"stall converters". Is it just me?

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Okay...
Maybe some of us just have minimal tolerance for people that make no effort to do things right. I make mistakes, sure but I also try to get things right as often as possible.
*Has it got a cam in it?
*You runnin noss ?
*8 3/4 POSI.
*340 wedge small block
*Cast iron factory headers (In a 74 Dart)
I am certain that most of these people are decent folks, it is just annoying when certain popular yet incorrect terms get spoken time and time again.
There were no Mopar engines built withOUT camshafts. None of them had NOSS. There never was a POSI option in any Mopar. ALL 340 engines used wedge style heads and were small blocks. A HEADER is most commonly used to describe a tubular manifold made from steel, not cast iron.
Here is the conclusion that I have come to:
Car guys are often married. Some have very few friends outside of work or car activities. These guys have bored their Wives with car talk to the point where they look forward to car shows to have the chance to talk car stuff. When these guys attend shows, the "pent-up" pressure of holding back car talk spills over and they go bonkers.
There is this guy at every Spring and Fall Fling in Van Nuys CA. He looks like Axl Rose from Guns N Roses. This dude does know his stuff but he also monopolizes every conversation he is in. A buddy of mine nicknamed him Phil A Buster. (Fillibuster....Political term, look it up)
A conversation should be about sharing opinions and information, not a group of people being lectured or scolded.
 
moparmandan said:
UPS driver did it the other day. Saw the Scamp in the shop.
"Is that a Roadrunner?"
Nope. A Scamp. Plymouths version of a Dart.
"My uncle had a Roadrunner with a 400."
Cool man. Thanks.
SMH.....
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In your case, I'd maybe be grateful that the guy recognized it as a Mopar! Yeah, Road Runners were available with a 400 in 1972-75, remember?
 
Ben Drinkin said:
Back in the wonder years (when I was even dumber than I am now), I raced a guy whose had a 3/4 cam, pop-up pistons and a stall converter.. Motor was built by AJ Floyd.. His car wasn't very fast but it sure was funny to listen to him talk about it!
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I got 8 pistons in my car...they all take turns popping up
 
IMG_0527.JPG

Ugh, NOS.......
 
Just like no such thing as a "small block Mopar" or a "big block Mopar." Generic Chevy terms thanks to magazines like Hot Rod that got carried over to the rest of the world.

It's an A, an LA, a Magnum, or a B or RB.

Of course we know what a person means when the use the generic term, but it doesn't even begin to describe what it is.

Feel bad for the guys in the Ford circles when it comes time to describe the engine families. "Got a small block Ford." "I got a big block Ford." Yeah, okay... Is it a Windsor, a Cleveland, an "M" engine, an FE, an FT, a MEL, a Y-block or a 385? Good grief...
 
...and what about those transmission cooling lines going through a 190 degree radiator?
 
now dog dish caps make sense.
I remember when i was a kid they put some gas in an old hub cap and the German shepherd at Warrens' garage drank it.Poor thing ran in circles yelping and finally dropped...go figure.
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
No..stall is a measurement not a part.
The best way to praise it, is that it has a "blankblank-hundred RPM converter"
As soon as someone drops the "stall converter" line on me, I automatically write them off as a ******* idiot, and nothing they say afterwards will carry any weight in our conversation.
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Easy now..... it doesn't have a "blankblank-hundred RPM converter", does it?? Isn't a 2500 rpm converter a "generic term"??? Won't it make more or less depending on the motor in front of it? Shouldn't you actually be saying "this engine makes blankblank-hundred RPM's with this converter" ..... And read the post below that I quoted :D

ramenth said:
Just like no such thing as a "small block Mopar" or a "big block Mopar." Generic Chevy terms thanks to magazines like Hot Rod that got carried over to the rest of the world.

It's an A, an LA, a Magnum, or a B or RB.

Of course we know what a person means when the use the generic term, but it doesn't even begin to describe what it is.

...
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  • How many of us has had a "three on the tree".... ??? LOL... was it a pine tree or an Oak tree in you car.... LOL
I've made it a point NOT to run around Mad half my life because of somebody mis-phrasing a term, or calling my Duster a Nova. Goooood GRIEF! What's so wonder it's hard to get new interest in this hobby. They get the door slammed in their face for asking a simple question.... LOL.. This is funny
 
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Yeah, stuff like this can be annoying but I take it with a grain of salt. I'm just happy that there are still enough people around that are interested in these old muscle cars and have the desire to pursue them. They may get terms wrong, but they want to talk about them and get excited by the idea of hot cams and high stall converters.

If they want to call a higher stall performance converter a "stall"' so be it. At least they care enough to want to know if you have one because it impresses them...and that's what keeps the dreams of HP Muscle cars alive.

If someone asks me if my car has a stall converter, I just smile and say "Yep, 2500 rpm".
 
Abodybomber said:
Understand,

In Mopar terms: A 340 cam,with a,"Road Runner "2200 stall .Worked out well,for me....
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F.W.I.W.. a 2800 stall behind a 360/380 Magnum clone is close,but not quite enough. There isn't enough primary circuit "tip in",accelerator pump,or enough initial timing,to make a difference without 1,000 years,of tuning. It's not, my first rodeo..
 
318willrun said:
I've made it a point NOT to run around Mad half my life because of somebody mis-phrasing a term, or calling my Duster a Nova. Goooood GRIEF! What's so wonder it's hard to get new interest in this hobby. They get the door slammed in their face for asking a simple question.... LOL.. This is funny
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You misinterpreted my post. There is no anger there and hardly something I spend time on. As an old parts slinger I just loved it when someone came in, building a car and telling me they had a "small block Mopar" thinking that things like pan gaskets or head gaskets are the same from one engine to the other.

So, is this a 318 or 360? Which 318 or 360 is it?

It does make a difference to know which engine family you're getting parts for.
 
ramenth said:
You misinterpreted my post. There is no anger there and hardly something I spend time on. As an old parts slinger I just loved it when someone came in, building a car and telling me they had a "small block Mopar" thinking that things like pan gaskets or head gaskets are the same from one engine to the other.

So, is this a 318 or 360? Which 318 or 360 is it?

It does make a difference to know which engine family you're getting parts for.
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no, I got you perfectly and your spot on so I used you to make my point. you mistook me. I was only using what you posted to show how we have a lingo, so why beat only the "stall"? Why not "3 on the tree"..... Oak tree in your car??? We could go on and on with misfit phrases. LOL..
 
I wish I could have had Jere Stahl build be a torque converter, that way I can truly have a Stahl converter...
 
318willrun said:
No different than somebody asking if it has a "cam in it". Obviously it has a cam because it's running. C'mon, we know what they mean. Do they have to say "does it have an aftermarket high stall in it"? Because some factory converters were "high stalls". How hard do you want to make it? Language is a form of communication, and if you know what they mean, it worked.
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Actually it is different. "It has a cam in it" would be like "it has a converter in it"...... which would imply a cam or converter other than stock.

Now if a moron were to say "it has a duration cam" or "it has a lift cam in it" this would be the same as "it has a stall converter", and would make no sense......

Wow, I stirred it up a bit with this one, LOL.
 
Kern Dog said:
In your case, I'd maybe be grateful that the guy recognized it as a Mopar! Yeah, Road Runners were available with a 400 in 1972-75, remember?
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You are correct sir. How could I forget? Maybe I blocked it, haha. Sometimes I do forget they made Road Runners after 1970. I shouldn't, a guy that restores Mopars in my town has a 71 Road Runner with a 440 six barrel. Beautiful.
 
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This kind of stuff isn't limited to the car world!! I was just watching a home improvement show, and every commercial for home improvement shows all start with the same thing, somebody taking a sledgehammer to a wall or cabinet!! Even saw a girl who was 9 months pregnant take a little 5# sledge and start on a wall!! No worse way to make a huge mess and wear yourself out than to start swinging a sledgehammer instead of systematically removing things!!

My point?? It's a learned thing to go along with what is said, or shown!! Ignorance is rampant, and most of the time very entertaining, except to those in the know!! Just let it go, and hope they don't actually work on their own stuff!!
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
No..stall is a measurement not a part.
The best way to praise it, is that it has a "blankblank-hundred RPM converter"
As soon as someone drops the "stall converter" line on me, I automatically write them off as a ******* idiot, and nothing they say afterwards will carry any weight in our conversation.
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I agree, most people I`ve heard saying that didn`t know crap about cars, mostly big mouth kids, trying to impress someone.
 
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