Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum banner

Internet Myths, Legends and Advice Revisited:

3K views 24 replies 19 participants last post by  F15Falcon 
#1 ·
I was wondering what everyone thinks about how much internet based information is correct pertaining to automotive information. I visit several boards daily, and I see alot of mis-information repeated over and over again. Should we hold ourselves to a higher ethical standard before we start typing? I believe that the information that one suggests should have some merit and validity as well as basis in fact. I also wonder how many responses are from actual experience rather that just spewing information that was read elsewhere.I asked this same question several years ago and I got some interesting responses.
 
#2 ·
years of experance here and still some times i get it wrong--

i do try to give good info-- but its hard to see what the poster is asking over the internet--
 
#3 ·
Not just the automotive industry. I run a shooting websiite (okay, varminthunting, but we also "shoot" paper). You would be surprised at the amount of misinformation sometimes gets posted on my forum. Stuff that can get someone killed if they aren't careful.

Similar to this forum, although Ford Muscle has a much larger user community. Most folks here (and at my site) are pretty quick about pointing out the error in folks ways. I usually try to check a couple of sources before I make a big mistake, but many folks don't take that time.

You are correct though.. it seems like a fair amount of folks repeat what they've read (or think they've read) on the internet and they treat it as gospel. I do think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard and strive to post fact based responses and information based on experience. On this forum, as well as mine, there's the handful that like to respond in order to see their name in lights. You can usually tell who they are pretty quickly and sort the wheat from the chaff.

Mike
 
#4 ·
If we spread factual info, now it wouldn't be the internet would it? ;)

There is a ton of it out there. I'm on the 351 Cleveland forum and people there have spent a lot of time trying to correct the old rumors and dumb stuff that was birthed in the magazines and twisted around years ago. I post on things I've had my hands on, but also pass on info on things that I have learned that have been confirmed by trusted others. I don't know how many times I've started to answer a post only to bail when I find that I can't confirm what I'm about to say, either because of a major memory failure or I can't come up with the proper reliable references. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt."

Lots of car BS gets parroted, just like other stuff. There's plenty that like to go on about stuff they don't know. Used to run into them a lot at car shows "My cousin had one of them Mustangs with a 283 back in 1962...", now they can be world wide LOL. If you interact enough on some of the forums, you figure out pretty quick who knows and who parrots. The "best" is the occasional senior member of a board that refuses to be corrected, even when obviously out in left field. The "I'm king here, I may not always be right but I'm never wrong" syndrome.

I'm like everyone else - sometime I've posted stuff that was later noted as incorrect. Whenever I get wind of something like that, I try to go back and acknowledge the correct info. We're human, we make mistakes. Sometime you just gotta "man up" and do the right thing.

The thing that is different about online communities is that people tend to be more civil when they have to hash things out in person. That's good. On the 'net, some people just go right to jackass mode. It's easy because the poster that gets blasted is not very likely to come knocking on your door. If people would make the effort to remain civil in all conversations, it would help.

This certainly helps my post whore total for the day. :)
 
#5 ·
Since we are all just about one decade into the widespread use of automotive internet forums, it would be interesting to also know if enthusiasts have seen an evolution in the quality of shared information and knowledge. At least here, I believe the quality of shared info has improved.
 
#6 ·
I enjoy the sound of my own typing....

but anyway if someone tries to help me but gives me incorrect info, I can't fault them at least they tried. If I'm not sure I'll say I heard X or whatever to indicate I'm not sure, or I try to keep my mouth shut.

Communicating experiences with problems or solutions is another story, sometimes they just don't translate from one person to another.
 
#10 ·
When I first came online, there wasn't a single automotive site on the entire internet! That was 1994.

I had the chance to register hotrod.com but alas passed on it. Oh well!

I would say the information out there is truly amazing compared to what I had to deal with in my teen years, trying to fix up various cars. Now if I have a problem I can ask in seven different forums and get an answer in under a half hour.
 
#11 ·
I just got back from a remarkable trip that I must repeat on Sunday, but this is a great post!
Some of you may think me a loudmouth know nothing, but I have a LOT of experience and all of it hands on.

But I don't know it all, just a lot, and when I get someone telling me I'm wrong they're usually incorrect, unless I've mis-remembered something.

I restore cars, I rebuild engines and do other mechanical necessaries. But 99% of the time I don't say anything unless I've been in that situation or a similar one.

That's why I rarely reply to carb posts, I only have experience with Carters and a few motor craft carbs, but it's NOTHING like the experience some other members have, so generally I stay quiet.. (except I like original carters over edelbrocks :D remember that one :))

Anyway, the internet has come a LONG way for sure! And the misinformation on FM is a LOT smaller in percentage than probably any other place on the WWW.

Later Folks!


FE
 
#12 ·
Like the one where everybody calls the Ford 400 a "400M"??

And when you correct them that there is no such thing as a "400M", they tell you there is too!!

And then they call the "M" "Midland" or "Michigan"....and when you tell them thats wrong, that it stands for "Modified", they tell you that you're full of it because their cousins best friend's uncle had a "400 Midland" stock from the factory in a 69 Torino Cobra Jet 400 with 500 horsepower, all stock from the factory!!
 
#13 ·
Like the one where everybody calls the Ford 400 a "400M"??

And when you correct them that there is no such thing as a "400M", they tell you there is too!!

And then they call the "M" "Midland" or "Michigan"....and when you tell them thats wrong, that it stands for "Modified", they tell you that you're full of it because their cousins best friend's uncle had a "400 Midland" stock from the factory in a 69 Torino Cobra Jet 400 with 500 horsepower, all stock from the factory!!
I thought the "M" diddnt stand for modified. Not sure what it really stands for, but that they are actually Cleavland engines. Here we go, a guessing game that I dont know the answer to. This is how bulls#it info is born. I like to man up when Im wrong or just keep quiet. It seems the more you know, the less you rant!
 
#14 ·
The 351 M designation was needed because the 351 C and 351 W existed in the same era. The 400 was the only engine size of that cubic inch size and no letter designation was needed, but since it physically looked like the 351 M, the M was tacked on to the back of the 400 and a myth was born. I remember the 400 being called the 400 M back in the 70's, so this existed long before the internet. Ford never refered to the 400 as the 400M in any literature that I know of.
 
#15 ·
I can remember before the net, hearing of poeple who would put moth balls in their air cleaners, thinking the nitrous fumes would make their cars faster. I have no idea if this worked or not.
 
#17 ·
Those balls should keep the critters out, which is a big problem around these parts.
 
#19 ·
I remember everyone saying what a pig the 400 was. Why would anyone waste their time or money putting one together when a 351C was such a better engine and could make a ton of power. Heck, when I rode in a friends '77 LTD with a 400, I thought it was a total piece of crap too. Then you start to hear about guys with Broncos putting cams and 4V intakes on them and they seemed to wake up. Now with pistons and aftermarket heads, a 400 is a beast! Who would have thought that all those boat anchors in junkyards could be turned into such powerhouses? I had plenty of people tell me not to waste my time on them.

And as for people putting out wrong information, especially at shows, swap meets, etc. I don't even bother to get into it with them because they are usually know everything and it's not worth getting into it with them. These are usually the guys who don't have a car and just read articles in magazines or listen to what other people tell them. Or they are the kind of people who just don't listen no matter what you tell them, so it's just easier to walk away. Because having a rational discussion with a know it all is like pissing in the wind:)
 
#20 ·
I know a guy, he's a Ford tech in the Denver area. He loves to get on the forums and post total BS just to see how many people he can get to agree with him. A surprising amount of the time, more people believe him than call him on it. He can talk the talk and comes across as an expert so his posts are very convincing. He changes his screen name regularly so that people don't catch on. There's a case of intentional misinformation.

Most of the time people mean well but are just repeating something they read. The problem is when they are repeating stuff a guy like above writes. So in order to avoid misinformation, you really shouldn't post in situattions you don't have first hand experience with.
 
#21 ·
I am no 351M/400 expert, and never want to be LOL

However, weren't there a few 400s with a standard small block bellhousing pattern and 400s with the truck/460 bell?

If so, I'd justify saying M to differentiate those two blocks. Sort of like guys who call an FE in a truck an FT, just because its in a pickup
 
#22 ·
The 400 blocks with the small bell pattern are known as "FMX" blocks because of the trans hung on the back. Around 1972, and rather rare. Most 351M/400s use the same "big block" bell pattern - same as 429/460. That requires a C6 or an 78/79 C4 with a big block type bell - also kinda rare. Those C4s were in things like t-birds with 351Ms.

Thanks to Tim Meyer generating updated 400 parts, you can really make the old truck motor scream.

And you can fit ANYTHING in an early 65/66 shock tower car - there is a chart somewhere that lists how high you have to raise the motor before you drop it so it'll wedge in there correctly ;)

My take on the W-C-M is pure speculation - a SWAG from working many years with engineers. I think some wise-o at Ford Engineering was trying to find a way to mark the de-stroked 400 and just in a fit of simplicity, flipped the "W" over and bingo - it's an "M". Good a theory as any, I say. Now if I can just get the "legend" part of that BS fired off...

I don't have the document, but I have read that there may be a published blurb somewhere from the early 70s where Ford referred to the 400 as a "400 Cleveland". Now if I could come up with a copy of that promo paper wouldn't that would be a hoot.
 
#23 ·
A nice internet myth I like hearing is how 4V Clevelands don't have any low end torque at all. I then give the offending person a ride in my Mach I or Torino with 4V Clevos and the myth is totally forgotten. A few years ago someone on the 335 Forum posted some pics of a factory 4V 400 intake that was on an engine he bought, has anyone else heard of such an animal?
 
#24 ·




One 400 4bbl manifold. Note the XE casting number in the second pic.

Stories regarding this are that 77 LTD II cop cars came with a 4bbl 351M. Nothing has else has been proven to support this story or any others.

The facts are, Ford did make a 400/351M 4bbl experimental manifold. Thus far nothing else is confirmend.


I got these pics off a guy on the Ranchero.us forum.
 
#25 ·




One 400 4bbl manifold. Note the XE casting number in the second pic.

Stories regarding this are that 77 LTD II cop cars came with a 4bbl 351M. Nothing has else has been proven to support this story or any others.

The facts are, Ford did make a 400/351M 4bbl experimental manifold. Thus far nothing else is confirmend.


I got these pics off a guy on the Ranchero.us forum.
That's the one I saw as well, pretty cool.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top