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Source for a 392 "OLDS Nailhead" engine .


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Having acquired a bunch of the newly re-released Revell 41 Willy's kits , I would like to build a couple of versions of the "Swindler A" . The kit includes decals for the "Pearl Blue" version and the Black version . The blue car which ran from 1961 until the beginning of the 64 season with the vunerable "nailhead" . Beginning in "64" the hemi came into it's own and the rest is drag racing history .

Anyway before I lose my train of thought , wasn't there a nailhead in the old AMT Willy's combo kit ? The one you could build as a pick-up or coupe kit . I'm not sure , but I do remember someone made a pretty decent version of this historic mill . I remember staring at it and thinking it must be molded incorrectly , until my mechanic friend enlightened me . Those nearly verticle valve covers are what gave the "Nailhead" it's nickname .

Also , what type of intake did it have ? Did it have the same type Gasser style made famous by the 392 hemi. i.e. like the one in the Revell kit . I have the sense that this is the same type injection used on both engines .

Well Thanks in advance , and I'll see you around the clubhouse ....... Steve D.

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Revell did a Willys pickup... I don't remember a switch able pickup/coupe from AMT. If it had the engine then look on ebay. Must be old if I don't remember it, but I was into rails and funny cars back then.

At any rate, there is a Buick nail head engine in the AMT Buick Riveria. Beautiful engine that! AMT also had rather crude Buick engine in one of their street rod kits... I think it was a '40 Ford.

Hope that helps... but I fear that doesn’t... :roll:

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Just to echo what other people have written, Nailheads are Buick motors. They're distinguished by the the vertically mounted valve covers. They were forst produced in 1953 (I owned one) and continued up thru the 60s or 70s when the "GM corporate motor rip-off" began and basically everything got a Chevy smallblock.

Jairus was right, there was one in the old AMT 40 Ford coupe kit. It's what you might expect from an early 60s design.

If you want an Olds Rocket motor, there's one in the Beatnik Bandit kit that's pretty frequently available on eBay. It's a fairly detailed motor, but I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that it's a great one.

If that Rocket IS what you're looking for, you could always do what the 1-800 hotrodders are doing: put a set of valve covers with the Oldsmobile script on a Chevy smallblock. They seem to think they're fooling people. Maybe they are as far as the casual observer is concerned, but not the true gearheads. Here's a pic of one I took at a car show recently.

1932Ford_02r8.jpg

I saw another one at one of the next cruise nites I went to. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

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As usual , when I get ready to start a project , I go off half cocked , you know , gather up all the necessary stuff , but have the wrong story !!!

Anyway "Olds" nailhead ?? yikes , sometimes I swear my Brain and fingers are not connected ,at least when it comes to using thi s dang computer !!

My understanding is they used an OLDS Rocket with the Hillborn injection and the familiar "Gasser" style injector cap .

And yes I'm afraid I do have A.D.D.

see you around the clubhouse ,

Steve D.

THANKS AGAIN

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heres something that may or may not be related:

rover co ltd in the uk bought the rights or whatever to the buick aluminum block V8 that may or may not be the "nailhead"...kinda looks like what i think of when i think of that term.

so what you ask?

well southeast finecast makes a KILLER white metal version of the motor with SU carbs for either the morgan or rover. and i would assume it would be easy to put some 4bbl carbs or supercharger or whatever on it and have one hell of a detailed motor.

i could be way off base here though so excuse me for possible ignorance in american iron terminology

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heres something that may or may not be related:

rover co ltd in the uk bought the rights or whatever to the buick aluminum block V8 that may or may not be the "nailhead"...kinda looks like what i think of when i think of that term.

The aluminum V8 that they bought is not the "Nailhead", one only has to look at one to see that.

Here are some pics of Nailheads, so called because the valves were small and easily identified by the vertical valve covers...

DSC06324-vi.jpg

Dsc04466-vi.jpg

Dsc08702-vi.jpg

Dsc08742-vi.jpg

...just click on any of the pics to see more!

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Injected Olds motor? Try the Olds in the original Revell Willys... the one with the opening doors and trunk. I think the Orange Crate had a drag-spec Olds in it, too. These were the later Olds "big blocks" that would accomodate a 500ci displacement, and not the little Rocket motors. I built an injected Olds from the Willys kit's mill and put it in this sedan a few years ago:

digrchas.jpg

digrfink.jpg

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This motor is the Buick aluminum 215 cid V8 that was used by Rover and Triumph and a few others...and yes, it does have vertical valve covers. But it's a totally different block than what's normally referred to as a Nailhead. I should have been more specific.

The displacements (that I'm aware of) for Nailhead motors are 322, 360, 401 and 455. That spans about 25 years of production and I don't know what (if anything) is interchangeable between a 322 (early production) and a 455, but externally they appear similar.

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>easily identified by the vertical valve covers

huh. the motor im talking about has vertical valve covers

engineroverv8_01.jpg

engineroverv8_02.jpg

now, whether its what is referred to as a "buick nailhead" or not may be a different matter altogether...

The Buick "Nailhead" got its nickname from the rather curious notion of Buick engineers that small valves, set at an extreme angle to the cylinder centerline so they could have a higher lift, gave better breathing. This was done, in part, to avoid the rather wide engine dimensions which did inhibit the turning radius of early V8 powered postwar cars (Ford flatheads excepted here). The small size of the intake and exhaust valves, especially when compared to Olds, Cadillac and Chrysler, looked, in the eyes of many mechanics, like large nails rather than true valves (in their considered opinions), hence the nickname "Nailhead".

The aluminum V8 that Buick eventually sold all rights and tooling for, to Rover Cars, was an all-new engine for 1961, having been designed for the then-new Buick Special compact car. It wasn't the sales success Buick Division had hoped for, neither was the then-new Buick V6 (sold off to Kaiser Jeep after Buick discontinued it following the 1963 model year, then bought back from AMC in 1974-75 for use in Buicks again!), so it was replaced by a new family of V8's at Buick for 1964. But, the Buick/Rover aluminum V8 is not a Nailhead, regardless of some similarities in appearance.

Biscuitbuilder

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  • 2 weeks later...
This motor is the Buick aluminum 215 cid V8 that was used by Rover and Triumph and a few others...and yes, it does have vertical valve covers. But it's a totally different block than what's normally referred to as a Nailhead. I should have been more specific.

The displacements (that I'm aware of) for Nailhead motors are 322, 360, 401 and 455. That spans about 25 years of production and I don't know what (if anything) is interchangeable between a 322 (early production) and a 455, but externally they appear similar.

Buick discontinued the nailhead after '66. Maximum displacement was 425ci. The New big V8's were of 400/430/455 displacement, used from '67 thru '76.

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Most V-8's have the push rods going straight to the rockers and pushing the valves down from the outside of the motor. The nail head did the reverse. The pushrod went to the outside of the motor and the rocker worked backwards toward the inside of the motor and pushed the valve straight down. That is why the valve covers are straight up and down.

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  • 5 months later...

Checking my stash agin, I have tha mid 80s AMT/Ertl '40 Ford 3n1 kit. According to tha instructions tha late model V-8 is an Olds. Speed parts are 3 2bbl Strombergs on a Edelbrock manifold or a 6-71 Bloer on tha same intake manifold, engine has a rather poor interpretation of a Vertex magneto. Tha headers are shameful. Tha model is 'Baby Blue' plastic??

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the orig.amt willys kit from AMT, consisted of a willys gasser that could be built as a coupe or pickup with a 394 ci blown olds. as this was a 2 car kit, the second car was the 32 ford sedan body with a tri-carb buick "nailhead" engine.

The "nailhead" buick was introduced in 1953 for buicks 50th anniversery, at 322 ci, in 1957 it was enlarged to 364 ci, in 1959 it was enlarged again to 401 ci, starting in 1964 you could get the 401 ci or an enlarged version at 425 ci. this lasted thru 66. in 67 a new family of engines was introduced.

the v6 at 225 ci was not sold to jeep till 1967.

hope this helps

Al

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The BEST kit for a buick engine is the 66 Riviera kit by AMT. The lowrider or the stock kit.

This engine has the heads shaped correctly to mount the intake manifold as it fir on the real engine.

The dual carbs are molded to the correct shape for the front and rear carb. the rear has choke, the front does not. also correct shape for the Carter AFB.

Also has the correct turbo 400 switch pitch trans.

The engine makes a beautiful/ correct display model on its own.

Al :D

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  • 6 months later...
Does the Riviera engine have a hole through the block for the axle? I picked up the AMT Wildcat kit hoping the engine would be the same, but I'm guessin form what you guys are saying, its not...

The Riviera kit the guys are talking about is the AMT/Ertl '66 Riviera(available in lowrider and stock versions) This tooling is all new, state of the art as of 1999 or 2000 when it came out. The kit is beautiful, and well executed with great detail. The wildcat you are talking about is a vintage mid 60's kit I beleive.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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