MOTOR NOTES.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15128, 20 February 1922, Page 6

MOTOR NOTES.

It is very difficult to oil the forward half ol a cantilever rear spring. This job may be greatly facilitated bv drilling a hole through the sill and ‘inserting a short tube through which oil may be supplied from an oil can. This part of the spring is never seen from the road, so oil may be used freely.

I know a man who hay worn the same suit to his office day after day fox: more than a year and he always looks well dressed. It is the same with your car. There are some car owners who will allow a new car to get down at the heel inside of three months while others will keen a three-year-old car looking spic and span.

A SAFE MOTOR DRIVER.

A motor car needs a driver who is a skilled mechanic, and it also needs a driver who is skilful in manipulating a ear on the road. An excellent mechanic is not necessarily a good driver. A hat is required in a driver besides a general knowledge of his machine is a Knowledge of the rules, customs and courtesies of the road and the habits of traffic, also the possession of the qua.itios of alertness, foresight and a consideration for others. He should have a temperate frame of mind and an abstinence from even moderate drinking- ■ _ - The motor car driver needs to be the best driver on the highway, if he is 'to drive without offence to the public and danger to others and himself, for lie has to conduct a vehicle, which is more valuable than any other and more speedy. The complete driver should have a working knowledge oi the different materials of which roads are made, of their comparative, tendency to cause skidding and of the nerils which arise from bad laid street ‘ car tracks. He must be observant and realize that children hanging on rear of waggons are apt to drop off suddenly and run aerbss his path. He should also know how to read a road map. He must be on the. lookout for pedes, trians, stupid, drunk or deaf, for waggons un the wrong side of the dangerous coinera and be prepared to find vehicles m charge of sleepy drivers who will often do the wrong act on being aroused, those drivers who have had long in the city streets generally have arrived at expertness through training phis the hard-school of practical everyday experiences assisted by police supervision and the fear of the results of-accidents.-

A . good driver must know the proper way toi,drive his car around a corner, both right handed and left bended, and the best way to ascend and descend steep grades. Driving at night is another fine art. There is probably greater need for the exercise ” of. patience in driving at night than at any other time. The driver of an /autolnobile has. a large responsibility. The standard of conduct set for' him is high. He must possess exceptional qualities as compared with the driver of horses. That he keep in mind and practise the Golden Rule is no small part of his jobIn this is involved most of his qualifications as a driver.

FIRE HAZARD IN AUTOS.

A motor ear storage battery, if allowed to discharge through a sliortcircu it, will produce a current of four or five hundred amperes for . a short time and such a current is of great thermal effect, capable of heating a small wire red hot or even of melting it. Short-circuits are, therefore, likely to set cars on fire, and should be most carefully guarded against. Lighting circuits and sometimes horn or ig. nition circuits are quite generally protected against excess currents by fuses or circuit breakers, but on some cars there are no suclr safeguards and there is never any such protection for. the starting motor circuit or in the main cable that leads from the battery to the fuse panel or circuit breaker. The use of armoured conductors greatly decreases short-circuiting and fire danger, which is at its height where unarmoured conductors with oil soaked rubber and fabric insulation are used. The • most common start of a fire is at a point where insulation has been worn off by rubbing on grounded metal, the heat produced at the point of short-circuit setting the oily insulation into flame find the blaze communicating to other combustible parts of the cal'. The use only of conductors with non-inflam-mable coverings; the protection of wires likely to be chafed by metal parts and the keeping of conductors and their immediate, vicinity free from oil and grease, nrerthe best safeguards avail, able.

CHANGING SPARK LEVER.

Need the position of the spark lever be changed after the car is once well under way ? That question occurs to not a few of the less experienced automobile drivers.

Intelligent and correct use of -the spark lever has much to do with . the efficient operation of a car and tends to insure the proper functioning of the motor vehicle’s intricate and in many respects delicate mechanism. Some car owners needlessly shorten the length of service they would get from their cars by carelessness in handling the spark control. Except when going over unusually rough roads, there is no need to alter the position of the spark lever in ordinary driving after it is once set, -since it is designed to run through a fairly varied range of speed. But in climbing a stiff grade, most motorists speed their cars to take the hill with a terrific rush because they do not want to shift gears. The engine will stand this abuse for some time before it begins to make its disgust audible with knocks and rattles. Knocks of a motor which is labouring going uphill are due to premature firing, the spark igniting the gas on the compression stroke; the explosion tries to force the piston head back before it has passed dead centre, producing a sharp metallic thump. This Avould not occur, of course, ,on a level'road unless the car were very heavily loaded, since the crankshaft revolves fast enough to bring the piston past dead centre and on the downward stroke before the pressure of the explosion is effective. •' At all times the spark should he advanced as far as possible without causing the motor to knock; a spark which is slower than this tends to cause overheating and carbonizing. The best and briefest advice is: Get acquainted with the sound of your motor and adjust the spark accordingly.

LIGHT CAR PROGRESS.

From Home advices it would appear that there had been all but a landslide to lightcar construction and that there will bo hardly a manufacturer who does not stage junior models this year. This new trend is not entirely unexpected, for it owes its origin to both the need for. all-round economy and the system of taxation on a horse-power scale. It is satisfactory to note the steady increase in reserve power which accompanies the reduction in engine dimensions—an apparent paradox which is explained by* the fact that manufacturers have* learnt a lot in recent years, especially from aero practice, and have discovered how to multiply revolutions with a power crescendo. Taken all round, the European light car —the British’ in particular—should be an exceedingly popular vehicle in New Zealand, especially for town and suburban, work.