One of my pet peeves

[Tom P.]

Why don't people know the difference between a transmission tail HOUSING and a tail SHAFT????????
I see this all the time!

Reference:
Restorer Winter 2025 Vol 51 #3
Pg15, column 5, Tail Shaft Casting No
TAIL SHAFTS DO NOT HAVE CASTING NUMBERS, BUT TAIL HOUSINGS DO!

Also, column 7, Shifter Attachmenht
The shifter is attached to the tail HOUSING, NOT the tail SHAFT.

Here are examples of tail SHAFTS and tail HOUSINGS, plus shifter attachment.

These are SHAFTS.
100_0214[2].jpg

These are HOUSINGS
100_1770[1].jpg

100_0669.jpg


DSCN0532.jpg

[Gary S.]

perhaps Tom's clarification will ensure that nobody who wants housing will get the shaft...

[Ray K.]

Tom,

Maybe the more appropriate description of the shaft is how it is referenced in the P & A catalogs and the shop manuals -- that being " Transmission Main Shaft " ..

Just my thought.

Ray

[Duke W.]

My pet peeve is calling the numeric "zero" "oh", which is a letter of the alphabet. I even heard Dave Hill refer to the Zee-zero-six, as zee-oh-six. Most people don't understand the difference, but computers do.

Years ago when I changed insurance companies I read my Cosworth Vegas VIN, 1-V-7-7-oh-6-U.... She said my car didn't exist. After going back and forth I finally realized she was typing in the numeric zero not the letter oh. Once she typed in the letter "O" my CV suddenly existed.

Sometime later I found out that California DMV had recorded the engine code in all CV VINs as zero not oh. I wrote the DMV submitting documentation from the P & A catalog that the engine code for the 122 CID EFI engine is the letter O, not 0, and they need to reissue all titles with the correct VIN. They refused!

Sometime later I read somewhere that in the early eighties manufacturers established a protocol to preclude using the letter O as an engine code to avoid confusion.

As far as car parts are concerned my beef is that people don't know what an axle is, and don't know what parts make it up. Axles are called pumpkins, third members, differentials... Then the interior parts are confused. The axle housing is called a "carrier". Inside is a differential "case" that includes the differential gears and limited slip mechanism, if so equipped. The "loaded" case, with ring gear attached, is then installed into the carrier, which has the main drive pinion gear installed (don't confuse with the differential pinion gears) and becomes a complete axle when the rear cover is installed.

Duke

[Leif A.]

I was in the retail automotive business for over 35 years and I never once saw a VIN with the letter "O", "I", or "Q". Since 1981, no manufacture used those letters so as not to confuse with the number "0", "1" and "9". Prior to 1981, that's another story.

[Tom P.]

What's all that got to do with not knowing the difference between a shaft and a housing????????????
ESPECIALLY WHEN INCORRECT "FACTS" ARE PUBLISHED IN WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE BE A GOSPEL PUBLICATION !

[Rocco S.]

Here's my Pet Peeve.

How about calling an "Engine" a "Motor".

I always thought an engine runs on a fuel (gasoline, diesel) and a motor runs on electric power.

Rocco

[Duke W.]

I was in the retail automotive business for over 35 years and I never once saw a VIN with the letter "O", "I", or "Q". Since 1981, no manufacture used those letters so as not to confuse with the number "0", "1" and "9". Prior to 1981, that's another story.

I guess you never saw a 1976 Cosworth Vega VIN, 1446 built. My 1976 Cosworth Vega was built five years before the protocol you referenced was established. The 1976 CV was, unfortunately, saddled with one of those potentially confusing codes for the engine ID, which is the fifth character in the VIN field. The 1975 CV (the only other year of CV production, 2061 built) VIN engine code is E, so no confusion there.

Live and learn!

Duke

P. S. Tom- sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread, but you might actually enjoy the CV bracket race at Brotherhood Raceway in the LA harbor about 30 years ago. This was during the administration of the late Dick Riorden, the last decent mayor that LA ever had, and he supported the establishment of Brotherhood Raceway.

That little twin cam EFI jewel really loves to rev. I won! Great cars are for having fun, and you don't need to beat the hell out of them to have a good time.

Has anyone ever organized a vintage Corvette bracket race?

[Mark F.]

Capital letter "S" vs the number "5" Pet Peeve

As registration guy for two PTSC Regionals (2008 and 2012, which was before NCRS' online registration system) I can't tell you how many insurance card mistakes I saw listing an incorrect VIN for St Louis built Corvettes.

and just this last year, my insurance company made the same mistake...which I had to get corrected.

If this has hijacked the OPs thread, I can create a new one with one of my other more annoying Pet Peeves "wheels" vs "rims"...
more on that later either here, or somewhere else.

[Duke W.]

Here's my Pet Peeve.
Your
How about calling an "Engine" a "Motor".

I always thought atn engine runs on a fuel (gasoline, diesel) and a motor runs on electric power.

Rocco

Your are correct. That's why my oil article, posted here and on other Web sites is titled "Engine Oil for Vintage Corvettes...", not "Motor Oil for...".

Hey, this is a good thread... get all our frustrations off out chests... and just think.. in three days there will be a new sheriff in town... yippee chi-oh-chi-aaaay.

Duke

[Duke W.]

P. S. Tom- sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread, but you might actually enjoy the CV bracket race at Brotherhood Raceway in the LA harbor about 30 years ago. This was during the administration of the late Dick Riorden, the last decent mayor that LA ever had, and he supported the establishment of Brotherhood Raceway.

That little twin cam EFI jewel really loves to rev. I won! Great cars are for having fun, and you don't need to beat the hell out of them to have a good time.

Has anyone ever organized a vintage Corvette bracket race?

Sorry, I forgot to add the link, but the edit function was not active. Sometimes is works and sometimes it doesn't'...hopefullly the IT guys will be able to fit this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAkBNuPPu9M

Duke

[Gary S.]

some off-original topic thoughts:

Would it have been a hit if the Beatles lyric had been "the one after nine zero nine"?

CV went for $19k at Mecum this week

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1137861/1976-chevrolet-cosworth-vega/?aa_id=647068-0

[Mark F.]

“Wheels" vs "Rims"...they are not the same…
Yeah, I’m guilty too…as a kid I used to ogle cars with "Chrome Reverse Rims" as we'd call them...and Cragar "Mags" even though most of the ones we saw were never magnesium...anyhow...

The 1st link below shows STEEL wheels being produced (aluminum wheels are produced in a totally different manner).

At about 2”:30’ the “rim” rolls out of the coiling/forming mill. Disappointing it doesn’t show how the resistance butt weld is accomplished where the two ends meet…(at least that’s how I saw it done)
At ~ 3”:50’ a “hub” blank is stamped further into its final configuration
At ~ 4”:25’ the completed “hub” is pressed into the “rim” (and is welded later)
At ~ 4”:50’ now it’s a “wheel” (painting and processing later…)

What you see when mounted on a car is a "wheel"; comprised usually of two pieces - a "rim" and a "hub", which are welded together as an assembly to produce a "wheel"

PS – the process shown to produce the finished “rim” in this video is at least 4 to 5 times slower than the production process I witnessed (late '70s)…different tooling I guess ? (better ?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgoXnHzdOtw

and talk about primitive…
watch this…horrible working conditions and this is how guys lose fingers; limbs; lung function; etc. these guys are working in flip flops !
at 6”49’ look at the guy’s face !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2piwEAZl-r4

[Gary C.]

Guys,

Am gonna close this thread before it goes sideways, since it's not really Technical in nature.

Gary
....