Motoring Notes.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4631, 4 December 1934, Page 3

Motoring Notes.

ENGINE "OVERLOADING." The term "overloading" as applied to an engine is used rather loosely, and only in rare cases is it possible to load the working parts to a point well beyond the working parts to a point well beyond normal limits. Often the term is used when drivers make their engine work under abnormally difficult conditions, although it should not strictly be applied then, while there are various ways in which an engine can be misused, producing bearing failure, although the parts may not have been overloaded in the strict sense of the term. If a driver uses the gears freely, so that the engine works comparatively lightly, he would not overload the power unit by carrying extra passengers, but he would certainly De J|![ er " loading the suspension systerifs S and probably the transmission. Another way of overloading is by slogging hard up a hill without retarding the ignition of the car. Prolonged work at high speeds is very bad for the engine, because, apart from the inertia load on the bearings, the valve gear and auxiliaries are apt to suffer. SILENT RUNNING. Silence was an.outstanding feature of the Olympia Motor Show, held in London recently. Sports car manufacturers have decided that the day of the "healthy sports note" is over, arid that the purchaser now wants silence as well as speed. Two of the largest sports car manufacturers in England have arranged to introduce standard models with larger and more efficent silencer systems. In one car two silencers are introduced into the exhaust system in tandem, and the result is a great reduction in noise

compared with the similar model of last year. In another type of car a silencer of greater size than hit'hehto is being tried, and will probably be introduced on at least one of the models.

In the ordinary touring cars higher degrees of silence are also being sought, and a great deal of attention has been paid to such things as transmission noises. But touring cars for long have been reasonably silent; it is the small sports machine that has usually aroused adverse comment on account of * noise. A manufacturer said he believed that it was partly the result of the public attention that has been directed to silence by the recent Ministry of Transport regulations. CLEANING ALUMINIUM. Among the most suitable substances for cleaning aluminum is turpentine, which should be applied - on a clean rag. If the metal part, such as a crankcase, is encrusted with mud and oil, petrol or kerosene may be used first of all as solvents, but turpentine is not only a good cleaning agent, but also imparts a lacquer-like finish to polished aluminium, and one that will resist grease and dirt. In that respect it is superior to petrol or kerosene as a cleaner. If a high polish is desired, the metal can be treated with a mixture of brass polish, eucalyptus oil, and whitening, but should' first of all be cleaned as described above and then polished vigorously. JACKING OF CARS. With the modern low frames of cars, the increased use of "knee action," and the streamlined cars which appear to be coming into fashion, it is not an easy matter to adjust the jack and raise a wheel in case of a puncture. Permanent jacking devices as (writes our London correspondent) being widely applied to a number of British cars. American attempts to produce a four-wheel packing system appear to have failed, and a certain American who visited the motor show at Olympia, London, has purchased an important British jacking investion. As a result every high-grade American car is to be fitted with the all-British D.W.S. system, already a standard fitting on 13 British cars, including Rolls Royce, Armstrong Siddeley, Alvis, Humber, and Triumph. Mr. Leighton Dunning, chief engineer of the firm of Ryerson and Haynes, of Jackson, Michigan, the biggest makers of motor fittings and accessories in the United Stales, has arrived in England to examine the system as fitted to British cars, with a view to its manufacture in America. Americans are equal with British drivers in their dislike for wrestling with the old-fashioned jack. In view of this development, it will be interesting to hear if a certain New Zealand invention—permanent hydraulic jacks propelled by the electric generator—will find favour with manufacturers. MOTOR CAMPING. Motorists are making preparations for their summer touring and everything points this year to a large increase in camping parties. Every facility is now provided by the automobile associations throughout the Dominion to cater for this now very popular way of spending a motoring holiday ,and for those who cannot afford hotel expenses it is an ideal method of camping. At most camps provision is made for cooking under shelter, hot and cold water being obtained, and in the larger camps hot baths can be supplied at a nominal charge. One of the chief features of this camping is that a motorist can pull in to a camp at any time, secure good accommodation for his car and his tent, and can go away fishing, shooting, or on any

other pastime during the day, and is sure that there will be no interference with his belongings. Proper cooking appliances are everywhere available, but a popular scheme is to have one good meal a day at some adjacent hotel, and so relieve the womenfolk from having to do their usual cooking as at home. Perhaps some motorists may not think of this, but they should all remember that cooking every day of ihe year may become as irksome and monotonous as the man's work, so why not give the other sex a complete holiday when possible?

Every motorist using these camps should remember to leave the grounds as they found them, and put all refuse and empty tins in receptacles provided, as it it very annoying for a newcomer to have to clear the litter of the last campers. The Health Department has been busy during the year inspecting the sanitary arrangements in all the camps run by local bodies, and there should be no complaint from motorists regarding this phase of camping. The price charged for the use of the camp is nominal, barely sufficient to cover expenses, most of the initial cost being borne by the clubs, but it will be found that these camps are now available only to members, as if a motorist is not prepared to pay his small contribution to assist the club in his own district, it has been decided not to allow his admittance to any of these camps. Motorists who are, not members should all join up before going for their holidays, and if not using the camps the saving of hotel bills in any centre on account of A.A. membership will more than pay their subscriptions for the year. In every centre all classes of hotels offer this concession to members, and any A.A. secretary can supply full lists of hotels and camps showing all facilities provided. INCONSIDERATE MOTORIST. 'There is too much of this hanging to the centre of the road and blocking other cars from getting past," stated Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Palmerston North Magistrate's Court, when he fined one motorist £2 for failing to keep as far as practicable to the left side, and ordered another motorist, who had been overtaking the first one, to pay 10s costs only for failing to pass on the correct side. USE OF OLD PISTONS. Discarded aluminium pistons are unlikely material from which to fashion ornaments for the smoking room or office desk, but a pleasing and appropriate ashtray can be made for the motor sportsman from an old piston, which should be sawn in two through the centre of the gudgeon-pin bosses. The upper half of the piston will then form a convenient ashtray, having two semi-circular recesses in which a cigar or cigarette can be placed, and, if the metal is well dressed with fine emery cloth and then brightened with brass polish, a pleasing effect is obtained.

ROAD COMPETENCE AND COURTESY.

"The fact is that competence and courtesy," points out the Glasgow Herald, "are wonderful substitutes for noisy warnings. The expert driver, even on, a road provided with natural hazards and peopled by slow-witted pedestrians, need not use his horn a great deal. It is true, of course that other factors operate to make the horn more necessary than it need be. So far most roads are imperfectly organised. Drivers are often compelled to hoot their way out of a difficulty created by imperfect lighting or a road section, poor sign-post-ing, or by some other confusion. On a well arranged roadway horn-blow-ing need scarcely be heard. The more nearly we attain to perfection in traf-

fie arrangements the more satisfactorily we get rid of noise and the fluster connected with it.

BRAKES AND HEADLIGHT TESTS.

At the request of the Commissioner of Transport the New Zealand Garage Proprietors' Association is collecting from its members particulars regarding the testing of brakes and headlights since the commencement of the campaign, on August 1 last.

A special form has been issued to each member, which calls for the number of cars and commercial motor vehicles tested for brakes and headlights during the months of August, September, and October last, and particulars regarding same.