Well, Nailhead and turbo, rejoice my brothers.

Discussion in 'High Tech for Old Iron' started by Deathstars, Mar 6, 2011.

  1. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    I just thought I'd share this, which is my recent purchase. It was built by me and a friend of mine. He got a hold of the 61' Invicta in a moderately used condition with a newly renovated 401 Nailhead.

    Needless to say, we're both performance junkies, and ventured off into unknown territory.

    While he put together the car, I worked on the drivetrain package, it was finished around two years ago, so I haven't got a lot of build pics left, but I do have one of the engine being on the stand, and right when we were fitting it into the car, and the finished product. It went better than expected.

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    Engine on the stand, after spending quite a few hours manufacturing the intake and putting everything together. This whole engine is such a mix, I'm amazed that it works. Took some modifying though.

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    Right when we started fitting the engine and making the pressure plumming/exhaust.

    And here's the finished result.


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    And here it is on the dyno with the old TH350 we used before finding a good TH400. It was set at 7PSI, it hit 404RWHP @ 2700RPM before the old TH350 cracked under the pressure. Estimated at around 570 - 600bhp, able to push it up to 14PSI so it should make some horspower, but the durability at those levels is questionable.

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    Here's a scrambled list of what's in it. This is just from the top of my head, the entire list is currently on a computer not available to me so I can't update it just yet.

    Buick 401 Nailhead bored .030.
    10.5:1 compression.
    ARP bolts for the rods and mains.
    Clevlite 77 bearings.
    Chevy SB Highperformance Valvesprings.
    Pontiac Compcams High Energy rockers.
    Big Mutha Thumpr comp cam with .501 lift.

    Custombuilt intake with BMW M5 injectors at 400cc each.
    Vortech fuel regulator.
    Dual Summit high-flow fuel pumps.

    China-manufactured crap intercooler, 3" plumming in stainless steel and a 60mm blow-off valve.

    Ported original cast iron manifolds, dual 2.5" exhaust to the turbo, 4" downpipe into a 3.5" exhaust with an Apple Racing muffler at the end, somewhat flattened for ground clearance, 5" exhaust tip.

    Garrett GT47 turbo from a Volvo FH16 truck.

    Fuel injection system is a Dynamic EFI from Creative Fuel Injection.

    This is all hooked to a prepped TH400 and a 12bolt rearend. Will hopefully hold.


    As for rims and chassies, TSW 500 chrome 19x9.5 all around, Corvette C4 brakes in front and original drums in the back.
     
  2. SpecialWagon65

    SpecialWagon65 Ted Nagel

    Very Very Nice! :beer
     
  3. 66gsconv

    66gsconv nailhead apprentice

    That is really very cool. I love the body style.:beer
     
  4. CameoInvicta

    CameoInvicta Well-Known Member

    Very, very, very, very cool! :TU:
     
  5. 66gsconv

    66gsconv nailhead apprentice

    So at 2700 rpm you broke the 350 tubo? what are the tq. numbers, they must be really high:laugh:
     
  6. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Thanks for the replies guys!


    I haven't got the number in my head, but I have the dyno-sheet laying around somewhere, and yeah, they were numbers rivaling my built 455 in my 72' GSX clone, which was very surprising.
     
  7. Justa350

    Justa350 I'm BACK!

    Yeah! Too cool. Really nice work on the intake. Very nice finished look too. Low and slow, well, low anyway!
     
  8. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Thanks, it was quite a bit of fun doing the intake, even though it took some scratching of my beard to get it right.

    And yeah, definitely low, not really that slow. ;)
     
  9. scott kerns

    scott kerns Silver Level contributor

    Very cool! I'll take one. shipping to Fort Lauderdale Florida? :laugh:



    scott
     
  10. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Haha, if it didn't take quite a lot of time and effort, I could probably go into business building Nailhead turbo setups. But unfortunately, I have a lot on my hands with my current 72' GSX clone, work and helping out friends and family with their cars. :)
     
  11. sailbrd

    sailbrd Well-Known Member

    Another Boosted Buick. :3gears: Beyond cool.
     
  12. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Thank you. :)

    Sitting the the idea of boosting my 72' GSX clone aswell..
     
  13. sailbrd

    sailbrd Well-Known Member

    Looks really good. I think I use the same intercooler, but I have the model that flows from driver to passenger side (joke :laugh: )

    On the serious side that is a lot of compression for boost. How much timing do you have to pull?
     
  14. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    When I get the car back to my garage in about a week, I'll check. I spent a lot of time on the drawingboard and theoretical side, and after going with someone I thought would work, we still had to adjust the timing quite a lot. Hell, we had to adjust a lot of things quite a lot, so I haven't got the numbers right now. In retrospect, going with a compression that high and turbo wasn't the smartest thing we could've done, but since the turbo was quite large, we didn't really want to engine to be completely dead before 3.5k RPM, so we had to wing it with whatever we could. Oh and we also managed to bend a few pushrods in the process of tuning it. Can't remember how, but I remember them having an S shape after we were through.

    The car was put together around 2 years ago, so besides the amount of headache gained from having to adjust nearly everything three to four times, I'm having trouble remembering the numbers.
     
  15. Justa350

    Justa350 I'm BACK!

    Isn't that the truth! Mines been turboed for about 5 years now, but has changed so many times. I finally think I'm at a workable combo, and am close to a really good tune.
     
  16. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Yeah, we're currently running on a somewhat safe-tune to avoid damaging anything, but when I get my hands on it I'm going to lower the compression and try to optimize it, so I can have power and reliability.

    Because, well, who isn't in search for power and reliability in a streetable car? ;)
     
  17. GNandGS

    GNandGS Well-Known Member

    I was sent the link to ls1tech post then made sure you showed up here. :)

    Nice combo. Sweden? Really? Dang.
     
  18. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Haha yeah, been a long time lurker on ls1tech and recently made an account and figured I'd post it there aswell.

    Yep, we actually have a ton of american muscle over here in Sweden. Within a 50 mile radius from where I live, I know of 5 authentic Shelby GT500's aswell as a few Cadillac Biarritz's. Most of them through import, though a few sold here in Sweden.
     
  19. RAMKAT2

    RAMKAT2 Randy

    All I can say is WOW! The 61 bubbletops look so good, and you really nailed it with the two-tone blue on the outside and the inside. Well Done!
     
  20. Deathstars

    Deathstars Supercharged Swede

    Thank you, it was my friend who did the paint, and it turned out real good. :)
     

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