Hiya Guys

I know this sounds a bit blonde but can someone please explain some of the terminology used throughout this board.

I used to think England and America spoke the same language, but after moving here I found a lot of differences in the meaning and spelling of words (i.e. I was warned not to ask for a "***" when I wanted a cigarette).

I can decipher most of the terminology as I read through the post, but a couple of things i'm still unsure of, so if someone can explain the meaning of the llist below i'd be grateful and can enjoy these boards more.

1. Torque converter lock-up
2. Headers vs Manifold
3. N.O.S
4. H.O. (e.g. 350 HO)
5. Posi ( I think this is equivalent to LSD in England, Limited Slip Diff.)

If I think of any more, i'll post as I go along.
Thanks

Take care, be good...
Sara Lou

 

• The torque converter is the part of an automatic transmission system that goes between the engine and transmission, where a clutch would go in a stick-shift car. It is a fluid coupling, desgined to couple as closely as possible at RPMs above some certain value. A "lock-up" in it is a clutch that metallically couples it together, eliminating all slippage. It's mostly a fuel economy thing. Virtually all cars with automatic transmissions from all over the world, including Europe and the Far East as well as the US, have had them for the last 10 or 15 years.
• Headers & manifolds.... a pic is worth a thousand words.
• NOS has 2 meanings; "new old stock" which is new parts that have been sitting around for a very long time; and it's also the brand name of a company that make nitrous oxide injection equipment, Nitrous Oxide Systems
• HO = High Output
• Correct, back in the 60s, "PosiTraction" was GM's trade name for limited slip, and it just sort of became part of the vernacular.

Manifold on the left, header on the right.

 

Headers are made of smoothly bent steel tubing (like in RB's pic above) and a manifold is basically a cast iron "log" with 4 holes for the exhaust ports on it.

Everything posted by RB above (as usual) is totally correct.

 

In addition to the foregoing:

Dampers are shocks and/or struts. The bonnet is the hood. The boot is the trunk. Petrol is gas or fuel. Some jackass at The City (not Whitehall) decide to put a roundabout on our street here in Toronto and it confuses the hell out of people who could never pass a driving test in the UK much less attain proficiency in either of our two official languages. Tyres are tires and colour is spelled colour. Motorways are highways and we don't have ring roads or Hooray Henrys.

Lol .. hope this helps.

 

I thought color was spelled c-o-l-o-r.

Windscreen is a windshield. Lorry is a truck. A gallon is 3.7854 liters, or 128 fluid ounces. A pound is 16 oz. (or who knows day-to-day how many $'s). A stone is a rock, not how much you weigh (or perhaps a state of intoxication). WC is a restroom.

I discovered I don't speak English in 1981 while trying to talk to the bobby on the telly about my wife's purse being stolen at Windsor Castle (no, I don't have any clue whether I spelled those correctly).

 

Hiya Guys

WOW! and I thought this was just a car forum.... How come you all know the language so well, but whenever I speak to anyone here (Florida), my husband has to translate for me?.

Well, thanks for all your input, these boards are really great and soooo helpful, unlike some sites i've been to that treat you like an idiot if you don't have a masters degree in the subject they are discussing, it's so refreshing to see the pro's genuinely helping the novices and newbies without getting sh***y about simple questions.

BTW George, there are a lot of people in the UK who couldn't pass the driving test either (and i've been stuck driving behind them, MANY, MANY times!!), and a LOT of English people still don't understand roundabouts yet either.

Also, a couple more definitions:
Wing = Fender
Manual = Stick shift
Gallon = 4.45 litres (approx $7 - $8 a gallon during my last visit there).
Stone = 14lbs
P*ssed = Drunk
Bevy = Glass of Beer
Loo = Toilet
GeeGee = Horse
Banger = Sausage
*** = Cigarette
Serviette = Napkin
Biscuits (Bickies) = Cookies
Chips = French fries
Crisps = Potato chips

Thanks
Take care, be good...
Sara Lou

 

Thats the proper, Canadian spelling

 

You don't say, eh?

I've spent the past few weeks in Alabama on a business trip. Last Sunday after I was done eating breakfast the guy working in the restaurant said something to me that I asked him to repeat 3 times - I swear, I still have no idea what he was saying. Unfortunately, I didn't have a translator available.

 

Hiya Guys

You should have let me know you were in Alabama, Five7. We were up there for 4th July holiday. If i'd have known I could have rented you my husband to translate everything for you, he's from Alabama and Tennessee (Hillbilly redkneck) Y'all.

Take care, be good...
Sara Lou

 

What rong wid tha way us Florida peplz talks?