454 Swap 1964 Wildcat

Alois

Member
Any info regarding a 454 swap into my Wildcat convertible would be appreciated especially oil pan issues.
 
Your going to need a trans as well. The Nailhead bellhousing pattern is different then chevy. So, you will need a trans with a chevy belhousing. The radiator outlets are reversed meaning you will need a custom or post Nailhead radiator. you are going to need a midsump pan and pick up. I don't know what chevy offers there. You will need to fabricate your exhaust to the chevy manifolds. You will be able to use common BBC motor mounts , but you may have to fabricate the frame pads where they attach. Wiring harness may need to be lengthened and mover from side to side depending on starter placement. That is all I can think of for now.
 
Your going to need a trans as well. The Nailhead bellhousing pattern is different then chevy. So, you will need a trans with a chevy belhousing. The radiator outlets are reversed meaning you will need a custom or post Nailhead radiator. you are going to need a midsump pan and pick up. I don't know what chevy offers there. You will need to fabricate your exhaust to the chevy manifolds. You will be able to use common BBC motor mounts , but you may have to fabricate the frame pads where they attach. Wiring harness may need to be lengthened and mover from side to side depending on starter placement. That is all I can think of for now.
I was thinking of using an adapter plate to allow using the Buick tranny thinking it might be less hassle to enable using the console shift. Thank you for your thoughts on this!!!
 
The Nailhead engine has part of the bell housing on the engine bolck (look at the back of yours.) This means the Nailhead transmission bell-housing is significantly shorter then the BOPC Bell or the Chevy bell. That is why the Nailhead ST400 trans was often adapted to other makes like Jeep or Rolls Royce from the factory. They could make a 2" adapter that for the bell and the particular engine. It matched right up with no spacers or hassle. These were purchased from GM used in these vehicles into the early 70 FYI. But, They did not make this adapter for a Chevy. So, unless you want to fabricate one, You are out of luck. I googled mid sump Chevy pan and only saw rear sumps. You might have to cut the rear sump off and mount it to the middle. You would have to fabricate the pick up tube as well (maybe from the original).
 
Put a 455 in it

He would still need a BOP trans as the Nailhead trans is completely different in the bell housing area. Were it mine, the pistons in the 401/425 could be upgraded to forged with the already forged crank and rods adding ARP hardware. Then a pro charger or nitrous would be more then powerful enough and not be unsafe for the engine. But, it is not mine.


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Put a 455 in it
I have the 401 obviously and a 430 that needs a total rebuild. I also have about 5 454's. Just seems the least hassle/cheapest would be to put together a 454 but the oil pan issues are causing me the most grief. Also don't know if using anything different will cause issues with the floor/console shifter. I can get a cheap 1976 455...use that and put the 1967 430 heads on it?
 
You could use the 455 with the the 430 heads, but they will be small valve heads unless you up grade them to stage one valves. You would have to use a composite gaskets and not the steel shim. You would have to use the 455 valve train or use hybrid pushrods with the 430 valve train. The 430 oiled the rockers through the heads and 455 oiled the rockers through the pushrods. Then you could use the 430 mid sump pan and pick up on your 455. Then you would just need a BOP trans. You would still need a radiator with the outlets reversed and modify wiring harnesses to suit.


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Wow...this is crazy. Just rebuilding the 430 would probably be good but I would still run into the tranny issue re: stick. I guess just rebuilding the 401 is going to have to do...darn.
 
There is a 62 Invicta on another site running 12.9 seconds in the quarter at 103 MPH. It is a rebuilt 401 (may have cast pistons) with a ST 400 trans and 3.23 rear gear using a 125 nitrous shot. It ran 13.6 without nitrous. That seems pretty good for a heavy old Buick. My 63 Riv with a 401 would spin the tires as long as I wanted with the two speed dynaflow. It had no issues getting out of its own way. All it had was dual exhaust and a Holley 750 DP. I know Telriv on this site had his 64 Riv in the 13s. It was basically stock. You could ask him for ideas since the drive train is the same and he supplies forged pistons.
 
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