MOTORS AND MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 8, 4 October 1929, Page 16

MOTORS AND MOTORING

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VULCANISING AT HOME HINTS FOR THE AMATEUR Many people prefer to do their own tire repair work, and for those who have a vulcaniser, the following hints will be of value :— Providing that you follow the directions and go about the job carefully, vulcanising is not difficult. Having found the puncture or burst, a portion of the tube around it should be well cleaned, prior to commencing the repair, and the following are the operations, dealt with briefly :— (1) Bevel the sides of the hole by cutting at an angle with a pair of scissors around the puncture; this is done in order to form a larger uniting surface and to make room for the new material.

(2) Rasp the sides of the bevel, in order to strengthen them; this work must be done carefully, so as not to roughen the inside of the tube. (3) Elux the roughened sides, one or two coats of the solution supplied with the outfit being generally necessary, and they must be allowed to dry before further operations are carried out. (4) Fill in the hole with the repair compound, this being a special preparation generally. made of more or less pure rubber, but differing with various outfits. In filling a small puncture, a strip of the compound is pressed into it and topped up in three or four thicknesses until just about the level of the surrounding tube; if only a small hole, a small wad of the compound can be inserted. If a burst is being treated, one proceeds in a slightly different manner. The sides should be levelled and a patch of rubber from an old tube cut slightly less than the size of the hole; bevel this also and then proceed to fill the slot around patch in the manner described above. (5) Now vulcanise the repair, but take care not to apply too much heat; also see that the heat is applied for the correct length of time. Much depends upon the length of application of the heat as to whether the repair is a good one or bad. You can test the repair by pressing the thumbnail into it. If responsive and elastic to the touch, vulcanisation can be taken as pretty well correct, but if the mark of the nail be left it is not sufficiently vulcanised and should be “cooked” a little longer. NARROW MARGINS TRAM TRACKS AND FOOTPATHS. There are numerous places in town areas where sections of tramway tracks, chiefly due to loop lines on a single track, are laid so close to the kerb that there is insufficient room for the passage of another vehicle. Accidents are liable to occur due to motor-cars being caught between the kerb and a tramcar suddenly swinging out, and the English people have realised that there is a need for a

uniform sign to indicate the presence of this danger. The English Road Improvement Association has, in consultation with highway surveyors, prepared a design for a suitable sign (shown in the accompanying sketch). This consists of a plaque bearing - a tapering device in red and the words “Narrowing Margins,” surmounted by a red triangle and two red lamps of a distinctive tapering shape. The provision of the double red lamps on the sign is to distinguish it from the single lamp frequently used to indicate tram stoppong places in England. There are numerous spots in Wellington where such a sign would be of use.

COOLING MEDIUM A BETTER LIQUID THAN WATER Internal combustion engine experts have been striving to find a satisfactory liquid which has a much higher boiling point than water to replace water as a cooling medium and permit the engine to operate at a higher temperature. Many different liquids such as mineral oil, kerosene, salt solutions, glycerine and other compounds have been, tried, but all have failed. Some are highly Inflammable, some corrode the Inside of the metals and deteriorate the rubber hose in the cooling system. Recently the engineers of the United States Army Air Corps have developed in the laboratory at Wright Field an almost ideal system of cooling the water-cooled engines. This development has been the result of a number of years of Intensive research which has culminated in the successful operation of the system.

The liquid used in the newly-develop-ed system is ethylene-glycol. This liquid has a boiling point of 388 deg. F. in the pure state and has all the properties required of a cooling liquid. It is manufactured commerciallj and is comparatively cheap. Since it has been know for fifty years it is not a newly-discovered liquid, but its use in connection with high-temperature cooling is a new development. Since ethy-lene-gycol has such a high boiling point it permits operating the water-cooled type of engine at a higher temperature than ever before possible. Amongst the big advantages claimed for ethyleneglycol over water cooling Is the amount of cooling area, or size of radiator necessary, which is greatly reduced, and considerable reduction in weight of the installed power unit, due to the reduction in size of the radiator and the lesser amount of liquid required in the cooling system. IMPORTANCE OF VALVE. CLEARANCE It is almost as important periodically to check the valve clearances of the engine as it is to check the air pressures of the tires or the oil level; badly adjusted valves greatly impair the efficiency of the power unit and produce considerable noise. Do not be over-zealous, however, in the search for quietness and allow too little clearance, especially If the adjustment be done when the engine is cold, as this may result In the valves not seating properly after a short period of running, causing loss of compression and generally upsetting the smooth running of the engine. The valve faces, moreover, will become badly burned

“SPARE WHEEL.”)

MOTOR TERMS

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

RED LIGHTS DO THEY HYPNOTISE? Has the reader when driving along a long, straight road at night, ever found that your attention has been so concentrated on the tail-light of a car in front that other surroundings have almost been forgotten? Writing in the “Autocar,” H. S. Linfield suggests that red lights are inclined to have a hypnotic effect on a driver, especially if he is at all tired. A motorist of materialistic mind witli whom I was discussing the subject of long night runs the other day thought fit to scorn the suggestion that a mere red light could exert a hypnotic effect (writes Mr Linfield). His interest in red lamps on ears was confined to the attention accorded to them by the worthy representatives of law and order. Yet many regular night drivers must be acquainted to some extent with the phenomenon to which I was referring. ' , Particularly after an already long journey, when darkness falls and still one continues, the destination perhaps being far away, there comes over all but the toughest of drivers a certain feeling of weariness, not tinged with boredom in any of its insidious forms, but a slight tiredness which gives warning that mental and physical reserves are not as they were when the start was made. There is one in a particularly suitable condition for the production of the red light phenomenon.

It may happen, far out in the country, that one is travelling close behind another car; mile after mile and only a few yards separate the two. Both cars may be running fast, but speed 1« not essential to the appearance of our phenomenon. Each of the drivers exists in a circumscribed little area, limited abruptly by the range of the head lamp rays. Powers of observation, baffled so far as detecting living or inanimate objects far afield is concerned, become narrowed and confined to the comparatively small illuminated space I have mentioned. For the second of the two drivers the brightest, the most impelling, point of attraction is the brilliantly scarlet tail light of the car ahead. Subconsciously, probably unwillingly, this driver’s interest, then his powers of concentration, rivet themselves upon that twinkling sign. And is it not a little surprising how very powerful can be the rays from some modern tail lamps. The driver’s sense of perspective and of definition, ever prone to be misled in the best of lamp beams, does not give him sufficient suggestion of reality so far as the surroundings are concerned to allow the breaking of the insistent spell which is being cast over him. Again and again the strongwilled, 400-mile-ln-the-day motorist with a pronounced effort changes his viewpoint. But not for long. Once more the fascination of that ruby proyes irresistible. It may be not the tall lamp of a car one is following that gives rise to this effect, but the tell-tale red glasses in the backs of one’s own side lamps. These, in fact, can be even more deadly, for, by comparison with the rear light of another vehicle they are nearer the driver and lurk always in a dark patch, made darker by contrast with the white beams pouring out immediately in front of, or alongside, them. Therefore, such tell-tales, which are used in many types of lamps, appear to be much brighter than actually is the case.

Gradually, as the night goes on and the driver becomes just a little more tired, not so much so as to make it advisable to stop altogether, these red glasses work their magic. Time after time they draw the driver’s eyes towards their twinkle. Once or twice unless he be of an exceptional type he may find himself even glaring at them vacantly for a second or two, when his vision should be directed elsewhere. They are cheerful, these little red lights, they seem to render less lonely a long solo night journey; They are well worth while because of their practical value. But it is naughty of them to lead strong he-men drivers astray, to make them repeatedly focus their eyes upon the two red points standing out of the semi-blackness. After many miles have been covered in darkness and fatigue really begins to overtake the man at the wheel these lamps have the curious faculty of causing one to feel sleepier than is natural; they induce a sensation of weariness in the eyes themselves. The more pronounced the movement of the lamp the more acute becomes the additional impression of tiredness produced.

An English magazine publishes the following list of motoring terms as used in England and in America. The list upon scrutiny seems to exhibit few distinctions between the two countries. In each column certain meanings are obvious, others obscure, and abridgments appear to be about equal. The distinctions are not so marked in New Zealand for in this country it will be found that, in many cases, both terms are used. BRITISH AMERICAN. Saloon Sedan Silencer Muffler Gear-box Transmission Buffer Bumper Wing Fender Windscreen Windshield Hood Top Sparking plug .... Spark plug Lorry Truck ' Petrol Gas Sump Crank-case Two-seater Roadster Dickey Rumble seat Dynamo Generator Lamps Lights Top High (gear) Spanner 'Wrench Bonnet Hood

TEN YEARS HENCE CAPTAIN CAMPBELL PREDICTS

Captain Malcolm Campbell, the famous English racing motorist, who recently established a new world’s record by covering five miles at the rate of 212 m.p.h. with his “Blue Bird” racing car, has expressed the opinion that the car of the future, and by this is meant the immediate future of ten years lienee, will be lighter, faster, more graceful in line, and perhaps

gearless. “The real improvements,” he says, “will come with improved body design, improved seating—in cheaper cars—fewer angles and more streamline, a better method of excluding petrol fumes from closed cars, smaller engines, and absence of gears. The gearless car, or the automatic and foolproof change-speed gear, is, in fact, the next great step forward. We already have balloon tires, four-wheel brakes, cars which are practically non-

skid, cars which can pull up in a few lengths, and cars which can do 100 m.p.h. on the road. . “Before any major improvements in motor-cars are possible we must get back to the experimental stage. Nothing can be learned without experiment,. and the experimental field of motor-car manufacture is the motor racing track. The modern motor-car owes practically every important principle of Its design to the racing car. That fact is selfapparent. Racing cars, by reason of the stress and strain which is placed upon them, are the natural pioneers of

great improvements. They have been the subjects on which the experiments were made to which we owe the present high standard of performances in our everyday touring and sports car. Small engines, four-wheel brakes, streamlined bodies, decreased windresistance, better springing and road holding, improved tires, a lower centre of gravity—all these things the everyday motor-ear owes to the racing car.

It tried them, proved them, and introduced them. Body design of the present-day car can certainly be improved. Apart from all artistic con.slderations, a car body whose lines are sweeping and graceful almost always offers less wind resistance than a body designed full of flat frontages. And decreased wind resistance means, in the long run, decreased petrol bills.”

OIL AND GREASE It Is Important to follow the manufacturers’ recommendations as regards the lubricant to be used. If oil is specified for chassis lubrication then grease should not be used, for in all probability It will not find its way through the small passages which are provided for the oil. , Similarly, oil should not be used if grease is specified, for the oil will find Its way too • readily through the larger passages provided for the grease. It. Is just as essential that the more J

DUAL CARBURETTERS Dual carburettors, as equipment for eight-cylinder car engines, have recently come into special prominence and, compared with a single carburetter, give a gain in power in the middlespeed range between 1400 and 2800 revolutions per minute. Tests made on a number of eight-cylinder engines of both the “straight-eight” and “V” types confirmed this gain, which was, however, unaccompanied by any particular gain in fuel economy. Carburetion problems are relatively simple with the dual system. Low velocities can be used, and a nearly uniform mixture gives good results except at low speeds. Dual carburetters have not successfully replaced the single system on sixcylinder engines because of blow-back of fuel spray and air charge from the mouth of the carburetter. This condition probably could be remedied by a slight change in the valve timing, but this would not be altogether satisfactory.

MECHANICAL FITNESS Keep your vehicle up to mechanical concert pitch. A neglected car or motor-cycle may be a danger to other road users, as well as to yourself. One half-hour given to brake inspection and adjustment may save a life—yours or another’s.

Money spent on new brake linings is well spent. j Bad brakes make work for coroners. Make sure the spare tire is always ready for use.

Worn tire treads or improper tire inflation may cause skids and loss of control.

Carry spare bulbs for your lamps. A fire extinguisher should always be available on a car.

If fire occurs turn off the petrol tap, and keep the engine running to empty the carburetter.

, Number plates must be kept clean. Wash them frequently during muddy or dusty conditions.

The muddy roads of winter, and the overwhelming number of spring and summer butterflies, moths, and insects, are a ready source.of trouble through the danger of having the radiator fins badly clogged. The best remedy is to drive into a service station and direct a good stream of water through the radiator from the back.

important units should receive the correct grade of oil or grease, and if a gear-box or back axle is intended to be lubricated by oil serious damage may result If grease is substituted. Many modern gear-boxes are, in fact, Intended to be lubricated not even with gear oil, which is comparatively thick, but with the same grade of oil as is required by the engine.