Its time to correct some of the bull shit I've been reading on this forum. First of all the first small block Chev to use step seal rings (Dykes) was the 56 Chev wagon I raced at Cecil County in April or May of 1964. Bill Jenkins got Art Sparks to make a set of Forgedtrue piston with step seal rings for me. I broke the G/S record that day from 14.25 to 13.57. A few years later... probably about 1970 Stahl & Associates started selling Forgedtrue pistons with .043 conventional type rings in place of the step seal. (Dykes) The first adjustable headers were raced at Englishtown in May or June of 1968 at the Spring Nationals by Bob Birch and John Diana. The Lavern Benner Plyouth was raced in 1966 by Dave Koffel in C/FX and Lavern bought the car from Dave during the fall / winter of 66/67.
Jere, Thanks for getting us straight. Forty years is a long time and memories fade, unless you had a first hand experience. I returned from the Army in Dec. 1969 and hung around with Charlie Hampp and Alex Jarrell's crowd. I don't remember any of them having adjustable fenderwell headers at that time so I was surprised to see them on the '56. Your participation in getting the facts straight will be appreciated.
I dont believe the bullshit was intentional by anyone of these guys...after 40+ years memory tends to fade a little for some...welcome!! Mr Stahl, and please share your memorys as this thread is probably the best one to come to the HAMB in some time...
Don't know about you guys, but 'up to now' this thread has been a most-enjoyable experience for me. The contributors have shared their images, their insights and 'best as they could' ... their sometimes 'foggy' memories. Spectators and former racers, both very-amateur (like myself) and a few 'superstars' of the day joined this pleasant, cordial, intelligent, informative, sometimes humorous ... and yes, even generally 'dignified' discussion. Eight Hundred and Seventy Eight posts and no ego rants. Its sad to see that someone who's '15 minutes of fame' is so remembered and revered by us is so unpleasant. Time for me to take a hiatus! Cheers! ... Steve
it is very nice to hear from someone of your calibre. I'm long been a fan and remember vividly the sound your long extension headers put out. The throttle response of your 57 two-door and 56 wagon was unbelievable.. I was over at the Berwyn Sunoco the night you were packing up to leave for York. You and Bill Jenkins had built us a rear end for our 62 409 wagon with a bolt horizontal to the ring gear tipped with soft brass and the gears treated to Rockwell 58 on the C. scale. High-tech stuff for the day! I miss those times. Here's another shot of the Valiant All the best Ted
Explain more about this bolt. Did this ride on the ring gear OD to keep the ring frow walking back in the housing?
Thanks for "clarifying" Jere. Hopfully your memory isn't as foggy as others. Oh by the way, glad to see you're still in the thick of things but a Miata? WTF?! Thats a long way from a Chevy wagon, even further from a Hemi Duster.
Class: No class: <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by JereStahl "Its time to correct some of the bull shit I've been reading on this forum </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Ezra and John are brothers. Ezra was always the engine builder and John was the driver. I dont know if they ever had a Jr Stock car. In the mid to late 60's the had a 55 Chevy wagon Modified production car called "Plague" then a factory AMX SS/C car, in 70 they had a factory deal on on a Olds Cutlass, I think it was run as a S/S car also. After that in about 73 or 73 they built the SS/K 66 ChevyII wagon. It was one of my favorite cars. John Lingenfelter bought that car and shortly after was broadsided by a train leaving Kil Kare (I think) Dragway, cutting the car and the hauler in half. After The wagon they had a SS/I Chevy 66 Chevy II Sedan. Beachys then built a 69 Camaro SS/D car, then a SS/GT Firebird. Ezras son Mike won the US Nationals in that car a couple of years ago. Ezra is in his Eightys and still running his engine shop (Beachy Machine) along with Mike in Kokomo Indiana. Good People.
Yes,More on this bolt would be much appreciated. While we are at it,what about those special spiders and axles that were run in the 55-64 Chevies back then. Was it the hardness of them that made them stronger or something else? My delivery has the cap strap but I am sure the rest is stock and ,of course makes me nervous when I stand in it. Thoughts please............
I don't know about the mystery bolt, but it was a common trick to use the Mopar 8 3/4 spider gears in those Chevy rear ends. They were interchangable and much stronger. Using Henry's axles or someone else's "unbreakable" axles only took out the rear gears (weakest link theory). You were better off to run stock axles with a line scribed down the length and check them after 5-10 runs for twist. They'd twist 180deg before they'd snap. Then put in another set of $5. axles from a junkyard. That's what I did and I never broke a 3rd member. But then, of course, I might be bullshitting.............
When you get to my age (73) you get really tired of distorted facts. If its not factual, then its bull shit. If anyone takes the words personal then I can only suggest finding a psychologist, psychiatrist or grow up. I have always said what I think, and a few years ago we learned that I have a number of Asperger's syndrome traits, of which telling it like it is falls under that grouping. Its not difficult to get on the internet Google Jere Stahl to find he still exits at Stahl Headers. A phone call from 4:30 to 6:00 pm can reach me most days and its very easy to ask me what I remember about xxxxx whatever. I have always been known for my excellent memory, although I must admit it is not what it was once. I have really enjoyed scanning this entire thread. I have downloaded many many pictures. A great many pictures are new to me and many brought back memories. Those of us who were the right age to race in "Junior Stock" were very fortunate. It was a time when except for Jenkins engines, money did not buy performance. You had to know enough to buy the right parts and make pieces yourself in the beginning. Reference the SCCA racing... its something I always wanted to do from the time I was 16. You can read some words I wrote last year not long after I found out I was not too old to race... just too old to win. http://www.meatheadracing.com/rentals.html My very first race weekend gave me 3 hours behind the wheel on the race track. I figure that is more race track time than Greg Anderson has accumulated in over 5 years.
Yep. Thats basically the way it works. A base is welded to the housing, then drilled and tapped to except a long bolt running 90° to the ring gear. Brazing is used on the tip of the bolt and the bolt is tightened up until it touches the ring gear. It is then backed off about one third of a turn. When the driveline is shocked by dumping the clutch, the ring gear tends to deflect, altering the pattern of engagement and making for a much shallower area of ring and pinion contact. The torque is now sufficient to wipe the teeth off. The soft brass-tipped bolt limits this movement,. Hope that helps. Ted
Hi, I think it's great having someone here from "back in the day".I to have scanned this whole 40 some odd pages also. it's been informative for me as i am going to restore one of these fine rides with very little knowledge on what these cars were.Every little bit helps as i was a whopping 4 years old when my car was on the track and had NO idea what i was starting on. Thanks to Bob Rice and his photo albums i figured out WHAT i had,and slowly but surley i am figuring out the rest.It's knowledge photo's and story's from threads like this that will help me do it "Right" or as close as humanly possible. And hey 73 still racing and voicing your opinion? Shiiiiit best one can hope is to make it to that point just to call bullshit, let alone walk talk or RACE! Please keep posting knowledge is power!
Jere said "If its not factual, then its bull shit." Yesterday I was riding around with Jack Redd and mentioned your appearance on the board. Jack said "That's Jere, he'll say what's on his mind." Funny you mentioned aspergers as I am sure that I must have some form of ADD. I have always bounced around from one task to another. Now that I am older, its harder to remember which task I stopped and need to get back to. Oh yeah, what was the deal with the rev limiter on the '57? Was it a need or just new at the time?
I do not remember using a rev limiter (I usually refer to it as a over speed governor) one on the 57. In fact I seriously doubt there was one on it when I raced it in 1965. I don't know if Laverne Benner used one. I believe Laverne raced the car in 1968 / 1969. I loaned Laverne the car, transmission, Rochester FI and possibly a few other things I don't remember. I did not get the FI back until 2006 after Laverne died. Today the FI is owned by a man in Cincinnati.
What a shock to see the S/SS post gone, I sent an e-mail to the admin asking why, I thought there were no rules on the HAMB!!! Is this site for pre-mid 60's? Henry.
'Not to worry' Henry ... I'm pretty sure the additional 'Stock-related' thread was simply deemed redundant ... too repetitive, and was not deserving of their storage space. Methinks it's really no problem as the 'History Stock' and Jr. Stock threads remain fairly strong and cover almost everything but the 'post' Jr. Stock ('71 up?) era. And I'm sure we can 'squeak' that timeframe in without any complaints! And 'Kudos' to Colesy for making the effort for another great stocker thread!
Still looking for the "jolly green giant" wagon. I see a folder so many times and when I go to look for it disappears. Here's one slightly blurry shot out of my photo album, about 1967. That's me with more hair a lot thinner at age 22. Most of my good photographs are black-and-white negatives, 42 years worth. I have a folder for every magazine article I've written. I'm going to order a new scanner that can do 35mm and medium format negatives this week so I will be posting "some stuff" as soon as I can. A most enjoyable forum! Thanks to all.. Ted
Those lucky enough to have been "there", your stories, photos and facts are much appreciated, especially by us to young to have been "there". Please keep it going. To you Jere Stahl, Im still pissed with you! Where are the decals I requested back in 1972? Ok, so I paid in Canadian funds, I believe the Canadian dollar was still on par with the greenback back in '72. And don't blame the postal system, they may be slow but not this slow!
Mr. Stahl, I don't think that this picture has been posted but if it has here it is again and welcome to the thread. I believe that this is a Mike Strickler photo. Bob Rice
Trivia Quiz ... RE: The Rose's Schizophrenic Exhaust System * Pick One (A) George had a Stahl header on one bank and a Hooker on the other. (B) He had forgotten which brand he was using. (C) This was a blatant attempt to get contingency money from both manufactures. (D) George found out, at the last minute, that Hooker paid more money. (E) He just felt like getting a 'rise' out of Jere. *Answer: Got me -- ask George, or perhaps the 'new guy' knows Cheers! ... Steve
Let us not forget, this car was runner up to the Wenzel brothers Z-28 at Indy in 1967. That was a feat in itself.