1933 Pontiac

[Dirtyrat]

I think it looks great too! Nice job!

 

[MercuryMac]

The car's coming along nicely. I agree with you about not cutting up really nice side curtains, but can you find someone who will need them for a resto. Keep on tinkering.

 

[Old Iron]

The car's coming along nicely. I agree with you about not cutting up really nice side curtains, but can you find someone who will need them for a resto. Keep on tinkering.

MM, I have another 33 Pontiac waiting in the wings for some sort of project so, most likely they will go on it

 

[Torchie]

I agree with everyone as well. Looks great.
Whats the status on the nailhead? One of my all time favorite engines.
Torchie.

 

[Old Iron]

The engine is at the machine shop with some new parts laying on it. The builder had some other things to get off his plate and is now working on mine.
I should have it in about a week and a half.
Tomorrow is a dedicated day in the shop, working on the car.

 

[Torchie]

The engine is at the machine shop with some new parts laying on it. The builder had some other things to get off his plate and is now working on mine.
I should have it in about a week and a half.
Tomorrow is a dedicated day in the shop, working on the car.

Cool. Can't wait to see some pics of the nailhead. I've got a 1958 364 sitting on an engine stand right now. Was going to be the powerplant for my custom but am going with a flathead for now.. My problem is finding a shop around here that knows anything about the Buick engine. I will do the assembly but need to have some machine work done on the block first.
Torchie.

 

[Old Iron]

Torchie, You are correct about this engine being totally different than all others.
I'm lucky enough to have been friends with my machinist for years and he and I have an open line of communication.
I directed him to the guru of Nailheads, Russ Martin.
Russ has a website that will get any open minded machinist going in the right direction. Russ has done a write up of what and what not to do to one, under the Tech tab on his site.
Here's the link;
http://nailheadbuick.com/
Russ also sells all the parts, at a competitive price, to put a Nailhead together correctly.

 

[Torchie]

Torchie, You are correct about this engine being totally different than all others.
I'm lucky enough to have been friends with my machinist for years and he and I have an open line of communication.
I directed him to the guru of Nailheads, Russ Martin.
Russ has a website that will get any open minded machinist going in the right direction. Russ has done a write up of what and what not to do to one, under the Tech tab on his site.
Here's the link;
http://nailheadbuick.com/
Russ also sells all the parts, at a competitive price, to put a Nailhead together correctly.

Good call on Russ Martin link Old Iron.
I have one of the nailhead books that he contributed too as well as having talked to him on the phone. He runs a busy shop but has always had time to answer any of my questions. A great guy and a wealth of nailhead info.
Good to hear that you got a guy you can trust.
Torchie.

 

[Old Iron]

I thought I was gonna get an uninterrupted day. Thought, being the optimum word
I was able to get some done.
I had to build a clutch arm and mount. I then was able to get it installed too
I made spoon style pads and welded them on then figured I might as well install the accelerator pedal.

The bolt going through the clutch arm pivot look like its in crooked but, it's an optical illusion, I checked [S

 

[Torchie]

Looks Great.[cl[cl

 

[Old Iron]

i worked in the shop again today.
For some reason I seemed to be slower than usual [S
I made the 2 inside door panels out of 18 gauge and installed one of the electric windows I'm using.
I first broke these out on the press brake then bead rolled around where the openings will be. I cut the openings after doing the bead rolling.
The curve of the door from top to bottom required using the shrinker stretcher

The first pic is laying out the bolt holes for drilling

This pic is after I mounted the electric window regulator and shows the curvature of the panel

This is the panel resting in the door ready to be welded in

This is with the door shut

I am going to get to work in the shop again tomorrow because, my Friday job canceled [cl

 

[Old Iron]

I just realized I missed the pic on how I mounted the regulator

 

[Torchie]

Fine looking craftsmanship as always Old Iron.[cl
Torchie.

 

[Old Iron]

Door latches

After getting the inner panels made and installed. I decided to install the small bear claw latches I purchased of dabay.
For the members that have never dealt with these, I took pics of the installation steps.
For those of us that have done these, I installed these upside down to make it easier to connect my door handles and you'll see why in a minute.

This first pic is what I'm working with. The large bear claws would not fit in the door because of their size and would interfere with the window glass channels.

Next two pics is the area it goes in.
In the second pic if you don't get the installation kit you have to make these parts.

The next pics are how I transfer the striker location from the B pillar to the door
Hold a sharpie horizontal against the side of the vehicle where the striker is going to be and swing the door past the marker tip to transfer this position to the door

Here's what you'll get

Now take the latch plate and mark the center of the slot

Opps, I missed a pic but, I'll explain what I did.
Lay the latch plate against the door edge and mark where the plate will contact the door seal relief then, slice a notch in the corner so the plate can slide through it for marking the next step.

With the plate slid into the slot, position the two marks and scribe around all the edges.
I used a scratch all for this but, a pencil works fine.

 

[Old Iron]

Latches cointinued

Now scribe the plate where it slid through the slot you made in the door earlier.

Remove the latch plate and where you scribed the door, cut this area out of the door. I used a die grinder with a thin kerf cutoff wheel.

At this point if you're installing door handle trim rings? Here is a good time to install them too.

You can buy the installation tools that allow you to install these later but, what's the fun in that?
I Took a flat washer and drove a punch through it over a hole in my welding table to create a flaring swedge to flare the back side of the trim ring.

I took a 1/2" fine thread bolt a couple of nuts and washers and a 1/2" lug nut. The lug nut's taper fit the swedged washer to keep it centered.

With the trim ring positioned in the door, run the bolt through the ring and put the swedge washer on first then the lug nut, with the taper facing the back of the ring and run the nut up finger tight.
There is a washer between the first nut and the face of the ring to keep from scuffing the ring. Hold the first nut with a wrench and tighten the the bolt with another wrench. The lug nut will hold itself because of the swedge washer.

Only tighten the bolt enough to pull the ring snug to the door and this is what you'll end up with

 

[Old Iron]

Door latch continued

Back to the latch plate. Where the latch plate slid through the slot in the door and you marked the plate, cut the plate off on this line. If you don't cut this part off it could interfere with the door handle.
Weld this plate in and that part is done.

Moving on to the striker plate

Position the striker plate on the B pillar and scribe around the edges.

Cut along the scribed lines and remove this part.
With a pair of needle nosed vice grips, hold the striker in place and shut the door to see if the striker is in the right position to enter the latch plate.
I had to bend the tabs back to get the correct clearance for mine.

Weld the striker plate in and fill in any gaps that might be left and your finished with the installation.

 

[Old Iron]

Reason

OK, if you'll remember I said that I installed the latches upside down so, here is the reason [S
I thought about this for a little while and my pea brain came up with this solution [dr [ddd
The rear window glass track was between the door handle and the latch lever so, I didn't have a direct route to connect them together.
I figured if the latch was turned upside down, the lever would have to be pushed up the release the latch.

I decided to build a bell crank so when the door handle was pulled down the latch lever would be pushed up.

This allowed me to have long arms to the bell crank and I could drop below the window glass then back up to activate the latch lever.
Since I'm not ever gonna lock my vehicle anyway, I remove the locking lever.
Here's a look inside the door as to what I ended up with.
At the bottom

At the top

 

[Torchie]

Nice job and a Great tutorial to boot.
How's that Nailhead coming???
Torchie.

 

[1952B3b23]

Looks good and thanks for doing a step by step!

-Chris

 

[Old Iron]

Nailhead Engine

Thanks for lookin.
Torchie, I went to the machinist and he has made some headway.
The Engine has been rebuilt at one time or another.
It has been bored .030 over and looks really good. We are going to be able to use the pistons, he has already honed the cylinders and the block is going in the parts washer tomorrow.
One of the rod bearings had been spun which, I new this going in so, I bought a replacement rod from Russ Martin.
The crank had been turned, rods being .010 mains being .020
The crank had to be straighten before grinding it to, rods .020 mains .030 also bought the bearings from Martin.
It looks like a week and a half I'll have the engine back at my place [cl
I have never seen the combustion chambers of a nailhead and for those who haven't either here's a couple of pics.
They have a large amount of CC volume in them.