Here's a question to show my ignorance. You can probably guess my age from this too.

What fuel should I run in my '62 401 Nailhead? I know that when the car was built there was only "leaded" gasoline. I know that unleaded can affect the valve seats on older motors like flatheads, but what about my Nail? Should I use a lead additive, or am I okay running 87/89 pump gas? If I should use a lead additive, what would you guys recommend?

Thanks,


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Eric Hibbs
Southern Utah

'31 Ford Tudor street rod
'60 Chevy Bel-Air
'62 Buick Invicta Wagon

If you have a 4bbl 401, you should run 92-93 octane,as the compression is such thatyou could harm the engine with the lower octane fuel. I do not run any additives in my Buicks ,and have had no problems . I drive more miles than most in old cars, and have never seen any need for additives in the Buicks.

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Joe T
37Buick coupe /455 powered
40 Super convert
57special on 72 Electra chassis
72 GS455 convert 13.0/105
63 225 2dr Hard top 25K original miles

I have a 63 401 rebuilt completly stock with tri-power. I've always ran regular unleaded 85 octane. No problems yet, however I only have about 6000 miles on it. It's in a 29 model A roadster.

According to the 62and 63 shop manual ,the 401 was available in two compression ratios. 9 to 1 and 10.25 to 1. The books list both as needing 93 octane fuel. If you are running on regular , you might find that resetting the timing will give you a much more responsive engine. The 401 requires 12 degrees initial advance


[This message has been edited by theoldguy (edited 10-01-2002).]

I HAVE A 63 NAILHEAD AND IF I USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN 93/94 IT DOESNT RUN RIGHT

All very good input, thanks. I'll put in a tank of 92/93 and see if there is a noticable difference, and re-time it for safety's sake.

(Hey Nailhead Guy, sounds like you and I share some interests. It was awfully tempting to pull my SBC out of my Tudor and put the Nail in, but everyone else on this board will be happy to know that I won't do it! The '62 is in too good of condition. Maybe I'll come across another Nail soon!)


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Eric Hibbs
Southern Utah

'31 Ford Tudor street rod
'60 Chevy Bel-Air
'62 Buick Invicta Wagon

Hi everyone. I'm new to the board, but I had a question on this very topic, so I thought I'd put it up here. I have a '54 Buick Special 2 door tourback sedan with the 264 V8/3 speed. Has anyone had any problems with these older engines burning valves due to not running leaded fuel or lead additive? The car is a completely origional one owner car with only 72,XXX miles and I would hate to damage the engine over a $2 or $3 bottle of lead additive. I didn't know if there was much difference between this motor and the later 401's, so I thought I better ask. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, John

P.S. Does anyone know of any companies that sell rebuilt or new heater cores for this car? Or maybe even if one of you have a good used one for sale, let me know. That's the only problem it's got right now, and cooler weather is just around the corner. Thanks again.

I had a 57 Buick Caballero wagon that I pulled an Airstream trailer all over the country with a few years ago. I was told that if you used the engines hard ,you might have some valve recession, so I pulled a head one winter, just to check. I never used any additives,and the valves looked like new,so I put the head back on ,and it rqan like new. My 40 has been driven 90,000+ miles and has never seen any additives ,and it still runs perfectly.

I have a 57 Super and I used to run 87 with a lead additive and every time I shut her off she'd disel out for about 5-45 seconds so then I decided to try running 91 and now I get almost no problems, despite my carb.