I wonder if some sort of rotary valve could be fitted to existing nail heads. If a flat head ford could be converted to ohv, there should be a way.
Ahhhh grasshopper, you forget, exhaust is under pressure!!!!! And Doc, how many $$$$$ you got to start playin' around???? Then if that doesn't work???? What's next????? It starts in the thousands & goes up from there. It's nice if you have a few buddies who are capable & have the knowledge & can spend countless hours designing, building, modifying, installing, dyno testing & all the other varibles that will come into play. How much time can you take off from work or your business??? Remember, to many of us this a just a hobby, with dreams, wishes & desires. For many others it's their jobs & just because it's our hobby it's not their's & they need to feed their family's, pay their workers & all the other expenses that come into play. Not tryin' to be a wise axvz, just explainin' the facts. Tom T.
Hey, i have nothing to add to this, as i have never realy touched a nail head. Just wanted to say that I LOVE reading this stuff. i've learned a ton of stuff just reading what you guys talk about. I love old cars (i'm only 22) should have been born a long time ago. i just built my first engine, 455 .060 over. and am already looking (dreaming) for something new to build. Learned A LOT, i meen it guys, i work on toyota's all day long, and went to school for new technology, i love the old stuff though, a lot more than the new stuff, and picking up all the stuff you guys is making me more and more interested in having a garage full of buicks. Thanks for all the help i've gotten from you, and thanks for all the stuff i've learned by reading your help for other people. -Brendan
I agree Brendan, I love the info/ideas that get put up on the board. I don't always agree with all of them and I am sure I post stuff others don't agree with but what makes this good is that you can get everyones brains working. You get a chance to hear other sides of the story, and other ideas. Some of them are dreams and others reality, but some one had to dream up new ideas at some point. I also work on new cars for a living, at work we follow a straight forward diagnostic chart for most problems. Here you can and often have to come up with your own solutions, much like early hot rodding. This is why I like this board, I could get people to give me all the easy solutions or tell me what I really want to hear but here, I get other possiblilties and hear choices that make me really think.
Yup, Joe, I enjoy brain storming with the guys a lot. You never know when some one will come up with a idea that actually will work. I remember when my grand father dreamed up a cable lift for a pulp wood truck back in the 50's and built the first one that eny one had ever seen. now every logger in the country is using one. Some one will come up with an idea and some one else like Tom T, that has the expertise and other stuff to devellop it and we all benifit from it. That is what rodding is about.
Brendan........do you have the Toyota part # for those valve cover washers with the vulcanized rubber seal?o No: I think they used them on the older 8 RC engines. Those work PERFECT for sealing the bolts on Nailhead valve and valley covers.......way better than the cheap rubber washers that come in the gasket kits. I had a few left over in my tool box from back when I used to work at a dealership. Gotta hand it to the Japanese, they seal up their engines really well! :beer
Fellow Buick motorhead type people, since we're talkin, off-the-deep-end, here anyway, I suggest a "peep" of Pete Aaardema's webb site. He's famous for ohc. conversions to push rod heads and adding 4 valve heads on push rod engines. Words fastest Model A eng. at Bonneville ,etc., etc. Just so you understand, He doesn't work for free. Good Luck, roverman.:3gears:
If the exhaust vavles are too small in the nailhead, do what this guy did to come up with larger exhaust valves. Ed
Probably powered by a stovebolt 6 Popular myth, not true. The engine is produced under license, similar to several Chevy and GMC engines but not a direct copy of any.
Hi, Only work I have done on the old Nailheads is to reseal and put back in my Skylark, next step is a set of dual quads this summer, anyhow all this talk about Over Head Cams, I saw a post for saw on the old straight 8's it apears to be 2 22r toyota heads welded together http://www.teambuick.com/classifieds/showproduct.php/product/4495/cat/63 talk about something that out of the ordinary What modern OHC engine can we steal a set of heads off of. LOL Have to say I enjoy this site with the post you all leave I learn alot from the knowledge base Well everyone keep dreaming up things for the old nailhead, but my vote would be rear sump pan, repo skylark motor mounts and dual quad air cleaners, but I may be a little bias Thanks for making me scratch my head a little so to speak,:idea2:
They used the intake valves. IIRC that engine uses the exhaust as the intake and the intake as the exhaust. Purrty radical.
