Building a Better Buick, Part II

There's an old Buick ad slogan that stated, "Go First, Go Buick." First in styling, first in comfort, and first in performance were what the marketing people were suggesting. Although Buicks always had an excellent reputation as luxury cars, they weren't really known for exceptional performance until the company introduced a 322ci V-8 engine in 1953. Nicknamed the "nailhead" because of the unique head design, the engine increased in size in 1957 to 364ci, and again in 1959 to 401ci. The engine design really reached its pinnacle with a 425ci engine in some of the top-of-the-line mid-'60s Buicks, including the Riviera.

Hot rodders were quick to capitalize on the Buick engine's torque and horsepower early on, so many really nice hot rods were Buick-powered. Tony Nancy ran a Buick engine in his drag roadster. Tommy Ivo used Buick power in his famous T-bucket, and later in a four-engine exhibition dragster. If you go through back issues of R&C, you will find quite a collection of nailhead-powered rods and customs.

Recently, we picked up a '65 401 Buick engine at Memory Lane in Sun Valley, California, and did a complete rebuild of the engine. Although parts are getting a little scarce for nailhead engines, there are still a few companies that offer a full line of rebuilding parts. One of the companies offering rebuilding kits for many early engines is Kanter Auto Products. We ordered a complete rebuilding kit which included rings, bearings, pistons, rocker arms, pushrods, cam, lifters, timing chain, oil pump rebuilding kit, and gasket kit. The company also has parts for other antique engines such as early Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Chrysler Hemis, and even flathead Fords.

The only part that is difficult to find for Buicks is a high-performance camshaft. It's possible to find some high-performance grinds at swap meets, but a better way is to contact Classic Buicks, which offers five different selections of Kenne-Bell camshafts for nailhead engines, We selected a KB Mark 2A hydraulic camshaft featuring a 0.475-inch intake lift and 0.488-inch exhaust lift with 270 degrees intake duration and 278 degrees exhaust duration. The cam is cut on a 110-degree lobe center and offers increased power from 1,400 to 6,000 rpm. Rocker Arm Specialists rebuilt the rocker arm assemblies and made them adjustable for fine-tuning the engine.

In original form with a single four-barrel carb and OEM cam, the engine was rated at 325 hp, so we decided to increase the engine's performance with the installation of the Kenne-Bell cam and an Offenhauser dual-quad intake topped by a pair of 500-cfm Holley carburetors. Appearance additions include Offenhauser finned aluminum valve covers, Mooneyes breathers, O'Brien Truckers finned aluminum spark plug covers and air cleaner, and a Mooneyes finned aluminum rocker cover. Custom appearance additions include polishing the aluminum timing chain cover and aluminum water pump. A.R.P. stainless bolts were used to fasten the water pump, timing chain assembly, and intake manifold. The engine studs for the crankshaft journals and heads are also A.R.P. products.

All of the engine machining was performed by the talented folks at Jim Grubbs Motorsports in Valencia, California. The engine was bored, the crank was ground, and the heads were rebuilt. The reciprocating assembly was balanced for smooth performance and durability. In the last issue, we showed you the machining steps performed on the engine. In this issue we will show you the assembly procedures.