MOTOR NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 162, 10 June 1939, Page 15

MOTOR NOTES

ROAD REGULATIONS. CHANGES PREDICTED. Important changes in the trallie regulations and the law controlling the conduct of drivers and pedestrians on the roads, in addition to the compulsory dipping of headlights, arc predicted in the current issue of Hie New Zealand Motor World. ’I ho .journal understands that the billowing changes are lo lie provided lor; — 1 The issuing of drivers’ licenses by the Post, Oilin'. The registration of bicycles. The formation ol metropolitan areas for trallie control. Government control in all areas other than boroughs over (501)0 population. Rowers ol arrest by traffic officers of drunken drivers. Notification by motorists ol change of address of garage. Compulsory clipping ol headlights. The carrying of marker lights by all vehicles over seven leet in width. The carrying of a blue light on all drawing trailers. Specifications for marking and indicating pedestrian crossing-places will include the present form and definition with the addition Hint they must lie clearly distinguishable from 10011. away by night and (lay. There must be ’«olcs at each end of tbo crossings, marked black and white in Pi-inch hands, the marking to extend six feet high. These Oft.-high markings may he surmounted by a light-, tliis detail being lei t to the local authority. Where a thoroughfare is wide enough to demand it. safety refuges will be provided in the middle oi Hide marked crossing place.

USEFUL ACCESSORY. A very useful accessory is a special tow rope which can be folded into a package not more than seven inches long when it is out of use. This tow rope is made of flat rustless steel, which accounts for the sum 1.1 space into which it can be rolled, and is 12 feet i) inches long when fully extended. It is. of course, equipped with the necessary buckles for fastening it to ears.

Though cars rarely break down, there are still numerous occasions in a motorist’s life when a strong tow rope would be extremely useful, and tliis new device seems to Jill the bill admirable.

TOURING HINTS. USEFUL EQUIPMENT. KIT OF SPARE PARTS. It is the good fortune of the pre-sent-day motorist that his ear may be taken on an extended country tour without bis having to make any special preparations or load it up with spare parts as a precaution against trouble.

Not so many years ago, no motorist would have dreamed of setting oil without a spare spring or two, a complete set of sparking plugs, extra tyres and tubes, and spare tins ol oil and petrol, quite apart from a most elaborate tool kit excessively weighty in itself.

In these (Jays the only really essential preparations consist, ol tilling the sump with clean oil, tilling the petrol tank, and checking the electrolyte in the battery and the air in the tyres. Any serious mechanical trouble experienced is sheer had luck, and is so rare that its occurrence is justfiahly looked upon by the owner as a definite black mark against that ear or the people whose duty it is to keep it in good order. Nevertheless, he is a. wise man who foresees the possibility ot slight troubles and carries the equipment and spares to overcome them as quickly as possible. The development of serious faults when on tom need not he feared. What must he guarded against are those slight derangements, trivial in themseh os, but a great nuisance il the owner has not the equipment to put things right

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Because vibration causes most ol these little troubles, the electrical . system often offends in tins way. A wire may shako loose or become tray- i ed enough to cause a short circuit, a fuse or a lamp bulb may blow. Ihe relore, a few electrical spares should he carried. These may consist ol a box of fuses, a roll ol adhesive tape lor reinsulating frayed wires, two headlamp bulbs, and a tail lamp hull). A knife and a small screwdriver lor dealing with electrical connections .should also lie included. It is ulso sunlisted that lit least two spare sparking plugs he carried, because the modern ear is much harder on plugs than the old types o" mg to its high compression, and the tadurc of a plug in even a quite new car is not at all unknown. Other engine parts will hardly be needed, though a coil ol stout wire carried under a seat does not lake up any room and may prove invaluable lor “jury-rigging” it something about the chassis is broken unexpectedly when all almost invisible pothole is hit hard. TYRE SPARES. The other spares can he confined to the tv res. Normally the ordinary equipment' of the ear. a spare -wheel complete with tyre and tube, will he all that is necessary, because the countij is well sprinkled with garages where punctures can be repaired quickly ami easily- Quite a number of motorists, however, are travelling long distances at. night for the sake of coolness and the absence ol traffic, and alter midnight it is almost impossible to Imd an establishment open where a tyre can he repaired. Apart Loin this there is always the chance of two punctures within a short time of each other, when the ear is between two towns many miles apart, so that whether the car is travelling at night or in the daytime an extra spare tube pushed into a vacant corner gives a feeling of added security. In addition, a pair of tyre irons should he carried and a box ol valves. If the owner wishes to be prepared for all possibilities ho may also carry one of those small vulcanising outfits, hut this is scarcely necessary with the spare tube. , Finally, before starting nut on IHe tour the motorist should cheek over the tool kit- and make sure that everythin,,- is in its place. Frequently an invaluable pair of pliers, a screwdriver, ! parts of the jack, or the wheel brace are left at home in the garage, their absence only being discovered when tlioy nre noedod very badly indooil. j It also is a good plan to fill the oil gun before setting out. because a hearing may run dry in the heat out hack and start an annoying squeak which can he Mopped immediately by a few pumps at the handle of the gum *