MOTOR JOTTINGS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19809, 28 November 1919, Page 5

MOTOR JOTTINGS.

HINTS AMD SUGGESTIONS. It is always bandy Ui have a length ol rope m the car. The driver may want it himself, or others in trouble may ask him lor a low. In case of all the spare lyres being used up ii may be wound round the rim, and often, if wound round the cover, jl will seviiro the necessary adhesion on muddy roads. The only really satisfactory way to stop the lids Oi step boxes- -in which accumulators, lamp generators, or coolers arc carried from nutliiv; is to iit screw fas toners. For each lid a couple of thumb screws should hi' used. These screws pass rigid, through the lid and screw into brass screw sockets, which arc let into the side of the boxes! A. very old dodge of moving a stubborn mu. but one of which many people are ignorant, is as follows: Take an ordinary opening spanner that fits the nut. Heat it and place it on the nut, letting it rest there for two or throe minutes. The heat will expand the nut, and then it will screw off easily. It may be asked why the nut itself should not be heated direct. The objection (o this is that the boil is also heated, and expand-, as well a-. - the uni, n iiieli, eniiscipicnthy leiaam-, lirm-

ly fixed. It is hardly imcc.vary to add that a wrench should not. bo employed, as such a tool is .hardened, and would bo rendered untit for use if heated. Tim owner of a new cur slum Id always carefully examine the nuts and bolts when lie returns from a run, as no matter how firmly The nuts may be tightened up when the car is erected, the vibration on the road will almost certainly loosen some of them. Even though the List .available cover has been torn by a burst it is still possible to drive the car home- If a gaiter, or special natch, is nol at hand, fold a piece of rag four times, tmd place if between the tube and the weak part ni the rover, This will usually enabh- Ibc town to he reached', but naturally no high speeds must be indulged in. Nov- a tew people object to vulcanised repairs in air tubes, and employ a method winch atves .almost equally good results. Instead of applying a patch immediately over the hole 1 in the air tube, (ill it with vulcanising compound. preparing the hole by treatinoit with flux, and warming ’the coin” pound before applying it in the same wav as if the vulcaniser were to be used. Stop short, however, of applying the beat and inflate the tube to Us nm size. I hen, and not till then apply specially prepared patch, clean and solution ihe air tube in the „ Mn | vaw !5y this method the patch U not suioieiual when tim iiibt is inflated. .U

speeds less ilii* a thirty-fire miles an hour these patches prove qw** «&• caeTous as vulcanising.