1927 Buick speedster build

Picked up this rough '27 Buick from a member here a month or so ago. Wood was all bad in the body, the floors were shot, and most of the sheet metal was in tough shape so there was only one thing to do... Build a speedster!

After a week or so of cleaning and salvaging what I could as good or to sell i'd pretty much got it down to the frame.

Rebuilding the original inline 6 isn't in the budget even though it looked pretty clean so today I brought home the new power plant. I was offered this running Nash dual plug straight eight for a very resonable price, who could say no???

I for one would pass on that power plant either.. Nice!

That 2 door body might still have some value to someone wanting to convert a 4 door, or the rat rodders. You've got a very nice start here, and that 8 is going to be a beast. Quite the distributor cap on it!

I don't know anything about Nash, but it looks like there are 16 spark plugs?

Whtbaron: Its actually a 4 door, the angle of the pic just makes it look like a 2 door. I saved as much of the body as I could to pass along for restorations but there was alot of rot... it basically came apart with my hands and a screwdriver!

Dwight: It does have 16 plugs, 8 on each side of the head opposited each other. I guess Nash thought that 2 plugs per cylinder was better!

Even more interesting is that they appear to have a row on either side of the head.

Its going to look great with the long bonnet to cover the beast of a straight 8. Sorry to sound ignorant but what's the advantage of dual spark plugs besides if one dies the other can pick up the slack?

We think of the explosion (during combustion) within a cylinder as being instantaneous, but the fact is that it takes time for an explosion to occur, even if it is fractions of a second. The advantage of a Hemi head is that the spark plug can be centrally located within the combustion chamber and the valves can be situated to facilitate efficient movement of gases. Most combustion chambers are more wedge shaped, so the flame front moves across the top of the piston as the gases expand. By placing plugs on both sides, the theory is that the combustion will occur quicker, producing more power and quicker response. Unfortunately when these engines were built, compression ratios and carburetion were probably more limiting factors.

Here is my two cents. If you want a straight 8 and are building a Buick, why not buy a Buick OHV 8 and trans? The Buick 8's were very good runners! That way you could resell the Nash engine to a Nash guy.....to restore a Nash. Just my thoughts. (I am doing a twin ignition 8 Nash). If you get a chance post the motor number, it would be nice to know what year and size Nash engine you have.

Alan

The guy I bought it from tried to sell it to a nash guy but the dude was uber cheap and wanted to pay peanuts. He had other offers for just the distributor but thankfully would only sell as a whole. I looked into some buick straight eights but this popped up 60 miles from home and I don't have the cash to be running to another state or the space to be storing multiple engines. It'll have a good home with me and remain stock.

The guy that had it bought a 1939 Nash and thats what it came out of. The serial is 100010. I'm the last man on earth who would rod out a very rare car but I don't mind bringing home somebody's leftovers! To each their own, I can appreciate the work that goes into a custom rod just as well as a restored antique. I'm just glad I saved the engine from the scrap heap.

A guy in Bend OR is restoring a 1926 Buick 2 door car. He might need some of the body parts...

I lived in Auckland,New Zealand in the 1970's and speedway was still strong then. One of the runners,whose name I forgot years ago,ran a Nash Twin ignition 8 in his sprinter. A consistent back marker ,it never seemed to run very fast ,until one of my fellow Apprentices had a drive in it one night and came second in a feature race. It was all to do with the chicken factor I think.

Nash also had a twin ignition 6 too didn't they?

Not sure about the 6, but keep in mind that in 1939 most motors were still L -heads or flatheads. The fact that this had overhead valves and dual plugs makes this a very advanced engine for it's time. That it could still be considered as a competitive engine 30 years later is a testament to it's engineering.

Nash introduced the twin ignition with the big and medium car offering for 1929, the Advanced 6 and the Special 6, The Advanced 6 displaced 278 cubes while the Special was about 240 cubes. This engine also used an aluminum rod similar to the Dueseburg. The next year, 1930, Nash introduced the straight 8 twin ignition with 332 cu. in. The later model Nash twin ignition 8 was about 250 cu. in. Yes, Nash did offer a twin ignition 6 for several years into the 1930's. Nash was well developed and competed well early on. So did the big Buick with the straight 8 overhead valve engine.

Al

Is that 250 c.i. a typo for a 350? Or did they actually downsize it later?

Good find, I looked at a buick at model T haven,I think he still has it. I know a guy to do the wood spoke wheels. He's fast and reasonable

Hello WHTBARON, In the post above, no, 250 CID is not a typo. Most manufacturers had larger displacement engines in the early 30's which line up with the golden age of what we call "Classic" automobiles. Those makes I am aware of that had smaller but more powerful engines, by the mid 30's, were Cadillac, Studebaker, Nash and probably a good share of the others. As mentioned, just because they were smaller displacement does not mean they were less on the performance. I have a Studebaker Pres. engine, in a speedster, (250 cubes compared to the earlier 332) that is an equal engine. If you want to see a similar car, go to You Tube and do s search for Studebaker Indy car. The Studebaker is a Flathead design whereas the Nash and Buick were OHV. Packard straight 8's were also flathead design. Here is a question for you, off subject, does your avatar, perhaps, reflect your being from wheat country?

Al

Yep... a little tongue in cheek actually. I farm, but not a large acreage for this area... I run about 640 acres when I'm not renting extra. Unfortunately it keeps me very busy and limits my time on projects. On the plus side I am finally getting a heated shop so I can work on things in the winter. It was minus 29 C here this morning, so working out in the snowbank isn't much of an option.

I was aware of the downsizing as the technology improved, 250 just seemed small for an 8 when the larger 6's were often in that range. Interesting little history lesson.

big difference to here...we have 37 C predicted today with 100% humidity. The idea of the multi cylinders was to get a smoother powerplant rather than ,as in later decades,to give more power.

So what you are saying is that you guys have no excuse to not be turning out new projects and getting lots of work done? Where's the pics?? lol.... up to a balmy -9C today, but the forecast is for more -30's and another 10 cm of snow. Definitely be working on the shop...

So Al, speaking of nics and avators... do you farm as well?