[tyoneal]

Jason:

"Dare to be Different!", and keep the, "Nailhead 401". They are starting to build good Nailhead parts and they have tons of Torque Bone Stock anyway. I think the 401's make 445 ft pounds at 2800 rpm's.

There is a good Nailhead site in Yahoo Groups. Edelbrock is looking at making some aluminum heads for them as well.

They look like no other engine out there and some sweet 2X4 intakes, good Cams, Headers, roller rockers, MSD Distributors, etc. are already being built.

Do give it some thought, I have a Riviera (1965) with a 425 c.i. and for a 4400 pound car it will **** and Get.

Give it some serious thought. T A Performance makes a lot of Nailhead Stuff as do others. If interested, PM me and I'll pass along my contacts. Big Sway Bars, quick ratio steering boxes are all available.

It sounds like from the first description that it may have an Automatic. Before you yank it out, check out the, "Switch Pitch", convertors that are made to be run off the throttle or a isolated toggle switch. You can drive around and have it stall at about 1800 rpm's, or toggle your switch and have it stall at about 3000. It's a very cool set up, and one which can allow you to really surprise a lot of people of a light. They kept those Tranny's until '67 then went with the THM400. The Switch Pitch is basically a 400 with the special Convertor and valve body on it I believe.

It looks like you bought a Jewel. I hope you have a blast with it Please keep us posted on your progress, or at least me and the people at the Nailhead Forum on Yahoo. Back in, "The Day", they were one of THE engines to Hotrod because they made all that torque so easily.

The Bottom end in those already have forged cranks and rods. With a set of pistons a turbo would really wake one up in a hurry.

Anyway, have fun and Congratulations.

Ty O'Neal