Interference

When the engine was running, a ticking noise could be heard coming from under the valve covers. When the covers were removed, it became obvious that the rocker arms were hitting the top of the valve spring assembly. This was due to a combination of a unique (weird?) engine design and modifications which we made to the valve train to increase performance.



Unlike any other popular overhead valve engine, the ’53 to ’64 Buick engines had a rocker arrangement where the rockers met the pushrods on the outboard side of the head and the valves on the inboard side. Viewed from the side, the valve stem crossed the pushrod. This had several advantages: The valve placement was near the center of the head (like a Hemi), the engine was narrow for its displacement, and the engine had a lot of torque. Buick was so proud of the torque numbers that they used them to identify the engine instead of horsepower or displacement. The 340 horsepower 425 was called a Wildcat 465. The 360 horsepower two four barrel version was dubbed Super Wildcat 465.

However, the valve arrangement also had disadvantages. One of them is that the valve placement necessitated very small valves for the engine displacement, giving rise to the derisive term “Nailhead” to describe the engine. The rocker arms also have an angular configuration in two dimensions; viewed from the side and from above. There is very little clearance between the rocker arm and the valve spring assembly. In addition, the exhaust passages are long and tortuous, making these engines harder to cool than most.

Kenne-Bell used to be the go-to company for performance Buick parts. (They have since switched to Mustangs because very few performance Buicks are being built nowadays.)
Kenne-Bell valve springs for Buicks are larger in outside diameter than original Buick springs. This extra diameter exacerbates the rocker to spring clearance problem. The rocker arms must be hand filed to provide at least .030 clearance.

After the rocker arms were filed, the engine noise disappeared.

On March 16, 2001 the car was loaded on Passport Transport and shipped to Denver where I lived at that time. The car had spent four years and one day at Rustic.

Disengagement (Part 1)

Except for temporary transportation units, I have never owned a vehicle with an automatic transmission. I was determined not to build one.

I talked to Darrell Shepher at 4 Speeds by Darrell about building an M-22. Because new gears, especially second gear, were getting rare, the cost would be $2,475 (In 1997!). I could save $1000 by using Italian gears. I asked what the difference was and Darrell said the Italian gears were not as strong. What is the sense of a rock crusher with weak gears? You might as well use a Super T-10. I ordered the transmission with GM gears. Darrell said he had a Doug Nash cast iron case for an M-22. The purists didn’t want it because it wasn’t original. He would use the cast iron case for the same price. Sold!

We used TCI under floor pedals with a ¾” bore clutch master cylinder and a remote reservoir for the clutch master. Quartermaster supplied a hydraulic throwout bearing. The clutch is a Centerforce Dual Friction unit for a 427 Corvette.

It took a long time to bleed the clutch the first time. The master cylinder began to leak after a few cycles.

A new ¾” master cylinder was ordered from TCI and installed. It also leaked.

A 1” master cylinder was ordered from TCI and installed. It bled much faster than the ¾” cylinders. Due to the lack of a pedal stop, the increased fluid flow blew out the seals in the throwout bearing.

The engine and transmission were removed from the car and separated. The throwout bearing was rebuilt with new seals and reinstalled. The engine and transmission were put back in the car. We went back to a ¾” master cylinder. The throwout bearing still leaked.

The engine and trans were removed again. The throwout bearing was disassembled. The O-rings looked good and there was no apparent damage to the metal parts. The Quartermaster distributor supplied a new throwout bearing which was bench tested and worked OK.

The engine and trans were reinstalled. The clutch system bled well but started to leak after a couple of cycles. The engine and transmission were removed for the third time. The outer O-ring was broken clear through at the top. The throwout bearing was rebuilt with new seals and reinstalled. After engine installation, the system was bled and cycled. No leaks appeared. An adjustable pedal stop was installed.

We reused the Hurst shifter which was on the old transmission. Shifting without the engine running, the linkage felt “crunchy” in first and second gear and “rubbery” in third and fourth.
With the engine running, the transmission would only shift into fourth gear. Several tries at adjustment finally resulted in the ability to shift into all gears, but it was well short of shifting well. The car moved under its own power on June 29, 1999.

Rustic replaced the shift tower with another that they had. There was a slight improvement, but the shifter was still tight. Did I want to buy a new shifter? No, I wanted them to try the old one again. It worked and seemed to shift OK.

Decisions and Mistakes

Rustic Street Rods started to work on the car on February 4, 1997.

The first decision I had to make was whether to continue to use the existing modified ‘39 Ford frame or switch to a new aftermarket unit. Because the existing frame had independent suspension front and rear, Corvette disc brakes and engine mounts for the Buick, I decided to use it. I’m not sure that choice saved me any money or time. If I had it to do over, I would probably use a Fat Man frame.

Rustic modified the timing cover for a rubber crankshaft seal to replace the rope type and repaired a broken mounting tab on the water inlet manifold. They also removed rear sump oil pan from the engine in the car. The three pieces were sent to Jet-Hot coatings. The timing cover and water manifold received a high luster silver coating to reduce electrolysis between the aluminum casting and the cast iron block and improve appearance. The pan was coated with a black thermal dissipation coating applied to aid oil cooling.

I wanted to louver the hood for cooling also, but I wanted it to look like it was done in the ‘60s. Rustic found Nostalgia Motors in Boonton, NJ, who had a louver die made in 1951. Rustic had Nostalgia Motors punch 102 louvers in six rows. They also filled the holes for the lower hood spears and Ford Deluxe script. When the hood came back, I hated it.

Rather than remove the rear hood brace to start the rows closer to the cowl, they started each row forward of the brace. Worse yet, the rearmost louvers were straight across the hood so the shortcut was obvious.


I told Rustic that I wanted 24 more louvers punched; five in each outside row, then four in the next rows, and three in each inboard row. Nostalgia Motors said because of the punch design they couldn’t punch louvers behind a row. They suggested starting over on a different hood. The alternative would be to remove the brace, cut the hood at the rear louver line, punch the removed piece then weld the hood back together.
I knew that every time I drove or looked at the car, the louver design would piss me off, so I told Rustic to have Nostalgia Motors dissect the hood and add louvers. They did a nice job. It’s important to like your hood.
Rustic removed the much reworked firewall and replaced it with a Bitchin Products piece. They were able to use the small block model because the Nailhead Buick is quite narrow for a seven liter engine.
At my direction Rustic sent the speedometer and gauge cluster to United Speedometer for alteration. United was given the following parameters:
Speedometer – 140 mph
Battery – 16 volts
Oil pressure – 80 psi
Water temperature – 280 degrees
The alcohol thermometer tube in the temperature gauge was to be replaced with an LED stack which glowed green up to 240 degrees, then amber, then red.
When the instruments came back the speedometer was modified to 120 mph instead of 140.

Rustic sent it back.

It came back with a 140 mph face plate which didn’t match the instrument cluster.

Rustic sent the speedometer back again with the gauge cluster so United could match the two face plates. This time, it came back perfectly matched. United Speedometer was patient and responsive to our needs throughout this whole episode.