Customer supplied 'em, but he'll need some "deep pockets" if he's gonna use 'em. Lots of weldin' and hours of flow bench work. They WILL put the car in the books however. Thanks, Gary.
Holy pop can Gary! :laugh: That is as cool as the x manifold on Super WildBill's TopCat. Thanks for the pics. It sure would be great if Tom could get his roller rockers for sale for that job. If your customer does't mind, keep us posted :Brow:
Block Number Correction The part number on the "401" block I placed in the post about the aluminum heads is an error, it's the number the customer supplied to me. The right number is 1364705, not 1364704 as posted. I assumed the customer knew the right number, it turns out it was very hard to make it out due to the casting and when he read it, he read it wrong. I've got the paperwork for both "builds" in front of me now and the numbers are corrected. The "425" block is #1364704 and the "401" block is 1364705. Thanks, Gary in N.Y.
Aluminum Heads Gary, What are the casting numbers on the heads? You said a "lot of welding" would be required....is it for "flow work" or because they have cracks? Would he want to sell them? Thank you, Marty
Heads need welding to work much better. Guides would need to be relocated (more than they are now). Would want 2.050/2.080 intakes and 1.650 exhausts minimum. With very lite-weight parts in the lower end, the heads could work fairly well. The numbers (1185485) are identical to the iron counterparts. Buick also sent them out the door with absolutely no seat inserts installed, either intakes or exhausts. Thanks, Gary in N.Y.
Yea guys that is a set of heads that the fella who owns them let me borrow to flow test. He picked them up at Carlislie many years ago in the area I call the "junkyard dogs" down by the highway & below the hill. When you go there you almost never get down to that area. As Gary says,"there are no seats, just aluminum". They were experimental only but someone in the past ran them with the aluminum seats & used 1.94" intakes & 1.60" exhausts. The guides have been offset with bronze liners to make the valves fit. The valves are sooo schrouded they actually flowed worse at low lifts & not as good as I or others have gotten from iron heads. It would be cool to match them up with an "X" manifold also. The casting number they have on them goes back to 1959/401 numbers. So I would say that Dennis Manner started playin' almost as soon as he started in the engine department as Dennis started working for Buick in '59. Also as Gary said, they have been thoroughly used & abused. Cracks in the combustion chambers from where something came up & smacked them pretty hard to cause these cracks. They have both been welded. They have had a lot of material cut off them also. So much so that the intakes sit past the heads. It would be interesting to know who's they were originally, what they were used on, if it made any difference in the way the engine ran compared to iron heads, how did those cracks end up, from what?? etc. All questions that who knows if who can answer. Also, as we all know installing seats in any NailHead heads are difficult to say the least because they are soooo close to water. Many cast iron heads have been ruined by machine shops who "think" they know what their doin'. The good thing is they are aluminum & can be welded to make anything work. Just totally cut out the ports to get the desired flow results & weld up the newer port shapes to start & end with the same inlet & outlets. Also bolt on a set of those "D" port head exhaust manifolds that were supposedly never made. This could be the talk of the Buick NailHead for the next CENTURY, especially if Gary can get them to work GOOOOOD!!!!!! I have faith in you Gary. Gary, you have taken on a project that I hope has sparked your interest. Such as something that Bill Mahoney has done with the Buick "350". 1021 Horsepower & still playin'. Also Gary I'm tryin' to talk him into breaking the engine in on an engine dyno after he puts it together. I'm also hoping that he uses your shop or the shop I used in upper N.Y. state. I believe you know who this is also. He, as well as others who were there that day were really impressed with the results achieved. When this all happens I would also like to be in on it. I will bring a set of "ROCKERS" with me. Right now I have all parts for the "ROCKERS" out for bids & quotes, so hopefully it won't be too long before they will be in the manufacturing & production stages & available to the masses. Just wish I could have gotten more deposits so I could make a 1st. run set of 50. As it stands I can only afford to do 25 sets. You can't believe how many $$$$$ +++++ I have into this project. I feel it's for a worthy cause. This will bring the final costs up considerably over 50. It would really cut down on costs if I were able to have 100 sets made the 1st. time, but I'm just dreamin'. Tom Telesco P.S.-MINI-STARTERS ARE NOW BACK IN STOCK!!!!!!!
Aluminum Nailhead Heads Gary: Buick made 37 pair of aluminum heads for thr Nailhead engine. You'r lucky to been working on them Lee...
