If you want to go real fast, throw the shifter into "R" for RACE. There's still some people who think they need to go out in the morning and start their car and let it warm up for 15 minutes at high idle. This is in California, where it might be 50 or 60 degrees in the morning, and they think they'll wreck their engine if they drive the car when the engine's not completely warmed up.
Every time I talk to a guy at a swap meet about flathead v8's at a swap meet, who may not be into em now but used to run em, I hear the leather belt around the babbits (early) or main bearings story. Now I'm not saying that there was never a person who shimmed a worn babbit or bearing with the belt from around their waist to get home but according to my experience hearing this story there should not be a flatty in existance that you won't pull apart and find some old guys belt cut up in little pieces
Forgot about this one, but it's amazing how many shitty motorcycle riders lay their bikes down for this reason. People need to get their ass out in a parking lot, like we used to, and practice panic stops. Could save a lot of lives.
It's amazing how many people think that putting in the occasional tank of high octane gas will "clean the engine up". Or that race gas will add a little extra pep due to the high octane levels. Funny, with current gas prices, I don't hear these statements a lot anymore. Gas companies will always never argue this as they're laughing all the way to the bank. I heard some one at work, the other day, say they only use Fram oil filters because they are the best. They should change their motto to; " The mechanic's and car dealer's service department's best friend".
there's another one. people who say they "laid thier bike down" like that is somehow different than crashing. a motorcycle stops fastest in the upright position. if you laid it down on purpose to avoid crashing you are some sort of an idiot
Unleaded gas will ruin your vintage motor! Or how about the very latest one: The recent reduction of zinc in motor oils will eat camshafts in ALL flat tappet camshaft engines. As with all myths, some truth can be found in certain cases under special circumstances. Fear mongering in general always gets attention. Which is why alot of these myths get started and stay alive forever.....
I always like to hear about someone's "Vette" motor. Must be a lot of Corvettes missing their enigines. Funny thing is my El Camino does have heads off of a 427 Vette, I don't talk about em too much cause they're the same as the other 390 hp 427s.
a 400 sbc may run a little hotter than a 350, but...they do not overheat unless something is wrong. i had a pretty built up 400 sbc in a chevelle, and it ran 200 degrees consistently, no matter what the outside temp was.
Some people think that a .60 over 350 is more likely to overheat. That's not been my experience. The last two motors in my daily have been .60 over and neither one gets over 190.
how true....i hear this alot too. "yeah, the motors out of a 78 vette !!" well, as far as i know (except in a few rare cases) a vette motor is a run of the mill 350 / 454. heck if it's a motor out of a late 70's / early 80's vette, they are dogs anyway....lucky to get 180 h.p out of one of those 350's (stock). does the word vette necessarily mean that it's a hi-perf motor ? nope. 1/2 the time, alot of this stuff is just made up anyway, and they have no idea of the original origin of the motor that's in their car.
A guy said today that he used to have a '69 Camaro with a "rockcrusher 12bolt and a 4 speed". Another cat here in town says he's seen an M22 that had 'rockcrusher' cast right into the case!
how about the guy selling a 71 chevelle / malibu (or whatever) with add on s.s. badges and a stock chromed out 350, claiming it to be "the fastest car in the town". a friend of mine got taken by that quote on a 72 chevelle. he bought the car, paid more for it than it was worth, and i beat him in a 1/4 mile drag with my stock 4.3 v-6 s-10.
not to disagree, but....what about the valve guides ? i thought that lead added lubrication for the valve guides, and unleaded gas doesn't lubricate the valve guides. that's why guys get hardened valve guides installed in old heads. i know you said "motor" and i'm talking about the heads / valve guides. true or not ??
every greasy old ford fe motor is a "thunderbird motor" the guy who designed the chivie 283 also designed the ford 289 you can tell if your car has a burnt valve by holding your hand close to the tailpipe, if it "sucks back, well you gotta a burnt valve"
To those that believe the hype about unleaded gas will ruin a vintage motor must not remember "white gas" which had no lead added.as for engines without exhaust manifolds will bend valves, go look at an Indian or Harley board tracker.
I get that all the time. Mainly 'cause I thrash my car from cold. The engine has 70K on it driving like that, and its only just starting to rattle. When it breaks, I'll deal with it. In the mean time, I've saved 15 minutes every trip.
Similar one, on older aircraft there is an abbreviation thrown around 'NDH' supposedly 'No Damage History', it should be 'No Damn History'.
I've seen a few "hemi's" that look like wedge motors. I've also seen alot of 32 ford's that were neither "32" or "ford". My favorite was the T-5 in some guys s-10 I looked a few weeks ago. I looked under the truck, verified it was a T-5 and asked how much (for just the transmission). $1500. I laughed at him.
that you can balance your tires by putting a tablespoon full of anti freeze in them. Also that your car will run faster if you turn the top of the air cleaner over and if you remove the choke. OldWolf
This used to be a little true on certain year cars. In the late '60s and early '70s the factory air cleaners brought all of the air through a little tiny snorkel tube that was about an inch across at the inlet, and when the engine was cold, a diverter valve closed off the snorkel and all the air had to come up through a flexible hose that went down to a "stove" thing on the exhaust manifold, supposedly to get warm air to the engine sooner so that it would warm up faster. This was in the days when smog controls were slapped onto cars sort of as an afterthought, and they didn't always work like planned. On some of those air cleaners, you could flip the lid of the air cleaner upside down and convert it into an "open air air cleaner" with a large gap for air to reach the air cleaner. Maybe it didn't make it much faster, but it did make it sound faster, because you could all of the sudden hear your carburetor sucking air when you stomped on it.
one of my cars will do it at 40 mph. and its stock...... well ok the block is(not much else) does that count???
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