Just out of curiosity, if a person was patient and scrounged fairly well, how much would it cost someone to put together a reasonably powered 425? It would be way down the road on my project plans (I'm already overloaded LOL), but I was thinking a Nailhead fits right into my plan to be as off-the-beaten path as possible with my street rods. Oh... is speed gear atrociously priced for Nailheads? I can make my own headers, but things like intakes and ignition systems are always a bugaboo on nostalgia engines...
low buck build up Hi, You could build a reasonably powerful nailhead for fairly cheap coin. I would look for a strong running 401" to start with. 425" engines bring more money due to the few years they were offered and if you are putting it into a street rod matching numbers are probably of little interest to you. A stock 401" 4bbl motor should produce 325hp & 445ft/lb (at flywheel according to Buick). The 425" produced about 345hp & 465ft/lb (I thinkbut should be pretty close). If you add multi carbs and a cam to the 401" you should be well above the stock 425". A light street rod will have a hard enough time harnessing the torque of a stock 401" for sure :laugh: I would recommend rebuiling the stock distributer with a conversion kit such as pertronix (other members may have a better kit), or you could buy a Mallory dual-point new, an Hei disguised as a magneto-new, or a real magneto new. I think Speedway Motors offers all these ignition set ups. AS far as intakes, Offy is the only making them new: 2x4's and 3x2's. You can find intakes at swapmeets but make sure they fit you engine as the width is different from the earlier 264&322's to the 364's to the 401&425's. Poston offers cam shaft kits and Isky will regrind your own camshaft for you but either way you will need adjustable pushrods (can be purchased from Smith Bros.) or try to find adjustable rockers.ou: Used spped equipment for these engines is starting to bring more money now as many people are showing interest in them but there was a lot of stuff built for them in the '60s so if you scroung swapmeets you could land the big "score":TU: Good luck, I know this was long winded and I'm sorryo No: just trying to shed some light.
hey thanks a bundle! That was spot on what I wanted to know! :TU: Right now I have a GTX to get finished, then comes the Buick 455 powered '55 Chevy wagon. The '48 Austin gasser is slated to get an SBC for now, but I'm like a kid in a candy store when it comes to engines off the beaten path so who knows what will happen if I score something as cool as a nailhead this summer This is what I'd like to put it in, but I already have an SBC and a bundle of parts and I might have a couple of freebie Mopars on the way (331 and 413 industrials). But.... there's no law that says I can't change it out later :grin:
PerTronix units are a lot of things, like no added plug voltage, unreilable, and you get to meet everybody at PerTronix before you get the hint that something esle would be much better, including stock points distributors. Mallory dual point........PLEASE, you got a distributor machine? That's the way you have to correctly set a Mallory dual point, ain't an easy task when the dist is in the car. I see LOTS of Mallory dual point setups, with one set of points either blocked open, one poits wire disconected or cut, so what is the benefit? NONE. Joe Hunt or Taylor/Vertex "mag look" distributors have a significant return rate, 65 pecent as of this last month, they fail the coils regularly, and the whole dist has to be taken apart to replace them. And, they only make stock points system level plug voltages. A full magneto on the street is just plain dumb. Full mags ahve low output at idle and low rpms, good output at higher rpms, NOT for street use. There are much, much better ways to make qa nice, workable ignition system for a Nailhead than have been suggested previously in this topic.
And when you are ready to install that NailHead I have a mini-starter that you will need & soon Adjustable, Full Roller Rocker Arms will be in production. Tom Telesco
I lurk around the Pure stock portion of this board and also like nailheads.....so I check the posts from time to time. On the magneto subject I have heard for years the same thing, but I ran one in a 427 Chev truck and a 392 Hemi '40 Willy's coupe with zero problems. Low battery start.....no problem....radio interference.....none....no loading up at idle...never, both cars street driven, the truck daily. A friend asked me how to wire one...I said one wire to ground and shut the thing off! He bought one and runs it in his pro street ranger cruiser with zero problems never been down the track always street driven! I saw a nailhead magneto at a swap meet and snagged it! I just don't understand how magneto's have gotten such a bad rap? I agree Pertronics is the tool of the Devil though. :beer
My friend Ted Radoumas, has a street 1941 Willys pickup, ex-Gasser, blown, live hilborn injected small block (Hilborn is a two porter NOT converted to electronics, still the full-on mechanical setup. He has 9 Vertex magnetos, all have been professionally worked by the various magneto guru's. He's always had starting problems, did a lot of stuff to the injector, as everybody told him it was the "problem". Well, I said not the case, ignition was the problem. So...I took another dead Vertex he bought and gutted it, installed an MSD magnetic pickup, made an HEI clamp on module setup to time it, and he then installed a brand new MSD BTM (boost timing master, basically a 6AL with pressure retard for blown engines), and Accel coil. The engine now starts before you realize it, hot or cold, just plain works, and when the ignition system was dialed in with the MSD< we vound a small problem with the barrel valve we didn't know existed frojm the mag not doing what it was supposed to. Phil Lukens at Blair's Speed Shop in Pasadena, California, runs a then gas early Hemi powered 1948 Fiat Topolino, Milodon 473 block, Mallory magneto, blown, injected, etc., full race car. He had the mag gone through by even the techs at Mallory, still couldn't get it lean enough to color the plugs, ran like slow city. I took the mag base and worked a rotor holder onto the shaft, made a plate stand inside the dist, then mounted an MSD pickup/reluctor in it, phased it. He then added an MSD 10AL box, richened it back to the original setup, went ast enough to run a slick off one rear rim, and burned a piston, from being too lean. He just went his fastest this last week, new billit heads, updated MSD box, now on alchohol, and it just keeps getting better, without the mag and the problems it created. Please don't get me wrong, a Vertex or Mallory mag are just pure sex for the enginehead like me, but they are sadly lacking in today's world. Updasting them to use a better batttery backed up system makes them irrisistable, but not worth it as they are. Now, the new MSD 44 and 60 ampere mags, yup, any time, they work all the way through idle to well past full on blown up, unlike the earlier mags. only problems are, they are locked out only and cost up the ying-yang.
I must be lucky with mag's I guess...... I had a 700R4 in that truck that I had put together......... Come to think of it that was another thing I was told wouldn't hold up but it did......... It's probibly the old "if you talk to ten people you'll get ten answers syndrom" :TU:
Nope, I'd say the engine was mild enough not to need more than the mag gave at idle/lower rpms. And, when a 700 is done right, they live, just don't use Bowtie Overdrives, they ain't too swift. 200 can also be made to live well as well.
