Car Jargon

[General Lee 01]

What does "4 on the floor", and "4 banger" mean?

 

[Shaners]

Standard tranny and 4 cyl.

[Jpshostr]

"4 on the floor" means a four speed stick shift with the shifting on the floor of the cab.  Same deal as "3 on the tree" which is a three speed on the steering column.

"4 banger" means a four cylinder engine.

[2k1 2500hd]

4 on the floor refers to a 4 speed standard trasmision with a floor shifter. I guess in todays cars that would be a 5 or 6 on the floor. You don't see many 4 speeds any more.

3 on the tree refers to a 3 speed manual tranmision with a steering column shifter. I used to be really good a speed shifting a column stick shift, I drove one for many years.

A 4 banger as Shaners stated is a 4 cylinder engine also refered to as a 4 popper.

To show one of the ways even the car manufactures used this kind of jagon, the Oldsmobile 442 stood for 4 barrel Carb, 4 on the floor, dual exhaust.

(Edited by 2k1 2500hd at 11:52 am on April 20, 2001)

[76BBSub]

Bruce,

Nice to see some people still know what 442 means...I have had several people amazed when I told them "no, it's not 442 cubic inches...."

Of course, even Oldsmobile eventually deviated a bit from that...my buddy's '70 is a 4-barrel 455 with dual exhaust, but a TH400 automatic with dual-gate shifter.

Jeff