MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2383, 12 February 1915, Page 9

MOTORS & MOTORING

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Tho Main Northern Highway. Everv motorist who haß been overland to Auckland will have a lively recollection of tho atrocious state of tho main road through tho Lower Wuikalo country. Tho worst stretch is that botween Kangiriri and Moroor, whero the road runs up and down over clay hills between the Waikato and a big Btrotch or swamp country. No motal whatever has been laid down, and a minimum of formation work dono. This ton or twelve mile piece of road is under tho control of the Wbangamarino Road Board, a body with a princely in-, come of £100 from all sources I Tho Auckland Automobile Association has been interesting itsolf for many years m the improvement of the road, but has mot with little success. Tho secretary, Mr. W. Hutchison, had a good deal to say on tho subject in the Auckland

"Herald" a few days ago. A vigorous agitatioa was undertaken in 1912, and as a-result the Whangamarino Road Board applied to the Government for a grant of £6000 to grade and melal the road. The then Minister of Publjc Works. Mr. W. D. S. HacDonald. is understood to have replied that the Government was not in favour of spending money on the "Great South Road." Lll December of that year a deputation from the association waited on Mr. Massey.. and directed attention to the inability of lpcal bodies to keep the main arterial roads in repair. These roads, it was maintained, should be taken over by the Government, and the local bodies left to look after the secondary roads. As an outcomo of the deputation, intimation was subsequently received from Mr. Massey stating thai the Government would grant a £ for £ subsidy for the purpose of improving tho Great South Road to Rangiriri, up to £5000, on any amount subscribed privately by the Automobile Association. A general meeting of the association affirmed the principle that it was not the duty of the association to contribute funds to form main public roads. The association, Mr. Hutchison states, despite its past failures, again intends to take the matter up., ' Cood Roads Movement Needed. While a good roads movement in New Zealand is badly needed, it is idle to hope that much can be done by isolated action by. the Auckland Automobile Association, or any other motoring body. ' Requests from motorists, ■ no matter how legitimate they may be, are undoubtedly looked upon with suspicion by Ministers and public alike. . A change is bound to come in time with motor traffic doubling and trebling itself almost annually, and there can be no doubt that the ■ motor has already made the existing system of road control obsolete. In the old days of horse vehicles nine-tenths of the road traffic was purely local, and the county rating system provided the funds for road maintenance from the people who used the roads. Now the traffic comes from anywhere and everywhere. However, this is by the way. The point is that motorists should combine with all other road- users and representatives of local bodies in forming a Good Roads Association for the purpose of stimulating public interest in this most important matter.' Enormous sums of money have been lost in the past by penny-wise and pound-foolish methods of road-making and maintenance. Nearly everybody agrees that something must be done, but a proposal in Parliament to do anything in particular raises a hornets' nest of objections and protests from far and wide.- If one or two energetio men, such as those who have pushed along this Wairarapa, Hawke's Bay, and Auckland Automobile Associations would take the matter up, it Bhould not be difficult to form_ a representative Good Roads Association, that could do much useful work in collecting data and might very easily jead to a vast change for the better in road-making in New Zealand. American Motors of 1915. A few weeks ago reference was made to the- new departures in the British motor models for the 1915 season. Tuesday's mail brought to hand the New- York dailies, with the reviews of the American motor show. Uncle Sam has made it very plain that all he sees in the struggle in which Britain has staked her whole existence on the side of justice and liberty, is an opportunity to make fat profits and collar trado. Most New Zealand motorists in purchasing new cars will be inclined to stand by those who are standing. by them. Nevertheless, the American motor-car builder is a man of ideas, and it is- not amiss to see what he is turning out 'or the new season. . The show is said to indicate less variation in the types of cars than in previous years. There is nothing, radically new in chassis design, and engine sizes are not being increased. The general impression is that the whole industry is being standardised. In the-field of the'engine, the oight-cylinder car has made its appearance, and there are more "sixes," light-and heavy, and yet many solid conberns refuse to abandon the more economical, the simpler, and the steadier four-cylinder. _ The trend towards the cheaper car is as unmistakable as last year. The promised cyclecar boom has not materialised, but*in its place is a growing "light car" development as in Britain More attention is being paid to body work, and though the sombre black stil! prevails, blues, greys, reds, and greens are becoming numerous. The enclosed Sedan type of car has found considerable favour, and there' is an interesting development of the enclosed two-seater body for the man who drives his car himself and wants protection from the chill_ of the American winter. In the springing the cantilover type is increasing in popularity. A Class Road. According to "Motor Age" (U.S.A.), an experimental stretch of what is termed a glass road has been laid down on a portion of the new Lincoln Highway in Illinois. Thirteen barrels of a by-product of glass manufacture were sent to the convict road-making camp from a big glass-works for experimental use on the new trans-continontal highway. Packed in airtight receptacles the substance is said to have the consistency of molasses, but when exposed to the atmosphere it forms a translucent kind of glass, useless from a glassmaking standpoint and usually thrown away. Tie liquid was mixed with clean crushed stone by the convicts, and the resultant material distributed over the highway in the same way as concrete might be. It hardened and formed a surface declared to be as lasting as concrete and much smoother. Some American' road, experts declare the weather will have a deleterious effect, but others think it will be found to be durable. Motorists who 'havo used the stretch arc very favourably impressed. Germany's Motor Fuels. To eke out their fuel supplies, and to make up for tho shortago of petrol, which is so necessary and, at present, indispensible for tho German air fleet, very many of the German military motor wagons and motor-cars are, according to the "Autocar," now being driven on benzole and alcohol mixed. Germany is able to manufacture practically all the benzole and alcohol which is necessary for the military motor road vehicles; and the results she is obtaining with tho benzole-alcohol mixture are said to be so satisfactory that, except for tho air fleet, she could almost dispense with petrol and still, con- ■ warlika -activities, Indeed,

tho aJoohol-bon/xilo fuel lie Germans 1101/ employ in place of petrol has been so suocossl'til with all classes of road •veliicloß that it sooms highly probahlo "that she may ovorcoino tno dilliculties in connoction with tho uso of this mixture in tho aerial machines aa well, •though tho difficulties hero aro by no means inconsiderable; they aro certainly very much greater than, m tho caso of the road motors, mainly because of tho difficulties of ovorcoming tho bpid effects of low tomporaturo and tho suddon atmospheric changos caused by tho varying lovcls at whidh tho machines aro flown. Elusive Squeaks and Rattles. Useful hints in locating mysterious noises iu a car were given recently by a contributor to the "Motor." A squeak nearly always appears to como from tho ongino, but the first thing that should bo examined is the universal joint behind the gearbox, for nine times out of ten the squeak will be located there; there is something very curious about the way in which a nniversal joint will evade grease; the casing may be full, and even over-full to all appearances, and yet when the case is taken off. the pins are found to bo quito dry and polished. If the joint bo taken apart and liberally greased before being put back again, and some grease pressed into all the cracks and crannies before replacing the caso, the squeak will most probably never bo heard again. These notes do not apply to all universal joints, but to a great many of them.

Then there is another kind of squeak, generally a small, apologetic kind, that appears after the car has been used on the road some months, but it is generheard in the same place; this will most likely be caused* by the ends of the spring plates having become dry, the squeak being caused by them rubbing against each other. In this case it is fairly easy to locate the trouble, and by jacking up the frame slightly—not the axle, and slightly separating tho' leaves, some grease or oil can be inserted between the leaves.

Rattles are another nuisance which develops from time to time, and it 5 one for which windscreens are often responsible. A continued tapping somewhere about the dash may often be traced to the glass having got slightly loose in the frame just' at the top of of the-Jower half of the screen; a little insulating tape packed in firmly between the glass and the frame with somd 'thin object, 6uch as a knife blade, will probably put the matter right. Or it may be one of the nuts on the bottom of tho windscreen standard which has worked loose; if so, a turn with the spanner will put the matter riglft. Often a rattle at the back of thd car may be traced to the jack or the tyre levers having got loose and rattftng against the side of the locker. It is a good plan to wrap all loose article? in rag or tyre wrapping, as it keeps them from rubbing - against each other, as well as. preventing them rattling. The floorboards may start through a screw working loose, and another fruitful source of rattles are the doors; the little brass plates which are fitted at the top and bottom get worn very slightly, and squeak as well as rattle. The remedy is simple, viz., to fix a bit of leather on instead of tho plates, both at the top and bottom of the door.

Another source of rattle may bo found ill the joiuts of tho steering bar, and may be due to the pins or bushes having worn oval; or it may be slight wear between the bottom of tho rod and the steering arm. In the former case tue remedy is to, have new pins, or bushes, or both, fitted; a competent repairer will be the best judge of thi3. In the latter case the pin can be taken out, and a tin washer fitted between the steering arm and the rod. This is quite on effective method of taking up end-play in a. case of this sort. Some forms of magneto couplings are very prone to rattling, and here, again, a tin washer will often be found effective. One source of noise may be mentioned, which is very unusual and very difficult to trace, and that is when It 12 caused by a broken bali race in one of the road-wheel bearings. ■It generajjy occurs in tho outside ball, race of Sue front wheel owing to the extra strain imposed upon these ball races when turning corners. The first symptom fs a noise like a stick or something striking underneath the running board, It only occurs intermittently, and one may drive 'a mile or two on a straight road withoiit hearing it at all, and then suddenly, on going round a curve, it occurs again, but Ihe attention of the driver is distracted just, then, and by the timo he has settled down to listen again the noise has vanished. This may go on for two or three days, getting steadily worse, and then a . harsh, grating noise sets in. This is unmistakable evidence of a broken bali race; but where tbe above symptoms show themselves, the reader would be well advised to examine the front-wheel bearings delay. Here and There. Legal lighting up time for motor-cars and motor-cycics—To-day, 7.9 p.m. Next l'Viday, b.59 p.m. It is now compulsory for every class of vehicle, including handcarts, bicycles, etc., . to. carry a rear red light in the London streets at .night. The new by-law is welcomed by London motorists, for, since the reduction of brilliant lighting in tho English capital, the difficulties of motoring have been considerably increased. The "Autocar" pays a tribute of admiration to the patriotism of the directors and the workpeople of the F.N. factory at Liege. Not only, have the directors and staff stuck' to their posts, but tho workpeople, risking starvation, have refused to servo under the Germans, who wanted- them to work, in the factory in the German service. The terrible condition of some of the roads in Northern France ' has made them almost impassable for dispatch riders on motor-bicycles, and in certain instances light cars are being used instead of the single-track machines. As far as one can gather by Hearsay from medical men who have returned from the front, says an English motor journal, the motor field ambulance of the future is likely to take the form of a heavier type of vehicle capable of carrying more men than the present type. Tho "Autocar," launched in 1895, recently, published its thousandth number. When the "Autocar" made its debut verv little was known on the subject of automobile engineering, and consequently its contributors had to learn their business as they went. on, and they received scant encouragement from the average general engineer, who was prone to look down on the horseless vehicle (an old-fashioned term nowadays) as a sort of nine-days' wonder, which attracted onlv cranks and inferior talent in its making. A movement for skilled supervision of road work throughout the United States has been launched by the American Highway Association and the National Civil Service Association Reform League. These two great organisations co-operated in the holding of a session at the recent American Road Congress in Atlanta dovoted to a consideration of the merit system in road management.