Technical Myths … or old wife’s tales about engines

Could easily be based on safety or accountability, rather than equipment durability. If you yourself have the responsibility to load the magazines with the right number of the right type of ammo you can't really blame someone else for doing it wrong.

Probably. And there are for sure examples when there's really some facts behind it, but lack of understanding has led to these facts being interpreted incorrectly.

The myth about the coolant moving too fast to cool the engine when running without a thermostat is a good one. Sure, the coolant will move faster, but the most important difference is that you lost a restriction at the outlet from the engine, leading to lower coolant pressure inside the engine. Lower pressure means lower boiling point, if you were close before now you may get boiling coolant at hotspots around exhaust ports and combustion chambers. Then you have steam bubbles reducing contact between coolant and metal, making it all worse so it boils more... So sure, removing the thermostat will make the coolant move faster, but it's the loss of pressure that can bring the engine into thermal runaway IF IT WAS BORDERLINE BEFORE. If it had a good margin from boiling before it'll probably run cooler without the thermostat, so these results that are the opposite of each other probably confuses a lot of people.

They collect the limited facts they can, try to figure out how it all fits together... and manage to hammer the puzzle pieces together in the wrong configuration.

 

I've got a feeling any such recommendation would be ignored here, due to fuel theft many tend to leave the tanks on heavy equipment as empty as possible over night. No surprise when diesel approaches equal to three dollars for a liter.

 

I think the phrase YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY definitely fits this thread.

 

So, that’s where Ford gets their crankshafts. Very interesting.

 

Don't store car batteries on the garage floor, or the hippy earth force, will drain it. That's the greatest marketing tactic, a rack selling salesman has pulled over on mankind. Well, almost..

 

Did I read that right Mike? 235 seat pressure? Or did you mean

I asked my dad why we put batteries on a block/board. He told me so it wouldn’t stain the concrete.
Then after he started driving truck, we put them on cut up mudflaps.

 

The battery thing came from way back when batteries were repairable. Where the individual cells could be removed, and replaced. The cases could leak acid and ruin cement if they were sitting on bear cement.

 

While at the dyno shop we talked about this also! I know it’s false, but I still put batteries on a board when possible!
Some of the guys swore up and down that the cement will drain a battery, because it is connected to the earth!

Life is good!






Bones

 

Yep, we've always stored batteries on a piece of wood. Damn hippys

 

I had always heard it was because the concrete was cold,,,,and it would eventually drain the battery down .
I figured the wood was an insulator ?,,,,,maybe,,,,I don’t know ,,,,,,the cold always harmed a battery here it seems .

Tommy

 

When I was in Jr. high there was a story told by the flathead bunch about a "Canadian White Block" Ford that would take a quarter inch overbore. Anyone else hear such a tale ?

 

Hit it with a hammer?

 

The myth I see repeated all the time is the SBC's with a "10" and/or "20" cast in the timing cover area or bellhousing area of the block denotes "high nickel block".

Chevrolet never made any production line "high nickel blocks".
As soon as you add nickel to cast iron it is no longer cast iron, it is a form of steel.

The other common myth I recall hearing was from the Ford boys....."a motor needs some exhaust backpressure to run right"....

How about "high octane gas burns too fast, it will burn up an engine that has low compression"
Or "can't use aviation fuel in a car, since it is formulated to only burn at high altitude it won't work at ground level".

 

302 ford Mexican had higher nickel content when Ford had the SVO program they said that was not true they did have heaver main caps.

 

Kid in high school swore that running a motor without full exhaust would cause the valves to bend when the motor shut off, because cold air would flow into the port. Always tried to get him to realize it was BS, even asked about zoomies, and ran a motor on a stand without manifolds. Nope, swore it was a fact.

 

That's another one that won't die.

 

Those two codes mean one thing, and only one thing, and that is:

This is a casting intended to be finished with a 4-inch bore.

 

100 years ago, Harley Davidson ran what they called “8 valve” racing engines with wide open, oval exhaust ports. No provision for any kind of pipes. Wide open throttle on board tracks.

 

Don't buy a car (or engine) that was built on a Friday or a Monday.
Or right after lunch if there's a bar nearby!

 

My dearly departed owner used to tell us not to vacuum an A/C system for more than 10 minutes after a repair because “it will suck the o’rings in”.

 

I believe this one is rooted in a profound and fundamental misunderstanding of how scavenging in a properly designed, sized, and constructed exhaust system works, or can be made to work.

I think that is an attempt, with no real knowledge, to describe the low-pressure area behind a high-pressure exhaust pulse, or "on the back side of the high-pressure pulse", hence "back pressure".

So the statement, while devoid of any actual meaning, is accidentally correct.

 

I don't know when it was built but I'm guessing late in the shift but my 64 impala started getting antifreeze on the inside of the windshield pulled the air box and found a half pint Old Crow bottle had worn a hole in the heater coil.

 

The problem with storing crankshafts on end is that the weight will make them compress over time.
It's only a thousandth or two a year, but a fifty year old crank will end up almost an eighth inch shorter!

 

“Don’t go over 50 mph in a new car”

Hello,

Growing up as a fledgling auto enthusiast and watching our dad bring home a new car every 4-5 years was an odd ball existence. We knew about Buicks, going over the manual and experimenting with his cars in the garage space. But, the “don’t go over 50 mph in a new car” stuck out like a sore thumb.



Someone told our dad that comment and for the first 500 miles, (under 50 MPH) he usually drove in the center lane or slow lane of the freeways in So Cal with us in the car. But, when he was by himself early in the morning driving to Los Angeles for work, who knows?

That comment was always given to new car owners. It varied over the years, but, for the first 300 to 500 miles was the warning. Some folks stayed under 50 mph and others went faster, but not at full throttle. The “Don’t go over 50 mph” was usually the warning for full throttle acceleration mode for any new car. Or was it?

There are plenty of reasons the factory gave out those warnings. Since new cars are under warranty and any new car is exciting as is, there are plenty of times that: “Wow, that was fun…” is/was heard upon acceleration and handling while driving around.

For a new 1958 Chevy Impala 348 motor with 280 hp, how can you not go over 50 mph at the drags without hurting the motor in the long run? For umpteen miles of satisfied cruising around, racing at Lion’s Dragstrip weekly and using it as a form of transportation for any needs was the mode. Afterall, it is a car and it gets us to work, play and yes, daily trips to school.

Weekly maintenance was the key and we took good care of the 58 Impala. It lasted from late 1957 to early 1965 with plenty of cruising miles all over So Cal and weekend quarter mile races at Lion’s Dragstrip. (also, the Cherry Avenue Drags location and other So Cal hot spots…)


Jnaki

So, here we are in the 2022 pandemic era and is the statement of “Don’t go over 50 mph in a new car” still valid? If the factories were worried that people would not take care of their new cars, what was the worry? The dealers and factories just don’t like warranty coverage for a new car breaking down or having a bunch of problems. Money in hand and out of the door is the motto… Ha! Besides, who does full throttle acceleration in these times and conditions, anywhere?

 

It’s a myth that a flathead Ford can be sealed so it doesn’t leak.

 

British motorcycles don't leak, they mark their territory.

 

As do Harley's and Flatheads

 

"Break in an engine hard & fast and it will run hard & fast"...I guess if it survives!

 

Don't tell the Nailhead guys that constricted flow paths don't work. I've read that the small valves in them are what produces the famous torque. Wive's tale? I don't know....

 

Well, if you restrict an engine so it can only fill the cylinders well at really low rpm, you'll only get low rpm power, and as power = torque * rpm that gives you "a lot" of torque. A lot, compared to whatever miserable peak power you get.