MOTORING WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 117, 18 April 1931, Page 14

MOTORING WORLD.

Motor horns arc sounded 50,000 times louder than is necesSary, and can be heard ten miles away on a clearway, according to one American noise exensure its longevity, the speedometer cable should be arranged so that it runs in the straightest possible line from the driving member to the speedometer head. Door hinges should be examined occasionally and hinge screws tightened if necessary. A small amount o grease or oil applied once a montii to door locks, striker plates hinges, door check pins, and dovetail bumpers will be found helpful in preventing squeaks and rattles. Hinges on the car are often neglected when lubricating the vehicle. This is especially true, of the ninge3 of the hood and the cowl ventilator. Application of a little light oil ensures ease in operation. ~ In a worn engine oil is passing the piston all the time, hut when the engine is running at full thiottle th Heat of combustion is sufficient to burn the oil completely, the throttle is closed the oil is only partly burnt and smokes. t}....:,. Motor car construction m Kussia is being greatly developed. A plant with a yearly output of 140,000 cais is now under construction at NizhnyNovgorod. the Amo plant at Moscow, which is to turn out 50.000 automobiles a year, has been reconditioned, ana the Yaroslavi plant, with a yearly capacity of 10.000 cars, is being reconstructed. There are now 04,0C0 passenger vehicles in the country. Small cracks or holes in the water jackets of an engine may be closed by applying a paste compound of glycerine and ‘litharge. Mix to a consistency slightly thinner than putty and work into the opening while the engine is warm and the cooling system is drained The engine should not be usca A stud which has become rusted in position can be removed sometimes in the following way: Obtain two nuts which will fit the thread on the stud; file the bottom of each of them at an angle and screw them on to the stud with the filed faces together. Vi ith two spanners tighten them up so that they become locked together By turning the bottom nut afterwards it will be possible to withdraw the stnd without damaging the thread.

Motor assisted bicycles were not very numerous on British roads last year only 18 new ones were registered, compared with 4G the year before. The latest figures from Paris disclose that there are nearly sixty-five collisions a day., the chief offenders being taxi-cab drivers. The latest census returns of motor vehicles in England, as given by the Ministry of Transport, show that one in every twelve persons owns one. It is said that since the mobile police began to operate in England at the beginning of the year, the number of crimes by thieves using cars has fallen by more than 40 per cent. _ The condition of the valves is frequently indicated by the condition of the spark plugs. If the end of the spark plug is oily, too much oil is passing piston ring's. If black soot is present, it indicates too rich a petrol mixture. If the plugs are both oily and sooty, valve leaks are indicated. The number of motor vehicles in use in the German Republic on July 1, 1930, included approximately 501,000 passenger cars, 157,000 motor trucks and 731,000 motor cycles. Taking all classes of motor vehicles and cycles together, the increase during the past year is 16.6 per cent. Motorists who have returned from Drakensberg, South Africa, report the presence at North Nelson’s Kop. between Memel and Newcastle, of an isolated tribe of natives called Poodis, who rushed in fear from a motor car, and who inhabit a volcanic district which the Zulus deserted 50 years ago. The filtering of the air before it enters the cylinders is a wise precaution to. practise. The atmosphere is always laden with impurities in more or less degree, and the separation* of these from the combustible charge reduces contamination of the lubricating oil to a marked extent. Road dust is of a particularly sharp and abrasive nature, and its presence in a lubricant is detrimental. Dust and moisture are probably the chief causes of sludge formation in motor oils, and, for this reason alone, their elimination becomes highly desirable. . ... The difficulty of seeing pedestrians on the road if they are walking m the same direction as an overtaking motor car was stressed by a motorist at Wanganui the other night. He stated that.

when coming from one of the suburbs, he overtook two pedestrians, each wearing dark clothes, and had it not been for the fact that he was driving both carefully and slowly he might easily have collided with them. Had they kept to the footpath, or even had they chosen the right-hand side of the road, they would, he said, have been well out of danger. The cost of attaining record speed with the Blue Bird on Daytona Beach was disclosed by Sir Malcolm Campbell at the welcome to him by the Royal Automobile Club, reports a London correspondent. It had been explained that Captain Campbell’s successful attempt on the speed record was financially backed by Miss Betty Carstairs, the famous motor-boat racer, to the extent of £IO,OOO. “It cost a great deal more than £IO,OOO, however,” said Sir Malcolm. “The rest of the money came out of my own pocket. Miss Carstairs was my only backer.’’ BRITISH DRIVING TEST. England is struggling with a new driving law among the provisions of which is a standard test that must he passed by new drivers applying for a first license. This driving test seems fair, and, with the growing motor traffic on British highways, is probably necessary. The provisions of the test are as follows: 1. Start the vehicle from rest, move away in a reasonably short time and maintain a straight course. 2. Turn right and left-hand corners correctly. 3. Stop vehicle within a reasonable distance when travelling at various speeds and show that driver can brake promptly and effectively. 4. Operate all c ntrols with safety and without moving from the driving seat. 5. Give all recognised signals, whether by hand or by a satisfactorily signalling device. 6. Reverse ofr a reasonable distance, make a left or right-hand turn in reverse gear and back the vehicle into an indicated position. 7. Stop vehicle in roadway 30ft in width. 8. Stop, hold and start the vehicle on a gradient of at least one in fifteen, but not steeper than one in ten. NOVEL SAFETY DEVICE. An electro-mechanical device known as the “sure-guard,” designed to stop an automobile in much less time and space than would be required by a human operator, was successfully demonstrated recently in New York. The device consists, elementally, oft a powerful coil spring in a cylinder which is attached under a car and connected by wire with the front bumper and a button on the dash. A slight pressure on the bumper, or on the button, closes an electric circuit, which releases the spring. The ignition is immediately cut off and the brakes are applied. Pressure on either the bumper or the button will stop a car in approximately one-fifth of the distance required in ordinary braking.