While watching a piece on the history of the Nail Head Buick, it was mentioned that a 401 on a trolley was used as a starter motor for the SR-71 Black Bird Super Sonic jet. There wasn't much else in the way of information but I'm sure there must be a Buick guru on here that knows more? How about it Buick friends. Bob H.
You can see it in DC at the museum. Both the motor and the 71. There are still pigs blankets on the ground under the engines to this day.
Saw this at Robins Air Force Base in south Georgia. Way cool piece of history for so many gearhead reasons! Patrick
Thanks for sharing the information on how these Buick were used, sorry to hear they down graded to BBC engines. Bob H.
A friend of mine who was in the USAF back then had told me about the Nailheads being used for starters. He said there were two of them in each starter. The reason why they went to the big block Chevy was because of the dwindling of parts and replacement availability for the Buick engines. Makes sense to me.
Geez. That's the typical rhetoric used when there is a chevy engine where a buick belongs.. I never dreamed this cover up went deep into the federal government..
At one time they had one of these "nailhead starter carts" at the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio next to an SR-71. It's been a number of years since I've been there, not sure if it's still there or not.
I read years ago about those nailheads being used, apparently they were the only V8 at the time that generated enough torque.
Yup, the shaft was driven by a Dynaflow transmission. The transmission was why the Buicks were selected.
Interesting that Georgia’s has chrome valve covers. I wonder what the power steering pumps are actuating? Patrick
I’m guessing something is hydraulically actuated-the drive that raises up to the jet’s engines maybe? Patrick Edit: It appears that the 90* gearbox is hydraulically controlled. This article has a lot of detail regarding the carts. I like the first command is ‘Engage Buicks’. https://www.enginehistory.org/Convention/2015/J58Starting/J58Starting.shtml
Actually twin 425s. Stock except for small Holley carbs, and the straight exhausts. They were hooked to a matching pair of Dynaflow transmissions which in turn were connected to a common gearbox. From there, a probe (hydraulically powered by the power steering pumps) was raised into the starter pad on the J-58. The sound of the 2 nailheads at full throttle under load was spectacular! I was an SR-71 Crew Chief from '82 through '88. I used, and unfortunately blew up, more than my fair share of starter carts. An interesting story, just before I left the program, they started bringing in start carts with 454s replacing the 425s. The Buicks were left with us lowly crew chiefs to start, run and store. The Chevys (heavily modified) were kept indoors at the AGE yard (Aerospace Ground Equipment) and towed out to the aircraft already warmed and ready to go. We blew up the brand new 454s about 3 times as often as the 20+ year old 425s.
