Car "wives tales"

Maybe this has been posted here recently? Hopefully not.
You know, how running premium fuel in a regular fuel engine will burn valves,that sort of stuff.Some of these tales are quite interesting and sometimes they affect how we drive of build engines.

 

Darn, I was expectin' something altogether different!

 

The old battery on the floor thing is pretty much an old wives tale now. I guess it used to be different when they were made out of different material. But I can't shake it, I still set em' on a piece of wood. Maybe it's a superstition now.
And the sugar in the gas tank thing was disproved on Mythbusters. But hell I already knew that was bs cause I had an exgirlfriend put a bunch of frosting in my gas tank (she worked at a bakery). All it did was make the inside of the intake sticky, oh yeah, and piss me off.
That was a pretty cool Mythbusters episode. They put a bunch of different crap in the tank to see if it'd mess a motor up. I'd like to see it again.

 

One time me and the wife were ummmm makin "tails" in the back of her car and somehow I hit the panic button on the keyless entry, woke up all the nieghbors. Does that count??

 

only with picture evidence

 

I heard that if you run an engine with no exhaust manifolds of any kind, you'll bend the valves. I never understood the logic in this one. Something about the cooler external air would do damage or the lack of back pressure. I'm calling BS

 

I would only like to see half of the picture eveidence

 

Top half or bottom half?

The biggest old wives tale I see people telling is that a little rust - or a car that the paint's gone and the body is all surface rust - makes the car unrestorable and it must be destroyed.

 

My dad always said that, and I think its balogna, too. Can it hurt to run a motor with no exhaust manifold?

 

I understand that it will burn the valves. It's a bad practice no matter what. It runs like crap.

 

Some how I knew I should have elaborated.......the non tinman half

 

I like the one where everybody thinks all cars from CA are rust free. Ever been to the coast?

 

The tale that you can't push start an automatic...you just have to be pushing the car fast enough! 60mph will do the trick!

 

There is some logic to the possibility of cold air entering exhaust ports and warping exhaust valve heads. Valve heads warped enough to be lifted off the seat could burn when the engine is run again. But with an exhaust manifold bolted up, probably not.

As far as push starting (or towing), automatics (up until around 1960 or so in the case of GM Hydramatics) that have a rear pump that will turn when push starting, will prevent burning up the transmission while attaining enough road speed to cause the engine to turn over. There may be other methods used in other transmissions, but if the owner's manual for your particular model says don't do it, don't do it!

 

To push start an automatic car, it must have a rear pump.........not the case since the early 60s.

 

Wasn't there a video on here of a motor running with no exhaust manifolds?

 

I told a new kid at work that if he put more "pounds of pressure" in his spare tire it would help weigh the ass end down and he'd get better traction in the snow.

He showed up the next day braggin' how well it worked...
Then we sent him to borrow a "board stretcher".....

 

Put shackles on your car kid.
By runnin' around town with the rear end jacked up you will get better gas mileage.
Why?
'Cause your going downhill all the time.
Works....I swear

 

You ARE being obtuse to make a point, right?

YES, an engine should run OK, bare without exhaust manifolds bolted to the heads. It was speculated that when you shut it off, without a manifold or pipe attached to the head, cold air could enter the exhaust port, warp the still very hot valve, causing it to lift off the seat, and burn the next time the engine was run.

 

rear drums and how to ajust them . back off 7 clicks after you cant spin the drum . not ! and then the air ideal on a carb 1 1/2 turns out from all the way in is how you ajust it . no! its a good starting point . these are two that drive me nuts

 

Sorry guys no pics,, and she wont let me post the vid.

 

I have to explain to almost everyone that you don't put straight antifreeze in your radiator, they think coolant=antifreeze.
And this may not count but my girlfriend was convinced by someone that the 2.0 litre four banger in her Honda is one of the largest four cylinders ever made.

 

I had a girlfriend who was convinced by her mechanic that she should run high octane in her Honda Civic because it was better for the engine despite what the factory manual called for.

 

My dad told me to check the antifreeze on the vw bug we had for a dune buggy one cold night. Took me half an hour till I told him it was done.

He got a good laugh!!

gullible

 

Parking next to a huge beat-up truck causes door dings.

 

Most engines will run terrible without a manifold to cause some back-pressure. Also there is an amount of cam overlap which will suck some cool air past the valves and possibly warp them. With the manifolds, there is a certain amount of inches of hot air in the "pipe"
But I'm not an expert, just some crap Ive picked up over the years that makes sense.

 

Almost everyone? You must be fun at parties!

I don't buy the story how a hot rod needs black primer. Or "suede" paint. With red wheels.

 

Don't forget "If the frame is bent, the car is totaled".

 

I roll started my stock 49 Cadillac down a hill at a friends house, couldn't have been going more than 25 when it kicked....

 

And flatheads will always overheat--that's why they need 2 waterpumps!