engine. Talk about a "universal" trans now and everyone thinks about the 2004R that has both Chevy and BOP patterns cast into it. Around 74 GM stopped making the universal/nailhead trans, and customers ordered trannys with custom bell housing patterns. AMC used custom cased TH-400s from 74 or 75 through 79. 1980 and later got Mopar TF-727 trannys.
Jeep used am adapter to bolt the nailhead tranny to the Buick 350. Then they used an adapter to fit the Nailhead tranny to the AMC engines. Then they had the trannies made with the AMC pattern in the bellhousing. So, if you are going to get one of those adapters, be sure of what adapter you are buying; the Nailhead to Buick one or the Nailhead to AMC one. The earlier 327 engine used an Aisin-Warner tranny. Don't know anything about those. If you could send a few pics my. I'd appreciate it.
I've been posting this on here for years... Everytime this comes up or someone bitches about finding a Nailhead tranny... A source for TH400 trannys: wanted to give everyone a heads up on a good place to look for TH400 transmissions. keep an eye out for jeep pick-ups and wagoneers 1965 to 1972. they have the same bell housing as a 401 nailhead and are th400's. you can unbolt the transfer case adapter and bolt on a 4" tailhousing and your ready to go! the holander number is # 1331, so start looking. i had never seen one till today and stumbled across one. Also Rolls and Bentley you are correct about this trans bolting up to a nailhead, but the output shaft should be a course spline on the jeep & about 3.75" longer than a 2x2. Dave the one i found was out of a 1970 jeep p/u but the output shaft is the same length and spline as my 65 buick trans st400 i have! what do you think the deal is with that! maybe it was changed or something. Yea, sounds like someone changed the shaft to be able to use a later GM transfer case. Good deal for you tho. Just checked on the jeep cores I have & they both have the long course spline output shafts. But you will want to overhaul it anyway, so thats the time to switch shafts.I got tons of the 2x2 shafts if you need some. Dave Most of the nailhead cases in Jeeps have the fine spline short shaft used with the 4" extension housing for Buicks. the exception being the Quadratrac transfer cases. You can also find them in CJ7's until 1980. Even stranger, the Jeeps with a 350 Buick in them used the Nailhead case, with an adapter to bolt to the 350. this is the adapter that might be reversed and used to fit a BOP stick housing to a nailhead. Don't know that it would work, never tried it, May be impossible, I really don't know. The guts will interchange from any T400 to any other T400 case. there are differences. The Buick valve body will hold the trans in the gear selected, and not "blow" shift like a chevy T400.The ST400 parts will fit too, with qualifications. you have to use the ST pump with the ST convertor, and the is an orfice plug that has to go in an oil passage behind the pump at the top of the case. Also, you can use a ST 300 convertor in a ST 400 to get more stall out of the trans. The ST 400 convertor is 13", the ST 300 convertor is 11" And I do not believe the V-6 ever had the same bellhousing pattern as the Nailhead, I believe it was the same as the 215.... As for the manual bellhousing, using one of those adapters and a BOP bellhousing ends up making them way to deep to be useful...
Does that adapter do the same thing if you wanted to put a BOP pattern TH350 or 400 behind it? Sounds like it will. I looked under the hood and I didn't even notice the adapter, so it must be fairly deep -
There is a bunch of AMC, Jeep and trans information including interchange information at this site - http://www.amcyclopedia.org/node/40 It covers use of the Ford-type Borg-Warner "o-matic" transmissions as well (used in Studebaker, Jeep, Rambler and Jaguar among others)
No, the adapter takes up the space that the "shorter" nailhead bellhousing requires. In essence the "shorter" bellhousing plus the adapter length is equal to what the "standard" BOP or Chevy Turbo 400 has without any adapter.
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