Description of a new purchase from my shop log. I don't have this in my hot little hands yet but it is in transit.

June 27th 2016 Off on a momentary tangent. In the early sixties, building a copy of this model kit, I was fascinated by the Latham Supercharger and its four side draft Carter carbs on the Lincoln 430 engine. It wasn't long before the more compelling fascinations of beer and girls pushed this interest into the background. Now, almost sixty years later, while I'm playin' the back nine of life, the Latham Supercharger interest has pushed itself to the forefront again. This is like the Holy Grail of performance parts for me, similar to Ardun heads for Ferd flattie fans.

First time I saw a set up for sale was when I was hunting down vintage nailhead parts in 2012. I found a complete set up including carbs, belt, pulleys and manifold for a nailhead application. The price was high and I was underfunded at the time. I've been searching for a Latham ever since. Last week, I found one on eBay and grabbed it for the "Buy it now" price. The ID tag is missing and it comes with an early Chevy smallblock marine manifold. The idler pulley is on the right when looking at it from the front which, I understand, indicates a reverse rotation application such as a marine engine or even a Corvair. It will not work on the nailhead as is and will require a lot of Deep Ponder Mode time with beer and cigars. For now, it is a conversation piece. To paraphrase Jeremiah Johnson "But damn, it was a genuine Latham, and you couldn't go no better."

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I saw my first Nail Head in years at a local car show this week, neat to be into the old stuff like them or the early Chevy W motors

Just an interesting thought I had, FORD made revers rotation 427's, if you remember back into the old Cris Craft days, a lot of the bigger ones ran a pair of FE 427's, one would be regular rotation, and one would be reverse rotation.

Anyhow, great score on a rare old piece

Roger

 

Oh man is that a nice find. It's going to draw crowds at the shows.

 

If you are looking for a nailhead or just info on them let me know. Know lots of Buick people.... I'm from Flint.

 

Thanx fellas. Already have the nailhead. It's a '54 322 CI out of a Roadmaster. The good news is that when I got it apart and had a machinist friend come to look at it, we determined that the host car had been scrapped shortly after an engine rebuild and the engine will need very little machine work. Have been collecting parts for a few years. Some of those will change if I get the Latham working. Here's a link to the list.

http://www.laroke.com/larryk4674/2012/nailhead3.htm

 

It doesn't hurt as much when the purchases are spread over years

 

Too bad you are not up here in Michigan for this project. I know that there are a stashes of nailhead parts in the area. Also the level of knowledge is beyond anywhere else (friend of mine developed the turbo nailhead motor that made 700 ft/pounds of torque.)

 

The thing is that you have to think of it as an investment. A friend of mine was buying a BBC for his 79 Z-28. I tried like hell to get him to pay an extra $4,000 to put a 632 cubic inch big block Chevy. The 632 has H beam rods, forged pistons, aftermarket crank, aftermarket block, aftermarket heads for the wider bore spacing aftermarket block, etc., etc., etc. Instead he saved a little money and bought a 496 cubic inch BBC, that is a reconditioned factory 454 block, stroked / offset ground factory 454 cast crank, factory rods, hypereutectic pistons and aftermarket aluminum heads. The 632 makes over 200 more horsepower, you could run a 250 HP shot of nitrous and have well over 1,000 hp easy, and even if he grenades the engine and put holes in the block, you could resell the used race pieces and recoup a lot of the investment. Instead, he has more in the 496 than the 632 cost because of billet dress up, and if he blows the engine, he has junkyard scrap, plus hyper eutectics are junk and you sure can't run nos.

Similarly, even if he blows the nail head, the parts are still worth good money and a worn out roots is shelf art, while that Latham will always be a collectible piece.

Like wise, I have run factory Ford Iron 427's for years and you wouldn't believe what blown up junk goes for. My big bore Shelby aluminum block with stud kit is over $7,500 new with the big bore option. My Bill Coon cammer heads are $5,000 bare, that is no CNC porting, no valves, no $1800 rockers, no rocker shafts, no $2,000 billet cams. I wouldn't even think of talking to someone about selling my top fuel blower intake for less than $4,000, billet crank, Carrillo rods, it is all worth money even if broken.

I sold a set of bare cast iron factory Cammer heads that had been cracked and stitched for $3,000. Ask me about stitching an iron head if you don't know what that means.

Back in the 1980's, I went to a Super Chevy show in Indiana with my buddy with the 1,400 HP 1969 RS Z-28 DZ original car that was on the cover of Hot Rod twice and the cover of a Chevy magazine on their first issue ever and I saw an original ZL-1 aluminum block, one of the ones that would have been in one of the 69 1969 Camaros or one of the three 1969 ZL-1 Vettes. It had a hole in it welded back in that I could have put my head in and I am 6'3" 220 pounds. The bare unmachined welded block was for sale for $15,000. Likewise, most 427 ford Cammers had Iron heads, but the factory did make a few aluminum heads. around this same time, before aftermarket Cammer heads, I found a pair of factory Ford Aluminum Cammer heads, they had been cracked and warped, welded and decked and they were $13,000 for the pair bair without valves in Main.

Any time you get into a respected, rare, collectible engine like the ZL-1, Ford Cammer, Ford Boss 429, Ford 255 magnesium DOHC Indy engine, 426 Hemi, 392 Hemi, Chevy 348, 409, 427 W engines, Ford 427 Hi-Riser or tunnel port, Ford 302 Tunnel Port, Ford flatty, or Buick nail head, you will always be able to sell busted pieces to someone who will fix them. Look at how much a top end Arden Hemi for a Flatty brings or a whole 255 Ford Indy engine, or one of the all aluminum 496 cubic inch Ford Boss 429 Can Am engines with the full Hemi combustion chambers brings! And when the Cammer made well over 100 more horsepower than the Chrysler race Hemi, Chrysler geared up to build DOHC 4 valve per cylinder 426 Hemis, and only two of those engines got built before both the Cammer and the 426 Hemi got ruled out of NASCAR completion for 1965. Those two DOHC 4 valve 426 Hemis went to a Detroit area shop class as donations for student to learn on, any guess as to their value now? There is an original 1968 Z-28 factory cross ram on eBay right now for $26,500 for the intake, carbs, and linkage, likewise, the Boss 302 has an extremely rare Cross Boss intake manifold that takes an extremely rare Ford auto lite inline 4 barrel, these carbs were an attempt by Ford to design their own inline 4 barrel Webber style carburetor, the Carburetor's were available in two separate CFM flow configurations and likewise the Boss 302 cross boss intake could be had in a configuration that mounted one auto lite carb in the center mounted from front to back, or two of these carbs mounted one on each side from front to back.

I may be a FORD guy, but I bet I know a lot more about rare Chevies and rare Chrystlers than most here, and I have owned a lot of other rare cars as well as talk with and know many legends in the racing industry

 

Exactly!, instead of pursuing College right away, I bought my first car when I was 15 when I had my first job working in a slaughter house. I paid, $3,000 for a 1967 "S" code 390 big block fastback Mustang GT loaded with options and a 0.60 over 390 with 10.5 compression, Hooker Completion series headers, a factory Ford Aluminum 427 Low Riser intake with two 625 CFM competition series Carter Carbs, Mallory dual point distributor with Accel super Coil, Top Loader 4-speed with Hurst Completion Plus shifter and factory Ford 9 inch Traction Lock, I rub a Detroit locker these days . That dual 4 lowriser intake is worth $1,000 bare these days. When I bought my stang, it was down between it and a 426 Hemi Daytona with pistol grip 4 speed that was also $3,000 at the same time in the wheeler dealer cars for sale rag. In the end, the stang won out for me because one of my best buddies had a small block GT and both his and my car had the factory optional fold down rear seat access into the trunk. I cut foam rubber to fill the wheel wells, line the trunk, and had a roll out that would roll and cover the fold down inside the car and covered with a sheet. I am 6'3" and screwing in a Camaro or any back seat sucks, with the fold down, I had a bed that I could lay down on, and the slanted glass of the fastback was like a big moon roof. The other reason I didn't buy the Daytona is that everyone told me it was a top end car and too heavy for Drag Racing . A few years later, I found a 1968 & 1/2 Shelby GT-500 KR edition fastback with 40,056 original miles that had been parked for 11 years, the car had never been undercoated and had only speck rust showing through the factory overspray on the underside of the floor boards. The car still had the original 428 Cobra Jet, 4-speed, optional 3.91 possi 9 inch, optional original 10 spoke rims, and original option FM / 8-track tuner. The guy was getting his home mortgage foreclosed on and wanted $10,000 for the car. He drove 2 hours to my house, looked at my 1967 big block GT, and agreed to take my GT, my home stereo, and $5,000 for the Shelby, my mom would not co-sign the loan. I used to do swap meets just because a lot of stuff get sold or traded 3 or 4 times before the doors even open to the public. I used to have a complete 406 Factory Ford Holley Tri Power complete with all 3 two barrels, factory oval air filter, and all carb linkage clear to the firewall that I paid $300 for. When I over revved my 390 and a piece of valve spring keeper broke of and locked up the oil pump and spun a Rod, I bought a real 428 Cobra Jet freshly machined short block, 0.010 freshly turned crank, factory Cobra Jet Rods, and brand new 0.030 over TRW forged pistons for $800 to get started. Shortly after the 428 Cobra Jet, I bought a 1963 427 cross bolted center oiler block, a 427 forges steel crank, 427 Le Mans Rods, 0.030 over forged TRW13.5/1 Pistons, a set of iron factory 427 Hi-Riser Head that had the larger 2.25 hollow stem intake valve from a 427 Tunnel Port, factory shafts and factory adjustable rockers with the special hi -riser stand, plus 427 Hi-Riser dual 4 BBL intake with factory linkage, two original 427 Ford 780 CFM Holley's and a pair of Holley 660 CFM center squinters for $2,000 for everything. That intake manifold bare with no carbs or linkage is $3,500. I bought a complete 427 SOHC factory early non adjustable engine a short time later for $6,000. I bought an original 1969 and 1/2 factory "G" code gutted body with a 302 Windsor in it for $400 that was solid yet sitting outside and imeiately sold the cheap new pair of aftermarket half quarters and Hurst Completion Pus shifter that came with it for $400 and had nothing in that car. Hurst shifters came in 1970 Boss 302 cars, but not 1969.5 models. I found an original gutted 1968.5 model original "R" code 428 cobra jet body that had been rolled and completely gutted rotting in a woods that I was able to get the original title for free for hauling the hulk out of the woods, this gave me a clean title with all the factory vin plates for free. I had an opportunity from a local sale of a guy that had two early 1968 GT 500 Shelby fastbacks and a original 1969 Boss 429. The cars had been street rodded and had headers and Craiger rims and such, but all 3 cars were for sale for a grad total of $40,000 for the group. Even then, you could have restored all 3 cars too 100 point original show condition, sold the two Shelby's, and had the Boss 429 free and clear, but again, my mother would not co-sign the loan. At one of the car swap meets, one of the deals that sticks out in my mind that I bought before the meet opened to the public, I bought an older big block Chevy tunnel Ram with Rectangle ports that was polished, had been plumed with two nitrous spray bars that were inside the plenum, and t solenoids, one nitrous and one gas that were too small actually for that application, I paid $150 for that intake, and even I couldn't walk away

By the way, an original Boss 429 Factory air filter housing is worth $10,000 these days because everyone threw the original snorkles away!

I hope you found at least some of this interesting

Roger

 

I did indeed! Thanx. I remember many of those items including the Autolite inline four-barrels although I've never seen one in the flesh.

 

I have seen both intakes and both sized carbs in the flesh, but not for many, many years

Things this rare either go to the internet or are sold in private and don't make it to even big brand specific swap meets any more

Rog

 

Latham update -

From the BillyBob Shop log . . .

August 21st 2016 Still hot in South Florida. Eighty degree nights, ninety degree days with one hundred ten degree plus heat indexes. Too uncomfortable in the BillyBob Shop to spend much time out there. Don't even spend enuf time in the short shop sessions to justify opening up the beer of the day. Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours with the Latham supercharger. The identity tag is missing but I did find "0084" stamped at the front mount bracket under the pulley.

When this arrived at the Krash Lab, It was broken down in two packages. Carburetors and manifold were not bolted up. On Saturday, I assembled the Latham assembly in Deerslayer's bed, the only uncluttered space I still have in the shop currently. Took a bit of pondering but I eventfully got it together. I was only short two hex nuts for the manifold. Everything else was there tho' I don't think there were two carb bolts alike.

It was nice to see all the complicated carb linkage was in place and workable. The carbs on each side are ganged together. From there, a vertical rod goes down to a bell crank on each side which is connected to a shaft running under the supercharger. I wouldn't want to figure out something like this on my own. The carbs all have their sheet metal tags, something that usually goes missing with the first carb rebuild. These carbs are Carter YH 3172S carbs. The manifold is a two piece thing and I will be able to take the top portion and adapt it to a nailhead four-barrel manifold without too much trouble.

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It's in the back of my head to build a modern version of a latham. The machine work really isn't that complicated.

 

I'm a geezer and I move glacially slow. Never-the-less, here's an update on my Buick Nailhead / Latham supercharger build for the BillyBob Shop Log -

June 11th 2018 When I'm looking for something, I clean and organize the BillyBob Shop until I find it. Lately, I've been looking for my ambition. No luck on that score yet. In the meantime, I'm still buying parts here and there. When I got the Latham supercharger almost two years ago, it wasn't the best fit for the Nailhead but I figured it could be adapted to work. The biggest obstacle to overcome is that it appears to be a reverse rotation model built for a boat engine. This would require a custom serpentine belt, or gearing to make it work on the Nailhead. Such an arrangement would take away from the look I'm trying to achieve. I kept looking and a couple of weeks ago, The "test mule" for Motor Trend's June 1959 Cover story came up for auction on eBay. I won the auction and it arrived here at the Krash Kubicle around lunch time. Included were two belts, the pulleys, manifold and magneto that were on the small block Chevy test engine. It spins freely and the throttle linkage works well. This will be much easier to adapt to the 322 Nailhead and will keep its vintage appearance as well. The Latham tag still exists and this is a Model 28-A Serial Number 001359. I'm a happy camper.

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Can you mount it backwards and run a secondary shaft from the front to the back?

 

This guy is trying to do just that https://www.axialflow.com/products.htm

 

I think that would be one possibility. For the time being, I'm concentrating my efforts on the one the rotates in the correct direction for the nailhead.

 

If anyone is interested I have just the Blower unit and some adapters for 2 barrel carbs and a pulley tensioner. Not sure the rotation as I haven't inspected the blades. Unit spins. I was going to use it on a small port Big Block years ago after Richard Paul purchased the rights but went with a procharger instead. I now have MS and don't think I will have use for it. When I go out to my shop I will get some photos. as far as I know the Unit is original and has the data plate with serial number.