page_title: Buick V8 engine
section_title: Buick "Nailhead V8" (first generation)
hierarchical_section_title: Buick V8 engine / Buick "Nailhead V8" (first generation)
caption_attribution_description: English: The 322 ci Nailhead V8 engine in a 1956 Buick Century.
context_page_description: The Buick V8 is a family of V8 engines produced by the Buick division of General Motors between 1953 and 1981. The first version replaced the Buick straight-eight. Displacements vary from 215 cu in to 455 cu in for its last big block in 1976. All are naturally aspirated OHV pushrod engines, except for an optional turbocharged version of the short-lived 215 used in the 1962-63 Oldsmobile Cutlass.
  There were six displacements of the "nailhead" in two generations between 1953 and 1966, varying from 264 cu in to 425 cu in; three displacements of standard cast iron small blocks between 1964 and 1981, and 300 cu in and 350 cu in; one of the 215 cu in aluminum blocks; and three big blocks between 1967 and 1976 and 400 cu in and 455 cu in.
  Some of these Buick V8s, such as the 350, 400, and 455, had the same displacements as those from other GM divisions, but were otherwise entirely different engines.
context_section_description: Buick's first generation of V8 was offered from 1953 through 1956. It was an OHV pushrod engine like the then-new Oldsmobile "Rocket V8". It became known as the "nailhead" for the unusual vertical alignment of its small-sized valves, features that were the result of putting both valves on the intake manifold side of the "pent-roof" combustion chamber used in this engine series.  (Originally, it was known to hot rodders as the “nail valve” because the valves had long stems and small heads which made them look like nails.) To offset the smaller-sized valves and restrictive intake- and exhaust-port diameters, the nailhead V8 family used a camshaft with greater lift and duration. The small-diameter intake runners allowed these engines to develop high torque, with many exceeding one foot-pound per cubic inch, exceptional for the time. All of the nailhead designs have a 4.75 in (121 mm) bore spacing.
caption: The 322 Nailhead V8 in a 1956 Buick Century
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