Glad you enjoyed!

Thank you! Agree 100%

Believe it or not, these were referred to in car magazines as "nail valve" v8s back in the 60s and 70s. The resemblance of the cylinder heads to nails escapes me.

Thanks!

thanks man same here, I gotta have my buick road worthy! and damn that is insane!!

Socal CALIFORNIA last summer it went to over 7 dollars a gallon also. It's down a little now.

thanks dude! i agree

That’s way cool to hear!

That’s awesome man hell yea💪🏼

you know it...such a gem most people are unaware how cool buicks were

Very true

Thank you, she does purr. That’s a fun story woulda been cool to see them line up, the cat is torquey but that fairlane would be quick!

@@FanelliRestorations For sure on the cat and fairlane!

I appreciate it and yes correct it’s a 401 🤘🏼

😂😂 if you’re here watching my videos that means you’re still a young fart at heart 💪🏼

thank you! yes you do man, I love metal work but I get it...chisel away a little each week man and she'll get back on the road!

Did you notice detonation or misfiring with a lower octane? I used to do premium but then tried 85 and it’s been fine, 16 years later it still tears around town and is responsive without misfiring. Driven at sea level in NY and NC and also here in Utah at 3000-6000 MSL. Heads were worked before I bought it hardened seats so it didn’t need leaded but still that wouldn’t matter necessarily towards octane. Long story short; I just have put in 85 for so long and it’s always run fine without any other modification.

@@FanelliRestorations Mine was not restored, bought it in 1976, and yes with a full tune op and new Quadrajet it needed premium leaded as or it knocked.

@@FanelliRestorations My '65 401 is stock but I've tried 87 (lowest grade available here) in it and it didn't like it! It's okay with 91. It might have some carbon build up but these engines aren't low compression engines that are designed to work with regular gas. There were some low compression 401 engines in 1962-63 LeSabre available as a no extra cost option with 9 to 1 compression (which were called Wildcat 375E) even the standard two barrel Wildcat 410 in the 1962-63 LeSabre required premium and had the same 10.25 compression ratio as the 4 barrel Wildcat 445 version. As for valve seats, I have some recessed valves in 430 heads, never opened this one to see how they were.

That’s funny you say that mine here holds exactly 38 psi as well under operation, at idle drops down to about 34/35. They are gems, glad you got yours rebuilt!

Yeah man been running 85/87 lowest grade in this car for 16 years, never pings Mrs. or stumbles. Engine was rebuilt back in the early 2000s so likely he did work on the heads and valve seats when it was rebuilt so we can run unleaded. Is yours stock?

@@FanelliRestorations I have a 74 Century GS455, but it was built with 10:1 pistons and a .490 lift camshaft. It had headers, Alum intake , MSD igntion and Edelbrock carb when I got it 5 years ago. Just changed back to Quadrajet and HEI igntion - she is really smooth and strong!

It doesn’t have a switch pitch. It’s a Turbo Hydromatic 400 in my car, not Super Turbine.

@@FanelliRestorations Ah, so someone changed the transmission. I wonder why. The Super Turbine 400 was the standard transmission on all 1964-1967 Wildcats, Electras and Rivieras and optional on LeSabres which came standard with the Super Turbine 300. It was also standard on all Cadillacs of these years except for the 1964 Fleetwood, which held on to the Hydromatic one last year.

@@FanelliRestorations Unless someone replaced the transmission with a later Jeep transmission, it has to be a ST-400 or it wouldn't bolt to your 401 engine! And the 1964 ST-400 didn't have the switch pitch but all the 1965-67 had it. They have a box type oil filter rather than the 1968 and newer flat filter (the 1968 transmission was still called ST-400 BTW but it lacked the switch pitch feature and it didn't fit on a Nailhead). Two ways to tell if it's a switch pitch or not is to look at a horse shoe embossing stamped in the oil pan and the two wires connecting to the transmission for the kickdown and switch pitch (the models without switch pitch have just one wire for the kickdown) And those with the Nailhead bellhousing are either from a 1964-67 Buick with a 401/425 or from a later Jeep as Kaiser Jeep used Nailhead transmissions with an adapter plate to fit it to a Buick 350 in the late 1960s! They must have bought overstock from GM! Here's a small video I made of the microswitch that switches the pitch to high stall at idle, the kickdown switch next to the carburator with the orange boot switches it back to high stall near WOT. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ld1yhJSS19XLqmw.htmlsi=Eg5r9AHkKG1rWGp7

I appreciate the support and insight, I’ve owned this car for 17 years and I baby it, the 4 wheel drums are actually very sturdy especially around town, only issue is brake fade with drums but I don’t drive it ever to that point. The front drums are 12” which are pretty massive. I did buy a disc conversion years ago, one day I’ll put them on.

It terrifies me to think what I got away with in that car as a young person. I didn't know any better but I'm alive.@@FanelliRestorations

401 cubic inch nailhead, 425 came in the GS with dual quads

We do when we need them, not interested at this time but thank you!

He also has hardened valve seats and has owned this car for 16 years, you don’t think he knows his car by now? Never misfires or knocks. Also, you’re off about the 101. The big misunderstanding that you have is thinking today's premium is much less octane than it was in the 60's. Youre thinking 100 octane premium ratings in the 60s as compared to today's 93 octane premium gas was 7 points higher octane but it’s not that different as seems because the ratings are posted differently now than they were in the 60's. The R+M/2 method of today measures 93 nearly the same at 101 back in the day. Regardless, she runs fine on 85/87. Have a nice day.

​@FanelliRestorations I run 87 in my 67 Special Deluxe in Socal never had any problems. The heads are stock never been off the car.

With my '66 Wildcat, I was informed by numerous sources that the Nailhead came with hardened valves. I have been running 87 octane in my 'Caty since I got it 3 years ago. Runs smooth and solid.

@chuckandjenbridges721 Me too the V6 has never been apart. I run 87 in Socal. Never had a problem we also change summer and winter grade gas here. I hope it comes down soon its almost 7 dollars a gallon.

It’s not that serious man😅. Restorations can mean a lot of things, it also doesn’t mean that ever car I own/build has yet been completed. I have the factory AC unit for my car and plan to restore it, but until then I drive the car and enjoy it. Did you “restore” your Buick Wildcat’s A/C?

@@FanelliRestorations Yes I did. My 1963 Wildcat two door did not have A/C. So I bought a rusty 1963 4 Door parts car with A/C and used it to seamlessly install it into my car. It involved swapping out the dash, cutting a fairly large square hole into my car and so on. I replaced all the vacuum motors, vacuum lines, the compressor, the drier, and heater core. Another thing that bothers me is when people put in generic or custom interiors. I procured the original two tone vinyl (maroon and pink) and had them properly dielectrically heat seamed to match the original patterns. The strict definition of restoration is to return something to original, including form, function and quality. And I certainly do not drive my cars while under the process of being restored. The only work I farm out is machining, plating, transmission and sewing. I do body, paint, mechanical, suspension, chassis, engine. Well I should say USED to do. Now it hurts my body too much to do this heavy work. I did these things in my garage or driveway with floor jacks, engine hoist and engine stand. Even lifted bodies off frames with the help of friends and brute force. It never took me more than 6 months from start to finish, including working a full time job. And I lost a fortune on every car I ever did because I did not cut corners or skrimp. I restored every car like I was going to keep it forever. But every two years or so, I got bored and had to start all over again with another car. If not for cars I would be a millionaire today!

@@MostlyBuicks 👍