Relative compression test & Cam timing

Not strange. Most of us know each other IRL as well as on the net, and as a
community of humans, prefer to know each other by our real names rather
than by aliases. It breeds mutual trust and respect, even when we disagree.
To us, it’s strange that on an enthusiast mail list like this one, somebody
would be reluctant to tell people who he really is.

But then I’ve probably made 20-30k posts on various forums since the middle
90’s, all with my real name. Knowing people can see who I am enforces a
little collegiality. It has had no effect on my professional or public
life, and I do work where that sort of thing matters.

Racers use high-octane fuel because they are running very high compression,
which would ignite in advance of the spark were it not for the high octane.
It’s the compression that makes the power for them, not the octane. The
octane is just part of what makes that compression possible. Motorhome
engines don’t run high compression.

We should remember that the standard vehicle for pulling an Airstream back
in the early 70’s was a Delta 88 sedan with a 455 and a tow package.

Rick “my real name” Denney

> yep, thats where I read it, not sure which year it was now though. the
> link in my last post will explain it. why do you think racers use race fuel?
>
> I find it strange that out of all the open internet forums Ive been and am
> involved with, which is probably more than most people, that this is the
> only one ever that has an extreme target fixation on names and locations.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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--
Rick Denney
73 x-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Off-list email to rick at rickdenney dot com
 
> We GMC Dixielanders were lucky that when Joe Mondello "retired", it was to
> Crossville, TN, hometown of his wife Mary. Having a GMC motorhome (with a
> Mondello engine!) he became very active in the club. We were all amazed at
> his knowledge, and willingness to share it. Certainly we miss him greatly.

he made a name for himself thats for sure, I now know that name but will never get to know the man unfortunately. would love to see pics of his rig
(especially that engine!), I didnt know he also drove GMCs.

I did get to know Jim Ruggles. The Buick guru before he passed, learned alot from him actually.

> Listen to JimH. Timing and particularly advance requirements are different from light to heavy. More than one VW engine in a bus died because
> someone put the wrong (Vacuum advance) distributor in it instead of the rpm only advance distributor.
>
> --johnny

cam timing and ignition timing are related but not the same. my ears are wide open and especially to those who can set up twin DOHCs without any
reference markings but I havnt heard anything yet about this:

> but then I thought is it really a good idea because of the heat generated by the 455 and a 12,000lb load?

or input even as simple as yea or nay on altering the cam timing from stock on the GMCs for him or anyone else and that was my main inquiry with this
thread.

Dave Stragand, you must have a big garage. OBD2 would come in handy on a GMC. and fun to play around with.

> Not strange. Most of us know each other IRL as well as on the net, and as a
> community of humans, prefer to know each other by our real names rather
> than by aliases. It breeds mutual trust and respect, even when we disagree.
> To us, it's strange that on an enthusiast mail list like this one, somebody
> would be reluctant to tell people who he really is.
>
> But then I've probably made 20-30k posts on various forums since the middle
> 90's, all with my real name. Knowing people can see who I am enforces a
> little collegiality. It has had no effect on my professional or public
> life, and I do work where that sort of thing matters.
>
> Racers use high-octane fuel because they are running very high compression,
> which would ignite in advance of the spark were it not for the high octane.
> It's the compression that makes the power for them, not the octane. The
> octane is just part of what makes that compression possible. Motorhome
> engines don't run high compression.
>
> We should remember that the standard vehicle for pulling an Airstream back
> in the early 70's was a Delta 88 sedan with a 455 and a tow package.
>
> Rick "my real name" Denney

well, as I previously wrote, I find it strange, so it IS strange from at least one perspective.

some of y'all seem not to have realized that higher octane fuel allows cooler combustion temps @ the same power output on any given engine. I have a
pretty good feeling that these modern fuels have played a huge roll in the cracked intake manifold epidemic. not to say it wouldnt have happened on
the '70s formulations but that it greatly narrows the tolerance the engine had for less than optimal tuning which is the norm for the most part unless
youre someone like Joe Mondello.
 
To comment on just one topic: Re: Exhaust crossover cracks & Octane. Joe
Mondello started sealing the Olds exhaust crossovers with zinc at least 20
years ago. I'm sure because I bought some from him and followed his
instructions almost that long ago.

Ken H.

> ​...
>
> some of y'all seem not to have realized that higher octane fuel allows
> cooler combustion temps @ the same power output on any given engine. I have
> a
> pretty good feeling that these modern fuels have played a huge roll in the
> cracked intake manifold epidemic. not to say it wouldnt have happened on
> the '70s formulations but that it greatly narrows the tolerance the engine
> had for less than optimal tuning which is the norm for the most part unless
> youre someone like Joe Mondello.
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
 
> To comment on just one topic: Re: Exhaust crossover cracks & Octane. Joe
> Mondello started sealing the Olds exhaust crossovers with zinc at least 20
> years ago. I'm sure because I bought some from him and followed his
> instructions almost that long ago.

I imagine he cracked many intakes even when new in his pursuit of the hottest 455s. he probably had some great dyno stories to tell. sorta along the
lines of what happens when an 80lb crankshaft flexes its way outside an engine block and stuff. lol

is his old GMC still known?
 
Mary Mondello came to a few rallies after we lost Joe, but not for a few
years now. We heard that she sold the coach; I don't know who to.

Ken H.

> is his old GMC still known?
>
>
 
Joe Mondello wrote the high performance bible on Oldsmobile engines,
starting with the 303 cubic inch V-8 from a late 1948 ROCKET 88. He
developed things like adjustable rocker arms and solid lifter camshafts and
valley inserts that kept the lifters in place when you over revved one, and
cam buttons, and main bearing girdles, and the list goes on.
Back in my racing days, I spent a lot of money on that stuff. Took me
30 or 40 years to break that habit, and to revise my way of thinking about
"performance engines" . You got to build them for the task at hand. GMC
COACHES ain't race cars, and the stuff that makes a race car good, has NO
PLACE inside a Coach engine.
Joe would be the first person to tell you that if he were still here
to do it. He and Mary were GMC owners and club members and great friends to
the GMC community. We are all in their debt, and better off for it.
If there is a wall somewhere with names of the late great superstars,
his name will be there, Along with Dan Gregg, and Denny Allen, and, and,
the list is long and getting longer. Friends to us all. No place there for
numbers.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Or
78 GMC ROYALE 403

> Mary Mondello came to a few rallies after we lost Joe, but not for a few
> years now. We heard that she sold the coach; I don't know who to.
>
> Ken H.
>

>
> > is his old GMC still known?
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
 
But.....
What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?

Sully
Bellevue. Wa

"'African or European?"
--
76 Glenbrook
 
1 + 1 = 3, but only for very large values of one.

--johnny
--
76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
"I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell" - ol Andy, paraphrased
 
I am a newby to the GMC "Cult". Through an early post I leaned that Mondello
had developed stuff for the 455 Olds engine in the GMCs. I was not aware
that he was a GMCer, but I reached out to his son about my connection with
Joe in earlier days of building Chevy small block heads. This was in the
early sixties when he operated out of what had been a small real real
estate office on Pico Blvd in West LA. He expanded as his reptation and
business grew, and I lost connection sometime in the mid '70s.

Joe went to high school with me in the early '50s at University High in WLA.
I also was involved in Car Clubs in the "west side". In the mid '50s. In
the early '60s I was part owner of an aerospace focused hard chrome plating
company in WLA. I contacted him and convinced him of the lower friction and
longer life of plating the valves. We did literally thousands of them over
many years.

He was quite a character, and fun to know. I only learned of his passing
through a GMCnet post. Small world, ain't it?

Pete Faxon Camarillo, CA -1974 Glacier

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> Joe Mondello wrote the high performance bible on Oldsmobile engines,
> starting with the 303 cubic inch V-8 from a late 1948 ROCKET 88. He
> developed things like adjustable rocker arms and solid lifter camshafts and
> valley inserts that kept the lifters in place when you over revved one, and
> cam buttons, and main bearing girdles, and the list goes on.
> Back in my racing days, I spent a lot of money on that stuff. Took me
> 30 or 40 years to break that habit, and to revise my way of thinking about
> "performance engines" . You got to build them for the task at hand. GMC
> COACHES ain't race cars, and the stuff that makes a race car good, has NO
> PLACE inside a Coach engine.
> Joe would be the first person to tell you that if he were still here
> to do it. He and Mary were GMC owners and club members and great friends to
> the GMC community. We are all in their debt, and better off for it.
> If there is a wall somewhere with names of the late great superstars,
> his name will be there, Along with Dan Gregg, and Denny Allen, and, and,
> the list is long and getting longer. Friends to us all. No place there for
> numbers.
> Jim Hupy
> Salem, Or
> 78 GMC ROYALE 403
>

>
> > Mary Mondello came to a few rallies after we lost Joe, but not for a few
> > years now. We heard that she sold the coach; I don't know who to.
> >
> > Ken H.
> >

> >
> > > is his old GMC still known?
> > >
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > GMCnet mailing list
> > Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> > http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
> >
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>

--
*Pete*
 
cool how you showed up here.. in the GMC crowd. I guess there may be at least a few Mondello built GMC engines out there somewhere.

all kinds of valve coatings nowadays but sounds like you and joe were at the forefront on those. Ruggles use to test every new thing he could get his
hands on back when I new him. late 80s, early '90s, and was experimenting with advanced plastic valves back then. Buick execs were working with him on
these and trying to come up with something that was just right. between too hard and brittle and too soft.

they were measuring valve bounce off the seats somehow and he showed me some of them that had small chips out of them on the valve faces from being
brittle. he gave me one and I still have it.

these were so hard a zizz wheel grinder has no effect on them and they were some type of composite plastic. (grey color) it was something else at the
time but I think they are pretty standard in F1 these days. from what I hear, the whole engine is composite in those now except the crankshafts.

also was testing valves that had turbine looking swirl blades on the backsides. all kinds of cool stuff actually. racing R&D is a really cool gig!
 
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