322 Nailhead build with Latham supercharger induction

Discussion in ''Da Nailhead' started by LAROKE, Jul 8, 2021.

  1. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    I've been on here a few years but after my first post asking about an Isky camshaft, I've been lurking in the background. I didn't get a nibble on that post and I think I'm the only one who could even see it so, I gave up at the time.

    I've been collecting parts for nine years and now I have what I need to build the engine as I want. It is to be a replacement engine for my '37 Chevy pickup truck "Deerslayer". Thought I would try to post again to see if it works this time. I've been keeping a log of my nailhead activities and will start at the beginning with this first post. If others can see it now, I'll keep going. Here we go.

    February 3rd 2012 On wednesday, my friends, Sam and Paul, helped me pick up the nailhead from Ed Stagmiller in Palm City, Florida. The first order of business will be to get the nailhead mounted on my engine stand for cleanup.

    February 4th 2012 Took the intake manifold and carb off the nailhead as a unit in order to get attachment locations for the engine leveler hoist apparatus. I will be able to lift the engine with the four furthermost manifold bolts.

    This engine has three different paint colors on it, none of them are Buick green. We've got a generic black, Chevy orange and Poncho blue. Additionally, all the timing chain cover bolts are missing. Maybe, that area is where all the oil escaped the crankcase onto Sam Gagliano's trailer floor.

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    Last edited: Jul 8, 2021
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  2. flh73

    flh73 Gold Level Contributor

    YES do i!, I have 364 punched out with large pistons and high compression along with a roller cam! This engine was built this way MANY years ago and in need of a rebuild and yes a new cam. I want to blower this engine and leave it the ugly YELLOW it was painted 40-50 years ago. I have heads no rockers or intake (expensive stock). keep going and finish it.
     
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  3. Max Damage

    Max Damage I'm working on it!

    Don't leave us hanging in 2012! We see you.
     
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  4. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Thanx fellas. Here's the rest of 2012. I'll post more tomorrow.

    February 8th 2012 Last nite after I got the nailhead mounted on the engine stand, I located the serial number, V546848-7. On the Buicks.net engine identification page, this indicates that the block, at least, came from a '54 Series 70 Buick (Roadmaster) and was a 322.

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    February 28th 2012 I pulled the flexplate from the nailhead to compare dimensions to the new flywheel from Russ Martin. There were no problems turning the engine or getting the bolts loose. The new flywheel lined up with the flexplate. The six bolts are evenly spaced and you can install the flywheel wrongly but the flywheel and the crankshaft both have "registration" holes that you line up to get it on right.

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    November 26th 2012 Cleaned up my workbench to start working on the nailhead's carburetor. Initial cleanup to find the numbers on the carb is the first task. Then I should be able to order a carb kit for it. Took the coil off the manifold and stored it with the other nailhead parts. The glass bowl fuel filter is next but the fitting is frozen so I hit it with a blast of Kroil penetrating oil and left it for the day.

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  5. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Here's the nailhead activity from 2013

    April 2nd 2013 A few weeks ago, I won an auction for a vintage Isky solid lifter cam. Now, I just have to find out what I have. This is the seller's description:

    YOU ARE BIDDING ON A N.O.S. ISKENDERIAN E-3 SOLID LIFTER CAMSHAFT FOR 1953-56 BUICK 264 AND 322 CUBIC INCH V8 ENGINES. IT'S IN EXCELLENT UNUSED CONDITION, AND MY 1969 ISKENDERIAN CATALOG LISTS IT AS HAVING .448 LIFT AND 286 DEGREES OF DURATION. HAPPY BIDDING!
    Nobody answered my requests for info on the Buick forums so I put in a bid on another eBay auction for a circa 1960 Iskendarian Racing Cams catalog. I paid twenty-five bucks for a twenty-five cent catalog. The news was not encouraging. The listing for the Buick E-3 cam is as follows:

    GRIND: E-3 Rev-Master (Hyperbalic) TYPE: Track TIMING: In. 23-71 Ex. 62-32 LIFT: .420 CLEAR: .018
    I will keep researching this but, at this point, it looks like a competition cam and not suitable for my purposes.

    July 2nd 2013 Well, I've obtained two additional Isky catalogs in separate ebay auctions: A 1979 catalog which no longer lists cams for the Buick 322 and a 1971 Catalog which does. The E-3 specs, however, are different from the earlier 1960 catalog and slightly different from the 1968 catalog specs quoted by the camshaft seller. Damnation!

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  6. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Here's the nailhead activity from 2014. Most of what I did in 2014 was become familiar with the 322 and search for speed parts, some of which will not be used in the final build.

    March 31st 2014 Trying to pick up the pace on Project Nailhead. I've found a source for adjustable rockers for the old engine but I will have to send in my old rocker assemblies in exchange so I pulled the valve covers to see how much gunk I was going to have to clean up for shipping. Pleasantly surprised to see how clean the existing assemblies are. Also removed the engine mount brackets.

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    May 5th 2014 I've had this 1954 Buick Roadmaster engine for a few years now and all I've done with it so far is buy some vintage speed parts for the rebuild. I need to start working towards getting the block to the machine shop. Took the rocker arm assemblies off first. Loosened each bolt of the asssembly, one turn at a time, until all pressure from the valve springs was gone, then took the bolts the rest of the way out and removed the assemblies. Pulled out the pushrods next.

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    Removed the heads next. Each head bolt was loosened until it was a quarter inch out. Then big and small pry bars were used to break the head loose. Head bolts were removed the rest of the way and the heads were lifted off. Each head had two locating dowels in the block. The combustion chambers are almost hemispherical and the spark plug is centrally located. I believe the Buick design is considered a pent roof combustion chamber. The block condition looks okay so far.

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    After the heads were shelved away, the valley cover, oil pressure fitting and oil filter assembly were removed. Then the remaining oil and sludge were drained. This pan had a full load of oil when my friends, Sam Gagliano and Paul O'Keefe helped me pick it up seventy-five miles north of here in Sam's trailer. A lot of that oil puddled on the floor of Sam's trailer due, I think, to the loose timing chain cover.

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    There is a vertical sheet metal baffle dividing the lifter valley in two, held in place with two cap screws. It was removed and the hydraulic lifters removed. Camshaft wear does not look bad. These engines came from the factory with jagged castings around the lifter enclosures. This will be cleaned up with a die grinder before the engine goes back together.

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    After the oil was drained, the engine was flipped over and the oil pan was removed along with the double pulley on the harmonic balancer. Nailhead pans came in several shapes. I'm fortunate that this is a rear sump pan and will probably not interfere with the Deerslayer's straight front axle when it comes time for this engine to go in the truck. The pan is in better shape than it appears and will not take much work to restore it for reuse.

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    The oil pump and pickup were unbolted next, followed by the sheet metal baffle. I put these parts aside to clean later. Notice how the main bearings reside in "bridges" between the block sides. There is no web above them. You can pass your hand thru the open space.

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    It's crowded in the nailhead crankcase and there is not much room for counterweights. Buick compensated for this by making the flexplate (or flywheel) and the harmonic balancer part of the counterweight system. They are indexed to the crankshaft. I have to do some research and measurin' before I take the rotating assemblies apart to give me a better idea of where I am with this engine.

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    I was rootin' around in the shop when I came across a speciality tool I got from Eastwood long enough ago that I'd completely forgotten it. It's an adapter you bolt to a harmonic balancer's puller holes that has a 1/2 drive socket. A breaker bar can then be used to rotate the crank easily. Since that is something I will want to do when I remove the pistons, I decided to leave the harmonic balancer in place a while longer.

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    August 5th 2014 A couple of weeks ago, before the clutch failure, I found an Offenhauser three deuce manifold for the Buick 264/322 with three Holley 94's and new air cleaners on eBay for about the same price as one new Edelbrock 94 at Summit. I paid the buy-it-now price and the package arrived yesterday afternoon. One more goodie on the shelf for Project Nailhead.

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  7. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Not much activity in 2015 other than collecting more parts for the nailhead

    March 6th 2015 News on the Project Nailhead Front: Last week, I found a vintage set of Hurst motor mounts for the nailhead (circa 1968). They arrived at the Krash Lab today along with the original instruction sheet. I still have to find, or fabricate, frame mounts when the time comes to install the engine in the Deerslayer but that's quite a ways down the road yet.


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    April 24th 2015 I've been running our UPS brownshirt at the Krash Lab ragged today. He's not a young guy and he's had to deliver an Optima redtop battery for the Deerslayer, a double-keyed crankshaft and bearings for the BillyBob 4-71 blower project and these rocker arm assemblies for the Deerslayer Buick Nailhead project. I got a Isky solid lifter cam for the nailhead sometime back. If you don't go for juice lifters, you have to use adjustable rockers or adjustable pushrods. Back in the day, Gotha made adjustable rockers and several cam kits, including those from Crane and Isky could be purchased with adjustable rockers. I got these used adjustable rocker assemblies from Russ Martin of Centerville Auto Repair, the number one guru of the nailhead world. These are Buick Export rocker assemblies. "Export" was Buick's performance parts program at the time. I am a happy guy today.

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    June 8th 2015 Some new (to me) goodies arrived for the Nailhead Project. Sometime back I snagged a set of vintage Hurst motor mounts for the nailhead engine. I then went looking for frame mounts to match and found a set of vintage Hurst Frame Adapters 1954-1964 Ford Pickup Truck. These are long enuf that they can be cut down to fit the '37 Chevy truck frame when the time comes. Today, a Hurst V8 saddle motor mount rubber biscuit set complete with washers & bolts arrived, completing the hardware needed for the front motor mounts. This plunder will now take its place on the shelf until needed.

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  8. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Cool project
     
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  9. wkillgs

    wkillgs Gold Level Contributor

    Here's what an Isky cam card looks like from the late 70's. This one is a big, lumpy, 401 cam, but you could plug your numbers into it to understand what your numbers are referring to.

    upload_2021-7-13_11-2-47.png

    Most manufactures measured the opening/closing points of their cams at 0.006" of lifter rise for advertised specs. I'll guess your numbers were taken at that rise as well.
    Your Isky:
    Intake opens: 23* BTDC, closes: 71*ABDC
    Duration = 23+180+71= 274* advertised duration
    Exhaust opens: 62*BBDC, closes: 32*ATDC.
    Duration = 62+180+32 = 274* advertised duration
    Lobe separation is 109.5*
    if my calculations are correct.

    In comparison, a stock 66 401 cam is:
    Intake opens: 19.5* BTDC, closes: 72*ABDC
    Duration = 271.5* advertised duration
    Exhaust opens: 65*BBDC, closes: 21*ATDC.
    Duration = 266* advertised duration
    Lobe separation is 114.5*


    I'd have to look up the stock cam specs for a 322, but offhand your Isky looks like a mild performance grind worth considering.
     
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  10. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Many thanx for the help, It goes a long way to help me unravel this. I am going to use the Isky as this will be a show build to rumble around the cruise-ins in a 2700 lb truck. I'm not going to be rompin' and stompin' with it. Matt Martin is trying to get me one of their roller chain and timing gear sets but they are currently out of them for the 322.
     
  11. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Not much activity on the nailhead in 2016 and 2017 but I did manage to lay my hands on a Latham axial flow supercharger. Not the best one for my purposes but only about 630 of these were made between 1956 and 1965 and they don't show up for sale often.

    June 27th 2016 Off on a momentary tangent. In the early sixties, building a copy of this model kit, I was fascinated by the Latham Supercharger and its four side draft Carter carbs on the Lincoln 430 engine. It wasn't long before the more compelling fascinations of beer and girls pushed this interest into the background. Now, almost sixty years later, while I'm playin' the back nine of life, the Latham Supercharger interest has pushed itself to the forefront again. This is like the Holy Grail of performance parts for me, similar to Ardun heads for Ferd flattie fans.

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    First time I saw a set up for sale was when I was hunting down vintage nailhead parts in 2012. I found a complete set up including carbs, belt, pulleys and manifold for a nailhead application. The price was high and I was underfunded at the time. I've been searching for a Latham ever since. Last week, I found one on eBay and grabbed it for the "Buy it now" price. The ID tag is missing and it comes with an early Chevy smallblock marine manifold. The idler pulley is on the right when looking at it from the front which, I understand, indicates a reverse rotation application such as a marine engine or even a Corvair. It will not work on the nailhead as is and will require a lot of Deep Ponder Mode time with beer and cigars. For now, it is a conversation piece. To paraphrase Jeremiah Johnson "But damn, it was a genuine Latham, and you couldn't go no better."

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  12. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Again, in 2018, not much went on with the nailhead but I did make the most significant buy for the project, a much more suitable Latham supercharger.

    June 11th 2018 When I'm looking for something, I clean and organize the BillyBob Shop until I find it. Lately, I've been looking for my ambition. No luck on that score yet. In the meantime, I'm still buying parts here and there. When I got the Latham supercharger almost two years ago, it wasn't the best fit for the Nailhead but I figured it could be adapted to work. The biggest obstacle to overcome is that it appears to be a reverse rotation model built for a boat engine. This would require a custom serpentine belt, or gearing to make it work on the Nailhead. Such an arrangement would take away from the look I'm trying to achieve. I kept looking and a couple of weeks ago, The "test mule" for Motor Trend's June 1959 Cover story came up for auction on eBay. I won the auction and it arrived here at the Krash Kubicle around lunch time. Included were two belts, the pulleys, fuelie manifold and magneto that were on the small block Chevy test engine. It spins freely and the throttle linkage works well. This will be much easier to adapt to the 322 Nailhead and will keep its vintage appearance as well. The Latham tag still exists and this is a Model 28-A Serial Number 001359. I'm a happy camper.

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  13. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Again, no activity until September of 2020 when I located another hard to find part for the 322.

    September 17th 2020 Had a false start on getting my ambition back. It's a process. My deep ponder mode ruminations tell me that one day of work in the shop is an anomaly, three continuous days, a pattern, six days a trend, twelve days a habit and twenty-four days a discipline.

    On Labor Day, the daily heat wave temperature dropped a couple of degrees, just enuf to jump start garage activity again.

    Found a vertex magneto for the nailhead build and bought it as a birthday present to myself. I've been looking for one of these for a few years now. I was beginning to fear Tommy Ivo had used them all up. This thing was new in the box. A couple of bronze gears were included as well.

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    This prompted me to continue with the nailhead teardown.

    September 23rd 2020 Getting back in the saddle. Baby steps. The magneto spurred me to fiddle with the nailhead a bit. I pulled number one piston. no ridge at the top of the cylinder so it tapped out easily with the help of brass hammer and drift and wooden block. The rod bearings look like they were installed yesterday. Put the piston assembly in the parts washer oileater soup for initial cleaning. The wrist pin is semi-floating with a pinch clamp at the top of the rod. Still have to figure out how the pin retainers work.

    Also picked up a set of solid lifters for the Isky Street/Strip cam from Northwestern Auto Supply Inc. They arrived today and I took a cursory look at them.

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    And then, in the same month, the tipping point. I now had all the parts I needed to ramp up the nailhead build

    September 29th 2020 Scored another hard-to-find nailhead part. Fellow who goes by "Gear-Drive" has cast a hand full of 264-322 nailhead 4-71 blower manifolds and I managed to snag one. I'm gambling this to be the easiest path to mounting the Latham supercharger. My two Lathams came with small block Chevy manifold adapters. I'm guessing I can adapt the Latham to the blower manifold with some aluminum plate when the time arrives to mock it up.

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  14. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    2021, I started to ramp up operations.

    February 22nd 2021 A body at motion tends to remain at motion. A body at rest remains at rest and, lazy slug that I am, I am the poster boy for remaining at rest. I got an e-mail at work on Thursday morning from my landlord telling me they wanted me present to check for water leaks. I went back to the shop and while I was waiting, continued to tear down the nailhead. This may be the catalyst I need to get my ambition back.

    Took out the remaining seven piston assemblies, balancer, timing gear cover and timing gears and chain. Only problems I had was getting the timing gear off the crankshaft. I took this progress as a good omen.

    On Saturday, the crankshaft and bearings were removed, along with the camshaft. The only things remaining on the block are the cam bearings, freeze plugs and oil galley plugs.

    Also gave the block it's first cleaning with Oileater and rags. That got ninety percent of the dirt and grease off. Beer of the day was Payette Brewing Company's Mutton Buster Brown Ale.

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  15. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    March 6th 2021 Scraped gasket bits off the block with a razor scrapper. Sent for a specialized tool to remove the freeze plugs but that was a waste of money. The removal tool wasn't any easier than a common chisel. Some days are like that. Removed gobs of loose rust from the water jacket with a telescoping pocket magnet. Removed the drainage petcock from the driver side bank and cleaned the rust from the hole where the passenger side petcock once was, I presume.

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  16. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    March 7th 2021 The jagged, sharp casting flash at the bottom of the lifter bores had never been smoothed on this nailhead block so, I used my newly rediscovered burrs with the electric die grinder to take the edges off. Nothing fancy, just enough to eliminate small bits from breaking off. Background music was Rolling Stones Hot Rocks Volume II.

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  17. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    March 11th 2021 Made the first pass at cleaning the flat machined block surfaces with scotchbrite "cookies" in the air-powered angle grinder. I know this method is controversial but I don't have the gumption to do this by hand and I'm a sucker for shiny metal.

    After watching Matt on Iron Trap Garage clean sheet metal, I decided to take a pass with the Eastwood SCT Surface Conditioning Tool with the 120 grit drum (the finest grit I currently have) instead of the Scotchbrite cookies as an experiment.

    The experiment was a success. Only took ten minutes for one bank, including a short time out for a gasket scraping. Advantages of the SCT drum is that it is five inches wide, runs at a slower speed and is electric. I also ordered a finer grit drum for future ops.

    Meanwhile, I'm still struggling with the oil galley plugs. All I've managed, so far, is to drive two of the little buggers in deeper. Beer of the day was Nebraska Brewing Company's Cardinal Pale Ale.

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  18. wkillgs

    wkillgs Gold Level Contributor

    Roloc discs.... The downside is they can round off the edges on machined surfaces, affecting gasket seal. Sandpaper with a sanding block is preferred. Not an issue if you getting the block and heads resurfaced/decked.
    To clean the inner water passages, Tom T suggested Muriac (Hydrochloric) acid. You will need to have freeze plugs installed so you can fill the block up with the solution. Do one side at a time, keeping the deck surface level.
    The pressed in oil gallery plugs... I drill a hole in them and use a slide hammer. Once one end is out, a long rod is used to push the other end out.

    For general derusting of surfaces, sometimes I just use phosphoric acid.... aka concrete etch from Home Depot. Leaves a protective phosphate coating on the surface too.

    Keep the updates coming! Nice to see all these vintage Nailhead parts!
     
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  19. LAROKE

    LAROKE Well-Known Member

    Many thanx, Walt, for the suggestions. I've been moving away form the roloc cookies towards more benign solutions. I used Evapo-Rust for the water jacket which is one of the upcoming updates. Got all the galley plugs out, using similar techniques to what you describe. I'll be adding updates every day, Monday thru Friday, until I'm up to date, then the updates will slow to match my work pace.
     
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  20. Waterboy

    Waterboy Mullet Mafia since 6/20

    Larry,
    What a cool project you have going on!!! You said you’re in Pompano. I’m in West Palm Beach. I’d love to check out your project in person sometime.
    Right now I’m in the mountains of Virginia for the summer. Much cooler than south Florida!!!
    John
     

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