Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

I was watching an old western several years ago. An old B&W real early one.
Anyway as the good guys jump on their horses to chase down the latest bank robber and "head them off at the pass" the leader yells ......"Step on it boys!!!"
Guess those early horses had gas pedals.

Donny

"Puppet valves"

I have seen then called that in several early [1900-1920 or so] US patents.
They also refer to IC engines as "explosion engines" sometimes.

Used to sell lots of engines and parts back in the day. 4 bolt mains were the
thing, gotta have them even for an econo rebuild for grammaws car. One
particularly demanding super-expert dude finally showed up to buy a bare block.
I pointed at the Chevy 350 bare block selection and he looked around for a while
and finally asked which one was a 4 bolt main block.

numboltz wrote:"Puppet valves"

I have seen then called that in several early [1900-1920 or so] US patents.
They also refer to IC engines as "explosion engines" sometimes.

Used to sell lots of engines and parts back in the day. 4 bolt mains were the
thing, gotta have them even for an econo rebuild for grammaws car. One
particularly demanding super-expert dude finally showed up to buy a bare block.
I pointed at the Chevy 350 bare block selection and he looked around for a while
and finally asked which one was a 4 bolt main block.

My buddy built an engine for a newly transplanted Asian guy back in the 80s. The dude asked if the engine had 4 bolt mains...my buddy tells him " no, it has 10 bolts!". The guy was so happy.

3/4 race cam from the old guys (I last heard it said 20 years ago installed in a truck motor) = stage whatever cam for todays youth

When I started selling cams I quickly had to learn my own "stage" system, I would give people duration specs and they would ask what stage that was equivalent too

I decided to one up and take the Stage thing to Stage 6 with half steps in between.....................

nickmckinney wrote:3/4 race cam from the old guys (I last heard it said 20 years ago installed in a truck motor) = stage whatever cam for todays youth

When I started selling cams I quickly had to learn my own "stage" system, I would give people duration specs and they would ask what stage that was equivalent too

I decided to one up and take the Stage thing to Stage 6 with half steps in between.....................

We should start using a 10 stage system for cams. When someone really wants to go ultra-radical, we'll spec out the Nigel Tufnel cam...better known as the STAGE ELEVEN! It's so big, the valves are actually open longer than the crank is in rotation!

This thread is kinda old but here's one of mine. One of my best friends in high school had an older brother who was the worst loudmouth know-it-all I've ever known. He insisted that his early 50's Ford flathead V8 was bored out to a 6" bore! And thought I was full of sh** when I pointed out that a flathead engine isn't 24" long!

Man, that gal with the Corvette sure did get around! She was street racin' in Fort Wayne, too!

And yes, I bought a 265 for my '55 Chev that had a "3/4 race" cam in it. (Ran pretty good too, to this day I don't have the slightest idea what the specs were). And in '67 I put a new Wolverine full race cam in my Power Pack 283 '57 Chevy dirt track car! And won my first 3 races with it! That's what the rather famous (in our local area) race car builder that I bought it from called it. I knew the specs on it at one time, but closin' in on 50 years later I sure don't remember 'em now. Man, those were the days. New Wolverine cams for $25, and solid lifters for $16/set! When the cam in my under 2 year old '67 Chevy II 283 wiped a lobe, I bought another of the Wolverine "full race" cams to put in it. That was my first experience with over cammin' an engine. Didn't have near "off the line" as the original but came to life when you got it up above 3000-3500 rpm!
Here's that first win with that "full race" Wolverine cam!

I had A customer try to convince me that his engine had run so hot that the crank twisted to the point that all of the pistons, on both banks were level with the block deck.
I pulled a pan on an engine and proved to him how stupid that statement was and never saw him again.

Donny

Cedarmachine wrote: We should start using a 10 stage system for cams. When someone really wants to go ultra-radical, we'll spec out the Nigel Tufnel cam...better known as the STAGE ELEVEN! It's so big, the valves are actually open longer than the crank is in rotation!

This just made my day.

Paul

FC-Pilot wrote:

Cedarmachine wrote: We should start using a 10 stage system for cams. When someone really wants to go ultra-radical, we'll spec out the Nigel Tufnel cam...better known as the STAGE ELEVEN! It's so big, the valves are actually open longer than the crank is in rotation!

This just made my day.

Paul

Saw that happen once. Problem was the crank was laying on the track. Tore the engine apart several days later and the valves were still open.
I never could compute the valve duration.
Donny

I read in some cultures years ago, some people use a "transmisission belt" like in older Britain
just a v belt....


when i was younger, working in a parts store, some tall brown eyed tan big dude with an accent asked for this "transmission belt"
at first not remembering what i read, i tried to associate Transmission with BELT... and said "do you mean a transfer case chain?", "transmission band?"
The thick accente man said " dont you know what one is??? what the hell you doing here?"
I then remembered, and said " I dont know what you call it in Mexico, but here we call it a V-Belt"
The guy yelled at me "I am from RUSSIA!" and pounded the damn counter and leaned over into my face...
then said I was a stupid American, and americans didt know shit about cars.....
I informed him with my hot Italian temper that I was born in Canada, and that nobody uses that obsolete term,
In AMERICA the term "belt" is sufficient and less confusing.They all are used for the "transmission" of power.

Turns out he went to several parts stores before he got helped with his "Transmssion belt"

Shopboss wrote:

FC-Pilot wrote:

Cedarmachine wrote: We should start using a 10 stage system for cams. When someone really wants to go ultra-radical, we'll spec out the Nigel Tufnel cam...better known as the STAGE ELEVEN! It's so big, the valves are actually open longer than the crank is in rotation!

This just made my day.

Paul

Saw that happen once. Problem was the crank was laying on the track. Tore the engine apart several days later and the valves were still open.
I never could compute the valve duration.
Donny

That would be the ultra-rare "Infinity" cam!
That's the "Infinity" cam!

Don't forget "trips".... W/JCW too..

"I bought my "stick" from Hollywood Sam's." And I really did, it was a G/K cam. (Aka, a General Kinetics cam).

"I didn't buy the "woodpecker" cam!..

And I am old enough to tell anybody that wants to know what these funny terms bantered about in this thread mean.

As for the cams, I have bunch of really old catalogs that list them. I saved them for future reference is all.

I had a used Isky RPM 300 once way back when.

pdq67

I had a guy I worked with at Autozone when I just got out of high school that had all the best racing stories.

1: Best friends with Carol Shelby when Carol used to be a drag racer

2: Ran 8 seconds in the 1/4 doing a wheelie the entire way down the track in a Pontiac drag car ( no wheelie bars )

3: Said he and his friends invented the low rider scene

4: Said he invented the first electric starter for motorcycles so he could sync a twin engine Harley

5: Never lost a street race in his Fairlane Thunderbolt because his "redline" tires hooked so good

6: Pioneered the early draw through turbo setups

It was hilarious, I also cleared Checker auto out of like 30 Crane 3/4 race cams a few years back for $6 a pop. Sold them at a swap meet to a bunch of old guys for $50 a cam. They flocked these things up, one guy bought 7 of them.

my uncle had an isky cam called a short bigelow

I ran a wheelie once in a quarter mile on a Bike..