My name is Steve aka Mr62Buick. I own a mandrel bending facility and sell mandrel bends online and I do custom headers and exhaust on high dollar quality classic cars. No Honda's, Subaru's, Audi's etc... 3 years ago, my 62' Wildcat motor needed a rebuild, so I had in my clutches a 1965 Buick 425 that I rebuilt. Casting number 1364704 B-11 With a large 3 on the back of the bellhousing. I believe the letters on the front were a LT, but they are covered by the valley pan (aluminium one) and I can't see them. Doesn't matter, it's a 65 425, and not an LX code. Since I like to do things different, I put this engine on a stand I made at the shop. (I am an ASE Master Technician with over 35 year experience) I installed a set of dual quads (factory set-up) but I felt this was not enough. So I decided to go with a supercharger. Why? Because I always wanted one on a nailhead and had never seen one before. (except the ford falcon with one, but that was not a Buick in a Buick, it just made a ford worth more money now that it could drive down the road on it's own power, ha ha) Anyways, I rebuilt the Nailhead with .060 pistons, (now it's a 438 Nailhead) and new everything I could find. I had the military base by my shop re-do the heads, polish the crank and do the cylinder work because they owed me. (they hydro-sounded the block for integrity and they said there was way more meat in the block that what I wanted to do). I had a custom blower camshaft built by Oregon Cam grinders and had a custom billet harmonic balancer made. The distributor was built for a blower by a distributor shop here in Portland Oregon. The supercharger is one of the last ones made by a retired car/truck supercharger builder here in Portland before he moved away to Hawaii to retire 100%. I have been running Brad Penn the "green" original 1900's grade oil with extra zinc since the rebuild. I did not get Tom's rockers as the stock ones are just fine for my application, so let's not get into that. Anyways, I contacted Don Hampton superchargers in California and he custom built me a blower intake prior before the re-pops that are now being made. Don stated he hadn't done a blower manifold for a nailhead in over 30 years and he felt that would be fun. Don came up with the manifold, pulleys and snout. I only wanted about 5 lbs of boost because I wanted this for show and a little go. Unlike the kids these days running a turbo on their Honda with 30# of boost only to scatter the engine and they don't know why. I bought two brand new Carburetors and made my own non progressive linkage since the aftermarket stuff doesn't really work. Everything I do it not a short cut. I do quality work and people around here in my area know that. Well, now that the original engine is ready for install, I am putting this up for sale. (The blower motor engine only) The engine runs fantastic and has less than 200 miles on it . I drive it a few times a year, stretch the legs on the car and put it back into the garage for the winter. But recently, I myself was diagnosed with Leukemia. And since I own 7 cars and a business, my wife wants me to liquidate what I have to one car and one truck. So I will be selling the 62 wildcat soon, along with a 64 LeSabre convertible and others. But first things first. This engine will be removed once sold (so people can see and hear it run if need be.) Then I will install the original numbers matching 401 in the wildcat. Then the Wildcat will be sold. (The wildcat has been appraised for $62,500) If you have a 62 Buick Full-size and you want this engine, then I have a hood that's been modified for the blower set-up that would be perfect for your car. The hood will be sold for $2500. Yes that's a lot, but I paid a lot more to have it done, right. This engine is still in the car, runs great and is ready for sale. The price is $10,500 or best plus freight. I will palletize the engine in one piece for shipment) If you look these days for a rebuild, most shops want over $6K to do a stock engine. Then add the blower, manifold, billet balancer, custom cam, distributor, valve covers, valley pan cover, and more. This would be a normal $15K build easily, and that's not to know if the engine will scatter after the engine is rebuilt by a shop. I went to a custom auto lot yesterday that works with high end cars and he told me the last 2 Nailheads he had built by two reputable shops blew up after 10 minutes! You can see, and hear the engine run perfectly. Engine idles at 650 RPM's. Doesn't overheat, smoke or anything. It is a Buick, what else would you expect? If you are interested, please email me at mr62buick@yahoo.com Please, if you have any negative things to say, or that you think I should have done this or that, keep it to yourself. Everyone has an opinion and unfortunately on this website it gets too carried away.
a 425 bored .060 is usually a risky venture on a stock to mildly built 425 engine. even more concerning on a blown 425. I'm guessing lots of sonic checking and recording was done prior to building it.
Im Sorry, I thought I put my location: Portland Oregon. Not all of us are tree huggers! When it comes to fuel mileage, I always ask... What's that???
Yup, was taken to Military base down the road. A "person" had it checked out.. lots of meat in this block...
Guess you didn't read the build.. yes. .lots of pre-checking. For someone (me) who just rebuilds nailheads on a side note, I have never one had overheating, piston to head clearance issues, cracking blocks, busted rockers, valve coil bind, rod knocks, crank issues, spinning bearings, misalignments of cam bearings,and many many more problems others have had. Even in the 80's I was told that when I put a T400 in my 62' original 401 that it couldn't be done... I asked why and no one could come up with a good answer. I don't believe 99.9% of the stuff put online, that's why my stuff works. It's like a kid coming to my shop and telling me he wanted his muffler 15 degrees pointed up and 15 degrees pointed to the side... I asked him why>? He replied, "because I read on the internet that 15X15 will get me 30 more HP at the wheels!" I rolled my eyes back, chuckled, and walked away. It's the same thing on this and other websites. You either do it and get your own results, or don't do it because your afraid of others comments and ideas.
When people say you can't do that and the best they seem to come up with is because you can't do that with a Buick, I just say thanks for the inspiration
That one is a 425 with no epoxy. That has also run very high percentages of Nitro when injected. This is during the day. Same engine as the blown.
I'm sorry but as a claimed master builder I would think it would be better and honorable to teach the kid why instead of just laughing and walking away no matter how silly or obnoxious the kid might of been.
I seen a Buick nailhead powered drag car hanging off of Marty (formerly of EELCO) ceiling in Canby a few years back. He wanted 5K for it, minus nailhead and trans. I think it has a Olds diff. Was quite nice.. would loved to have put my blower motor in that car! I would run it down the nostalgia drags here in Portland.
Tree-huggers don't realize that the amount of pollution put into the air to produce a brand new Prius or Volt is worse than if we just drove a 455 Buick for 30 years.