Momentum

I just watched "My Cousin Vinny" with my beloved.

I am admittedly obsessive about details being correct in movies, especially about cars.

Transformers: "Looks like you've got a Holly carb on top of a high rise manifold" -Megan Fox

Megan...No. Just...Keep posing for magazine covers. You don't know anything about cars.

Fast and Furious: "Oh, you finally switched to ELECTRONIC fuel injection!" -Paul Walker

Paul...don't call yourself a man anymore, for the love of God. As for the first, there's no way a high rise intake would fit under the stock hood of that mid '70's Camaro. The second: There's three types of fuel injection. The first is the ONLY one that ISN'T electronic. It came in the mid '50's Corvette. Nobody really wanted it because it sucked. It's valuable now because it's rare. It's rare because it SUCKED.

The second is called a "Speed-density" fuel injection. Basically, it's an electronic carburetor. It's what you'll find on any late '80's/early '90's American truck.

The third is what we'd call EFI, or "Tuned Port" or "Multi-Port" injection. This is the one with a mass air sensor. It's modern. It's sleek. It is really fucking hard to put on a '69 Dodge charger with a big ass blower.

FAIL for Paul Walker.

However, in "Vinny" all the facts are correct, and really impressive. It's amazing that anyone would think to write to a car audience in a court room comedy. "The 327 didn't come in that year Bel Air!" No shit. But the average CAR-BASED movie nowadays throws in a couple lines about "Wow, man, that engine has SPARK PLUGS and shit!" and all of a sudden, we're supposed to believe the characters are expert mechanics.

Let the on set mechanics verify the lines in the movie. They're there anyway. Trust that some fucker in the theater actually can follow the technical detail and write for HIM. Or her. Whoever.

My current baby project is a 1964 Ford F-100. Bought her for a song on Craigslist and am working my ass off trying to get her on the road and legal so I can use her to move back to Central California. Y-block power, baby. Yes, it is the 292 that everyone hates so much. I only have to deal with it 'till I can buy a wrecked Mustang five point oh and convert it over. For now, I sort of like telling people "Yeah, it has the same engine as the '56 T-Bird." Alas, however, historical or not, that particular motor DOES have issues waiting to surface, and I'd rather not deal with it.

But first, the brakes. It's a single master cylinder. With Drum brakes all around. This means that it won't stop in the rain and it won't stop if it has even ONE tiny little leak in the lines or the wheel cylinders. This also means even brake pressure to all four wheels, which is a BAD thing. In modern cars, 60-80% of the braking is in the FRONT. It's just physics. Next time you stomp on the brakes, take note of how your car squats down in the front. No fucking wonder they designed the front to take the brunt of the braking burden. My little truck was designed before they cared to design with physics in mind. Oh, well. She's pretty.

Look her up on images.google. You'll agree.