MOTORING AND MOTORISTS

Evening Star, Issue 17928, 25 March 1922, Page 9

MOTORING AND MOTORISTS

[By Radiator.]

Brief accounts of holiday trips, roads, and places of interest arc invited for this column.

A soft tyro turneth away pleasure

HINTS AND TRIPS. —Strain the Petrol.—

Irregular firing of the engine may be due to dirt or water in the petrol system. Loss of power accompanies this condition. Backfiring may or may not occur. The water or dirt may usually _be drained by opening the cock or removing the plug in the bottom of the carburetter. A strainer is a protection against dirt and water. Every car should have one. The strainer should be drained every week or so. —Did You Lose Something?— When you hear a clatter that sounds as though something had dropped off of the car, stop and look. This may sound like superfluous advice, but the fact is that spare tyre clamps, wrenches left on the running board, and many other valuable articles are frequently _ lost because ot lack of observance of this precaution. In one case two of the four bolts in the coupling in the rear of the clutch dropped out —luckily the fact was discovered before the two remaining ones gave way. —Filir Treatment for the Hood.—

After a rain the hood should not be put down until it is thoroughly dry. If it is not given an opportunity to dry, rapid deterioration of the fabric may bo expected. —Don’t W r ait Too Long.—

Have that old tyre fixed. Tyre repair shops have never been as popular as they are now. Motorists are realising as they never did before that true tyro economy consists largely in knowing when to take the ailing cover or tube to the tyro doctor. There are many tyres that look pretty bad, but have a good strong carcass and live rubber. Those are usually well worth repairing, even though they may have an ugly blow-out. —Preserving the Polish.—

Due mainly to the extremes that the bonnet has to undergo, the finish on the bonnet generally becomes dull before the rest of the car. It is a good plan to wipe the bonnet after a run in the vain, because the water dries on the hood metal rapidly on account of the warmth, and the drops are almost sure to cause spots, in time dulling the finish. Of course, any car is better for being wiped all over after being wet, but it is particularly important for the bonnet.

VALVE CLEARANCE. It is most important to inspect the valves about every I,COO miles. Fifty per cent, of the noise when the engine is running comes from the valves, and the loss of power is in most cases the result of the valves not seating, duo to being burnt, bent, or not lifting enough. Valve clearance is necessary to compensate for expansion when they become highly heated. If the clearance is too great they become noisy, and if too small they will not seat correctly when heated, and the result will be loss of power. The exhaust should have .a little more clearance than the inlet, as the exhaust gets much hotter, and to get the best mileage and power the above ride must bo observed. Adjustments on the tappetts are provided, and they are usually hardened to stand the hammering they get. At all times the valve push rods should bo easy to turn with the fingers when the valve is closed. Special spanners are usually provided to adjust tho valves. Watch the valves closely.

REGARDING ACCUMULATORS,

It seems rather a mistake to arrange accumulators in a car as if they were to bo regarded as permanent fixtures, for no matter how efficient a lighting system be the accumulators require to be removed occasionally for the purpose of cleaning the plates or effecting repairs. The usual method of removing accumulators from their boxes is to lift them bodily by the leaden bars connecting the different cells, which, almost invariably causes an enormous amount of damage, either by breaking the bars, straining the terminals, or even budding the plates. The remedy against this kind of maltreatment of the accumulators is really so simple that one wonders why it is not invariably adopted. Fitted in separate removable boxes, provided with suitable handles, the fragile accumulators can bo lifted out and replaced without inflicting the least damage in the process.

USE OF THE FILE. In repair work and for executing small jobs tho file is an invaluable tool, but it is liable to bo used in a very nnmeohanical manner. Without a lot of practice it is difficult to file a fiat surface or to file evenly, as, for example, in trimming up the edges of a piece of largo diameter metal tubing or the face of a hexagon nut; consequently it is important to mark off tho work beforehand to show exactly where it has to bo filed down to. The rule should also be to use a file lightly and examine the work frequently, as it is very easy to remove more metal than intended. It is not the function of a file to remove largo masses of metal, though sometimes it may seem tho quickest way to do it. For instance, one should not attempt to file §in or lin from a bolt; nearly tho amount desired would be sawn off, and tho file used only finally to trim up with, as files heavily worked soon become useless; moreover, it is a great waste of energy to try to remove much metal in this way. Another important matter is to use certain files specially for brass and fairly soft metals, but not use the same files indiscriminately for brass, aluminium, cast iron, or steel. Obviously, steel, being tho hardest and toughest metal, wears out files the most rapidly of any metal; and once a file is used on steel, or even cast iron, it will bo very little use for brass or phosphor-bronze. A file cleaner should frequently be used : such a cleaner is simply a strip of steel wire card tacked on to a suitable block of wood. Tho teeth of files used for aluminium, copper, and zinc quickly clog up, and tho metal filings must he frequently brushed out to enable the file to cut efficiently.

ECONOMY,

In studying economy the great aim of tho would-bo economical motorist is to keep tho running expenses down to a minimum. Tho greatest rare is taken to avoid spilling petrol when filling tho tank, and in all probability lubricating oil is ordered in bulk. But (says the ‘ Cycle Car’) there are many other items that count considerably in the annual running costs, tho .greatest, perhaps, being that for tyres. If the figures are worked out it will bo found that this item is almost as much per mile as that for petrol and oil. Tho greatest care should therefore bo bestowed upon tho covers and tubes, but especially in (he choice of them. Ft is false economy to have tyros of a small section, for it has been proved that oversize covers give proportionately greater mileage. It is exceedingly doubtful, indeed, whether present-day over-size tyres arc sufficiently large for the average car, and it is predicted that in the very near future the majority of machines coming within, say, the official 1,500 c.c. definition will have larger wheels and covers.

WASTED CHIVALRY

He spoke about his Maggie in a way I didn’t relish; He swore that she, and cite alone, had

caused him all his trouble. I gathered from his rude remarks her conduct had been hellish, But when a. man runs down a maid my blood begins to bubble. To hear you talking in that way,” I told him, “ makes mo shirty ; You’re venomous as any snake, you sting like a mosquito; You say this damsel’s done yon wrong, and, further, that she’s dirty——” Quoth he : 11 1 thought you knew, you nsa t a ‘ma.ggie’s’ a magneto!” —‘Smith’s Weekly.’