REVOLUTION IN CAR REPAIRS.

Shannon News, 23 September 1924, Page 3

REVOLUTION IN CAR REPAIRS.

FACTORY METHODS INTRODUCED IN THE WORKSHOP.

| Henry Ford's whole secret <o>i success lay in organisation—not a system qi wince' routine and card indexing without the hacking of the necessary output, but a system iat eliminating waste not only m material hut also i» 4 time in every department in Ins vast lactones. Tnis system js now being impressed on. every Ford service station tnruughout vhe worid, and its ivsults are so lar-reachirig that a town so remote from tiie Ford centre a*. LWin will ieei the effects. There has just been installed in M. J. C. Milne's Garage one of the latest K. R. Wilson machines, which i tunes up a Ford engine and 'brings it! up to a state equal to, new. I

Ford owners will be pleased to learn that by tthis means the cost oi repairs |.iiud overhaul will practically be cut in half. Not .only that but the worn ■is done with such accurate detail thu. a micrometer does not show the variation of the 1000th part 01. an i.. when applied tq wqrk done on ih machine. The biggest jobs' connected with Ford repairs are the fitting V crank shaft bearings, and also re-fit-ting new pistons, which generally necessitates reboxing the cylinders; thesu two operations when don.© by the old .method are both slow and costly, but wilih the new combination machine the former operation can be carried out in about five minutes whilst the latter job can be done at an actual I labour, cost Qf ten minues lor each cylinder. A "Chronicle" representative was this morning afforded an op* portaiity of seeing the machine in operation. It seems almost diminutive in its size for a machine that does so much, .occupying a floor space of only 3£ feet by 2". feet, while an assembling bench with special clamps occupies a space of three feet square alongside. An, engine block was being tested and refitted. New davits are fitted in the engine bearings and the bottom blocks replaced with new ones in the rough. The bearings aire then bored out to suit a special reamer, which, after being run through, leaves

the two. beaxiugs a. perfect fit for the ;" I prank shaXfc,sQ.tha J t when the caps are £ 'fitted arid screwed up tightly the crank shaft can hs, easily turned with the t fingers. ■ '. - *, -, 1 Coining to the fitting Q f new pistons, ■*• the old method of boring the cylinders . "all.one,size" land looping to nnd pis- < tons to fit them, has been ahadoned as Obsolete-and unsatisfactory, as Fprd pistons vary fjrom the size they are . marked, and hand-fitting, filing, turn- . ing, qr lapping-in i$ necessary to turn ;,; quit even a fair job. A special instrument is now; provided for testing cylinders so tha.t it is possible to deter- ', mine Oo the' 1000th part of an inch ; what size a cylinder requires to be * boned to-' to make it accurate. The ... next step is to set the 'boring tool to ". the exact size and tfren the machine ■-! does the rest. The great advantage of this method is that not only is every cylinder true and ready to develop the >. maximum power with, a minimum'''J consumption of XueV arid oil but it is ■» now possible tq r&bore a; cylinder 5 or 6 times .without interfering with the ■' efficiency qf the. engine and at the * same time procure standard Ford pistons tq fit. ■; Appliances are also provided for re- ■'.* grinding valves and valve seatings' /,c and tihere are also instruments ifor the <'-* accurate tirnang,, etc., so essential to , ■% economic running.» Apart from cutting repair costs an 1 engine now leaves the workshop with ". a guarantee that it is in every respect : .' eqpuial to a new one. This makes the old saying true that one can save '■/ money by spending it for it is much ..* cheaper to run a car with a perfect engine than one that is wasting both oil and petrol through defects that '■) have developed through wear. - ., >'-< Mr Milnes will he pleased to give .; full particulars and prices to those .; interested. ■}. ON THE AUCKLAND EXPRESS. !

In a smoking ear a passenger held i forth enthusiastically as to? the sooth- .( lng and healing effects of Q4ol when rubbed Into an irritating rash under ;| the left-arm pit .