Nailhead interesting tidbit

So i was checkin out wikipedia and came across this little bit of info i found interesting, and thought about how ingenious our 'fathers' of hotrodding and drag racing were....

this is about the Buick Nailhead series engine.
'In an effort to overcome the "restrictive" exhaust port design, Buick enthusiast drag racers in the sixties adapted superchargers with a custom camshaft to feed intake air in through the exhaust ports and used the larger intake ports for exhaust outlets. Perhaps this feat of ingenuity, and the unusual appearance of the engine modified in this manner, also intimidated rival racers and added to the Nailhead V8 legend that lives upon this page of US auto history.'

holy balls i couldn't imagine the balls it would take to reverse grind a cam and build/modify a supercharger to push in thru the exhaust ports and build new headers where the intake goes. especially fifty years ago. that blows my mind, and i hope it blows yours too.

Wow... I need to see some pics now.

wow thats pretty crazy stuff

thats freakin sweet. I bet thats one crazy lookin engine.

I wanna put one of those in my mazda!!!

Do a search for a Ford indy V-8 also if you want an oddity for a motor.

thats pretty crazy. definitely would intimidate me if i saw that pull up next to me at the line.

Interesting thead. Just read an article about a nes chevy diesel engine design using this exact same principle. Reason being - the shorter the distance from the exhast port to the turbo the better. Therefore, the turbo is in the valley between the banks.

October 2008 Popular Science, Page 22

sweet pic thanks for the post.