The Old Guy

I forgot to mention that for your GS you need the short shaft tranny .-If you can't find one, a tranny shop can use the tail from yours.

If you have the S-P tranny and convertor, all you need is the switch to power the convertor. You can either use the stock switch which also has the kick-down for passing ,or a switch on the dash which will give you manual control of the switch pitch . The original system also had a switch on the accelerator pedal ,so when the car was stopped at a corner , the trans would go into high stall and wouldn't creep on idle.

I have a 40 Buick that has logged over 90,000 miles since this no lead thing started,and have used no additives. the car still runs great. I also had a 57 Buick that I used to haul a 17 foot Airstream all over the country and when I sold it with 60,000 miles on the engine ,it was still doing well. I have been told that Buick used a better grade of cast iron in their blocks ,but I can't believe you will hurt an engine with no-lead unless you are REALLY abusing it.

The switch pitch 400 was used from 1965 through 1967 and I have NEVER seen a nail head with anything but a round bell housing

I am not sure about the price , but I believe they give a break to BCA members. <BR>Dave Phelon also has a few copies for sale at $25-$30 and you can contact him at<BR>810--234-4488

The Sloan museum in Flint has a supply of them. I beleive they will take your credit card, and their phone is: 810-760-1169

You don't realize how lucky you are to have a drive shaft that you can remove with 4 bolts. The guy on the other thread has an enclosed driveline with a torque tube and a solid drive shaft

You might want to wait and see what the headers do for the sound of your flowmasters!!! I have flowmasters and headers on my GS with 2 1/2 inch pipes and everyone thinks they sound great

roger,I have had good luck with bearings from :Olcar bearing Co.<BR> 135 James creek <BR> Southern Pines NC 28387<P>Phone: 910-693-3324<P><BR>Joe Taubitz

You might also check the number and see if they are in fact 455pistons.

it is not a good idea to try to run those pistons in that block, as you will destroy it and it will rattle so bad it will scare you. You will be much better off to try to find some .030 over pistons. It is very difficult to find a block good enough to run standard pistons any more, so you may have learned an expensive lesson

I had the same problem with my 40 when I changed third members. There is a procedure in the book that tell you how to resolve the problem, but it means disassembling the rear end. I solved my dilemma by jamming the rear end under the work bench ,which was attached to the wall ,and using my floor jack to bend the drive shaft. it took 2 0r 3 times to get it running in the middle of the torque tube, but it doesn't vibrate,and I found out the hard way( put it together anddrove it ) thatif it isn't in the middle ,it will shake

Nailhead, you bring up an interesting point. the same cars win because they are show cars and will win avery year. The 400 point system allows any car that reaches a certain point level to win. there are new cars that become seniors every year ,because the owners of those cars have seen fit to fix the problems found by the judges in previous years. Many cars get their preservation award every year because they are maintained in perfect condition. You are the one that must decide whether you want a driver or an award winner.

The only thing that will fit ,without major rework is a 322, and that is a bolt in. If you want to change the bell housing on the trans you can use the 364 or 401 without too much work. If you do anything else,you must( as earlier stated) change the complete drive line,and that is a JOB

I just read my post and realized that I forgot to mention that we just had a national in the southeast and we are having 2001 within 50 miles of Batavia ,so it seems only sensible to do wht the board did.

I too went to the Sacramento meet ,and it was very nice. I have been to them all, and they all were good.The main problem is that the southwest is extremely HOT in the summer ,and if the meet is moved to a different time then many people ,due to vacation conatraints would not be able to attend. the idea of two nationals has been brought up before and at the time, Buick Motor Division stated that they would not support two National meets. BMD even though not involved as heavily now as they were are still Major sponsors of our meet. I am almost positive that if two or three of the west coast chapters made a presentation to the board ,it would be very well received

Martinsr, mea culpa, I forgot which was bigger and was too lazy to go in the barn and look.

I forgot that the stage-1 engines also used a steel shim head gasket, which will account for some of the difference. the reason that the heads had different numbers is that the 71 up heads had holes drilled for the AIR system

The 364 has a larger bolt circle. As long as you are changing , you might just as well put a 401 and have some REAL fun !! You could disturb the 55-57 chev boys with that set up and they would never know what hit 'em

The difference is in the piston dish.The combustion chambers are essentially the same. The difference in power was partially because they were rated differently. The 70 was rated bare and they started rating the later engines with all accessories and exhaust manifolds . they also retarded the timing

The 48 up Buick engines had side engine mounts ,and you would have to fab up something to hold the engine. You can run the 48 up engine in the early cars by utilizing the front mount off the early engine. Jim is right on about the rear of the crank. The Dynaflow engine must have the rear of the crank changed to accept a stick tranny<P>------------------<BR>

I usually go to a trans shop and go through their truck speedo adaptors. They have units that screw on the trans and have ratios from .5-1 to 1.8-1 and you can bring your speedo very close without having to fight the old unit out<P>------------------<BR>

there was an altered at central Mich dragway the had a front mounted Potvin blower with a reverse grind cam on a nail head back in the late 60s and the guy said he did it because he could push fuel through the little exhaust valves and scavenge with the larger intakes. It seemed to run quite well, but I don't remember the numbers. I know he gave Gabby Bleeker from Chicago all he could handle ,and Gabby ran a fuel altered

You can probably purchase a judges hand book from the national office ,and that will tell you what the judges look for . it will also give you info on originality .

They are bothh great cars, ,but you will probably find there will be a Buick Club of America chapter in your state which will give you some new touring friends ,so I recommend the Buick. they really are a nice car. I am probably a little prejudiced ,as I have been in the BCA for over 30 years, and think they are the nicest people on the planet