Motordom

Southland Times, Issue 25306, 8 June 1935, Page 13

Motordom

News and

Notes,

OF GENERAL INTEREST ON THE ROAD AND ON THE WING. THE LATEST HAPPENINGS. The First Thousand Miles. During the last twelve months it has been gratifying to observe that the car-buying public is paying greater respect to the notice on the windscreen adjuring them to keep the speed down for the first thousand miles of the car’s life, says the Morris Owner. This has been noticed not only in the case of Morris cars, but we think all British, manufacturers will testify that there is a praiseworthy tendency in this direction. This is all to the good. There can be no question that the first thousand miles is a crucial period in the life of the car. During this millenium it rests with the owner whether the bearings and cylinder walls will take on a hard, glossy surface which will be good for thousands of miles, or whether the moving parts will have a comparatively short life. During April many thousands of new owners will have their first experience of motoring. Let them profit by the wisdom of the majority and pay meticulous regard to the manner m which they drive during their first thousand miles with a car of their own. SPEED. I have often thought that this speed business is a curious thing., Purely relative and all that, as thinkers in space have been. trying to teach us for so long. What I mean is that we road travellers speak of speed with a light--hearted familiarity which would lead one to suppose that we knew a little about it. perhaps we do, but if so, it certainly is a little. The kind of speed we discuss is that which constitutes the difference between So-and so s bus which spends its life averaging twenty-five, and young Hotspur’s sports waggon which he says habitually puts up a mean performance of forty-five: miles per hour, of course. To other people speed quite evidently means something else. When Sir Malcolm Campbell sets out on a little jaunt at 300 m.p.h. (two hundred and forty, mark you) faster than most of us ever do? In other words, when you and I are flattering ourselves that we are shoving the good old right foot down and enjoying a little burst, we are, by comparison with “Blue Bird,” just starting the wheels rolling. Forty-five miles an hour, forsooth; might as well be a week! . ’ Silent Fatuity. It is amazing'' that after all the fuss that was made concerning motor horns and “audible warning of approach” a few years ago when there were far fewer cars on the road than there are to-day, it is now seriously suggested that the motor horn be abolished altogether in order that those people whose nerves have been shattered by cocktails and the taxation incidental to local government by the unwashed classes may not be inconvenienced, says an English motorist. If the primary magisterial query “Did he sound his horn?” was justified when only a few cars were on the road, how much more necessary is it now that they number about one and a half million? Every year there are obviously thousands of accidents averted and thousands of lives of careless pedestrains saved through a timely tootle, and if the Minister of Transport is “seriously considering the proposal” we can only assume that he is about to settle the accident problem by placing all careless pedestrians and cyclists in the cemetery. As a matter of fact, compared with other countries the hooting in England is very, very little. In France, Belgium, Germany and other countries which are governed by men who cannot be bamboozled by railway interests, the motor horn is lusty and prolonged. The sensible pedestrian in these countries feels that if it is a choice between smiting his car or his neck, he prefers the former every time. And in this matter of silence it must be pointed out that the shriek of a railway engine is no more musical than a motor horn. If we are to be consistent, and abolish the motor horn, we must at least abolish the soul rending screech of the railway locomotive. The Welder. In the gloomy recesses of the welder’s back-street workshop a car owner stood at the “boss’s” greasy little desk while the latter made out a receipt for 2/6. “That’s the second time we have done that job this afternoon,” he said. The original weld in part of the car’s rear bumper had broken, and the little repair that he had carried out had been desirable to stop a rattle, but not essential. “Quite a coincidence,” remarked the motorist, with a vague fellow feeling for that other owner of an identical model who had had the same trouble, “Oh, no. They’re coming in all the time. That weld often breaks. Although you can’t see them, your bumpers are vibrating all the. time as you drive along, and after a time the metal at the join fatigues and breaks. Its stronger than ever now; we put on extra metal to provide for the strain that the factory apparently didn’t anticipate.” “Well, I suppose it is not really surprising. Many of the old cars had weak points that use discovered in almost 'every one of them—the same thing always broke.” \ “I can tell you just where your cylinder head will crack, if it ever does,” said the cheerful welder. “Those cylinder heads on the floor are being heated up with gas jets so that the valve seats can be welded. They ■belong to big buses. The hard work the engines do frequently makes them crack after long service, and we always know where to look for the crack in each one. The same stresses always seem to be set up in similar castings by the great heat. They design' them better now, but I can tell you just where yours will go. “When a factory turned out a bad model we used to get a run of repairs of the same kind. Years ago a great number of cars of one model were sold in the Wairarapa, and soon after numbers of broken crankcases came down to Wellington for repair. The cars were being sent out with a new kind of connecting rod, which sometimes broke and made a hole in the crankcase. The agents put in stronger connecting rods afterwards. The car with the broken bumper has not had to go back to the welder with a cracked cylinder head yet, and, thanks to the advance of motor car design, will probably never suffer the internal injuries that were the fate of some of

DRIVE CAREFULLY THE CASE FOR THE CAR. WHAT PEOPLE EXPECT. People expect an awful lot from their cars! Not only do they insist on travelling at a mile a minute, night or day, with absolute reliability and in complete comfort, but they expect every detail of the chassis and body to withstand treatment which would ruin anything but a modem automobile. If the slightest little thing goes wrong they blame the poor motor manufacturer, /thereby displaying a lamentable lack of a sense of proportion. In no other detail of their daily lives do they make such mountains of molehills or claim more in the way of “after-sales” service. Fair Comparison. ■ When you’come to think of it, there are an astonishing number of car features comparable with those of a private house, only more elaborately worked out. For instance, you have only the bulbs, switches and wiring of an electric light system in your house. The current comes, as it were, readymade. But in your car you have a complete power-station, right down to the generator and storage battery. And while the dynamos in the electricity works are running at a constant speed, giving a more or less constant output, the generator on your car is varying in speed by a tremendous amount and at very frequent intervals. ’Hiere is no one to supervise the charging of your battery, and this, therefore, has to be done entirely automatically; fortunately such things as cut-outs and voltage controls have been invented and the life of the battery is protected by them. If a fuse blows in your house you replace it in a few moments; if a lamp bulb fails you do the same. If a water joint in your house leaks you send for the plumber. If your pipes freeze in winter you regard it merely as bad luck. If anything goes wrong with the gas or water supplies you send for the company’s man. Do you send for your architect and builder and “have them on the mat”? I think not. Another Story. But what happens if anything comparable occurs on your car? You go right off the deep end., You exaggerate. You exclaim: “That’s the last time I’ll have anything to do with a So-and-So car! Always blowing its ■fuses! Lamps always going phut!” And if you are some people, you sit down and write a stinging letter to the manufacturer. You don’t have to walk so very many miles before your shoes want repairing. Then you take them to the cobbler and in due course pay him for his work. But if the tyres on your car don’t last at least twelve thousand miles, there’s the Dickens to pay! Since your earliest childhood you learned that the quick way to wear out boots is to drag your feet. Whenever you brake hard you are “dragging” your tyres. When you comer fast or rush over bad roads you are wearing off more and more rubber. The wonder is that the modem tyres stand up in the way they do! . • And have you ever considered what would happen if you sat in your favourite armchair for as many hours a day as you sit in your car? The upholstery material would wear away, wouldn’t it? And if you shuffle your feet interminably on the same whenever you sat down, wouldn t it wear out? The Case for Quality. - When you come to think of it, the manufacturers of even the most inexpensive cars have to fit the very best quality carpets and upholstery materials, as otherwise they would show signs of wear almost before the _ vital mechanical parts were fully run-in. Look, after your car. Maintain it carefully, as you would your house. Don’t drive at full speed over rough roads or cobble-stones. Don’t blow up your tyres too hard or let them get soft and spongy. Let the entire vehicle be washed and greased frequently. Remember that the chassis and body are suffering all the time the tortures of the damned, and think how remarkable it is that they so seldom let you down! Obvious Truths. The power station of your cardynamo and battery—should not be neglected. Nor should the hot water (or, paradoxically) the cooling system, be uncared for. The pipes and filters should always be clean, even the chimney (the silencer and exhaust pipe) should be ‘‘swept” occasionally! When the domestic boiler is cleaned out give a thought to the possibility of your car radiator being furred-up with chalk or lime, remembering also that the furnace of your car (the insides of the cylinders) needs the soot and carbon brushing away sometimes. What a calamity it would be if your house were shaken in a violent earth tremor! The damage would run into hundreds or thousands of pounds. You wouldn’t expect to find a sound lamp bulb or an unbroken pipe in it afterwards, now would you? It is really wonderful to think that, every time you go speeding over a rough road, every part of your car is undergoing stresses far worse than could be withstood by any house in an earthquake. RUNNING COSTS THE EXPENSES BILL. SOME HELPFUL HINTS. It is obviously everybody’s desire to run his car as economically as possible, whether it be a Minor or Twenty-five. Without stinting it of anything that is really necessary, we all ought to feel that we are getting the full value of our expenditure in the course of a year. Yet there is a big diversity between the running costs of identical cars in different hands; wo find that one man runs his car at very little expense to the family exchequer, while another finds its upkeep quite a considerable item in the domestic budget. Moreover, it is often the man to whom money matters most who is extravagant. Why, then, is there a difference in the running costs of identical models? We can only say that the difference is in the drivers. The Right. Speed. It is not always appreciated that there is an economical cruising speed for any car, a speed at which it loses less petrol for a long run than any other. Nor is this speed necessarily a low one. Indeed when we drop below 20 m.p.h. for long stretches at a time, the petrol consumption actually goes up. , The most economical touring speed, according to experiments carried out by the Morris Concern, is, between 30 and 35 m.p.h. After this speed the power required to overcome wind resistance gradually increases until when wo corns W into the fifties and sixties,

it accounts for the bulk of the fuel used. The man, therefore, who continuously blinds and crawls—as a busy doctor might have to, for instance — must expect to pay for it in the fuel bill.

Another extravagant driver is he who totally ignores the spark advance lever and I don’t think I am far out when I say that these are at least 30 per cent, of all present-day drivers. If the spark advance lever is continuously at the lower end of its travel, combustion is so slow, owing to the fact that the mixture is not properly compressed, that a considerable percentage of the energy released from the fuel by the explosion is lost. It cannot be too definitely emphasized that the spark lever should be as far advanced as it can be without causing the engine to “pink” on models where it is fitted. Carburetter Setting.

Needless to say, to procure economy of petrol the carburetter must be properly adjusted. On very old cars it is even possible that the needle or jet has worn, and' if upon test the petrol consumption is found to be extravagant, a new needle is often an economy. The correct economical setting for the S.U. carburetter is as follows. First of all, screw nut at base upwards. Run the engine until it attains its normal working temperature, and set the control to a fast “tick over,” then disconnect the long crank arm from the mixture control. Now move the crank arm upward (that is to say pull the eye end of it downward) to such a position that the engine will just tick over idly, firing regularly. Now turn the jet adjusting nut down until it comes up against the little annular protuberance on the extension of the jet head. If you suspect a strong mixture, look at the exhaust and see if it is colourless; if there is dark smoke (and you are not over-oiling) the mixture is certainly too rich and therefore extravagant.

Another cause of petrol extravagance can be leakage through the carburetter on cars that have seen a great deal of service, especially on carburetters that have been cleaned by not too knowledgeable amateurs, who are not always as delicate as they might be in the use of spanners. A damaged needle or seating would allow petrol to leak from the air intake, while a worn cork washer round the jet is another cause. An over-rich mixture when idling is sometimes accompanied by petrol overflowing the jet and running down the throttle spindle. Cases are on record, too, of the float-chamber holding-up bolt being loose, or the fibre washers against which it abuts, worn. If there is a leakage here, tightening with a spanner will not cure it; obviously new fibre washers—which cost coppers only—are required. Sloppy Pistons.

A badly worn engine in which the pistons are not a good fit will be heavy in oil consumption, which will rise tremendously as the speed increases. Therefore, the owner of a very old car who knows his pistons, rings and cylinders are not all they should be, would obviously do well to keep his speed within reasonable limits, if economy is of the first importance. Of course, a badly worn engine cannot be expected to be economical. Valves, for instance, which need grinding in will obviously allow a great deal of mixture to slip out of the engine without performing useful work and the same will apply to compression leaks generally. Ergo, the owner who postpones unnecessarily decarbonization and valve grinding must expect to pay for his neglect. Although tyres nowadays form a very small proportion of the running costs—you can run a large car for a farthing a mile for tyres if they are properly treated—tyres which are abused can form a very expensive item in the running costs. Perhaps the best advice one can give from an economy point of view is to keep them well inflated at the pressure recommended in the manuals. This is half the battle. But not all of it. That spectacular form of driving, regarded as clever by the very young driver and as incipient lunacy by the experienced man, wherein the car is pulled up all standing whenever a call upon a friend is made, costs hard cash in tyres. Not only does hardbraking and skidding wheels rob it of a percentage of its tread thickness, but we are also imposing strains on the foundation which, if repeated sufficiently often, will break it down. This does not mean that we need hesitate when it is necessary to brake hard for fear of what damage we may do to our tyres. They are made to stand it. But repeated rapid pulling up for no reason at all will add to the tyre bill materially. MOTORING HOWLERS A motoring enthusiast must have penned “A priest wears a carburetter in church,” and it may have been the same boy who quoted a hymn:— “Our earthly friends may fail us And change with changing gears.” When a child is taught facts of history he naturally interprets them in terms of what he knows and sees about him in his daily life. That is perhaps why one child stated that “Elisha was one of the early heroes of the Bible. He was the man who led such a good life that he went to heaven in a cab.” A spelling mistake produced the howler “A motor is driven by an infernal combustion engine,” and an intrusive “e” brings the laugh to such an otherwise sensible statement that “Machinery has been so speeded up by science that the latest cars will now do eighty miles on a galleon.” Here are a few motoring howlers which need no comment: — “When we were out in the car on Sunday father misjudged a woman crossing the street.” “My father pyt his foot on the exhilerator and the car was immediately exhilerated.” “He beam a horn blown and was struck in the back. A lady was evidently trying to pass.” “Some cars are painted with celanese.” It is only fair to mention that the child sometimes scores over adults. Mr Hunt says that a teacher told the children that Upper Burma was about as big as Siam, and was then surprised to find a scholar had written: “Upper Burma is about as big as she is.”