SPEEDING THROUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 52, 24 May 1927, Page 10

SPEEDING THROUGH

Alcohol is best for cleaning a spark plug.

More wear may be caused to the engine in a few minutes of racing than during a month of ordinary driving.

Install bolts with nut-down when possible. If the nut works off, the bolt is more likely to remain in place.

Active units that remain in an ungreased state break easily.

Clothes don’t make the man any more—it’s his car.

Door hinges on the car become rusty in wet weather and should be oiled frequently to keep out squeaks. The differential and transmission should be drained and washed every 5,000 miles to remove worn particles.

“How’s business since they paved the highway past your store, Si?” “Why, these blame automobeelists have near ruint me. Bought up darn near all my stock the first week and I ain’t got nothing left to sell.

The 4,480,000 automobiles produced in America in 1926, if paraded in rows of five and averaging the length per car at 15 feet, the rows, 15 feet apart, would make a procession 5,091 miles long, and that, moving at 15 miles an hour, ten hours a day, Avould require C 3 days to pass a given point.

Coiled springs used in certain varieties of shock absorbers develop the habit of squeaking for no apparent reason. The chances are that the end of the spring is rubbing its base. A heavy graphite grease will effect a certain and immediate cure.

Observe the oil gauge and ammeter when starting, to be sure they are w r orking.

Oil stone or fine sandpaper should be used to clean ignition points, and not emery .paper.

Motorists in Chicago, 111., so covet the low automobile licence number that, it is said, when the owner of one dies, he wills it to a friend or relative. A cracked fender should be repaired at once. Vibration will cause the crack to grow larger. The “raw materials” used in the manufacture of passenger automobiles and motor trucks are: Iron, steel, plate glass, aluminium, copper, tin, lead, zinc and nickel. There the numerous alloys of these minerals that enter into the manufacture of this product. “Dazzle brutes” is a term applied by the London Safety First Council to automobilists who use bright lights at night. A campaign to find means of eliminating the risk to both motorists and the public because of glaring headlights is being waged throughout the country, and scientists have been appealed to for aid in solving the problem. Traffic congestion on the highways of the United States is responsible for an annual loss of 4,000,000,000 dollars in time and wasted fuel. Safe driving at night depends on both headlights being lighted and properly adjusted. In the Middle West some individual with a bright idea has posted a sign at the outskirts of a small town. It reads as follows: “4076 people died of gas last year. 29 inhaled it. 37 put a lighted match to it. 4000 stepped on it.” Exhaust and gasket leaks usually can be discovered by blowing tobacco smoke around the part suspected. Do not clean top of the car with gasoline or benzine, as the liquids often crack the material. One of the best top dressings is made by mixing one part of liquid asphaltum and two parts of castor oil. Then add one ounce of ivory black to each pint of mixture. The simplest way to get a car out of a deep rut is to roll a tyre chain into a ball and place it in the rut under a front wheel. Place another under a. rear wheel. The wheels will then ride up and out of the rut.

Don’t accept the reading at any one point of the petrol gauge as accurate in judging mileage, for it has been found that even some of best gauges are inaccurate at certain points. This is a characteristic of speedometers, and many other instruments of meausrement, and in order not to err the owner insead of taking a reading at one point will take several and strike an average. In the case of the petrol gauge, the shape of the tank has much to do with the variation in accuracy over the entire range of the pointer. Lubricating the chassis often is no simple task, but the wise owner can save himself considerable energy if ho uses oil instead of grease in certain places. Oil will reach the tightest joints, and should always be used on new cars.

General Motors exports from America lead the automobile field by a wide margin. The value of General Motors' exports has increased from j. 22,000 dollars in 1911 to 100,000,000 dollars, wholesale value, in 1926.

If the ampere meter shows a low rale of charge, this is probably due to slipping belt or commutator or brush trouble. If after cleaning these parts the ampere meter still registers low, the meter itself should be inspected to see if the needle is not bent or sticking. If the battery is still not being properly charged the cut-out should be inspected.

If the starter will not function this is probably due to a discharged battery, disconnected cable, brushes sticking and not making proper contact, starting switch-blades not making proper contact, very dirty computator, short circuits or earths in the motor, earthed cable to motor, or starting switch earthed or shorted.

To most motorists, the only places where you can procure distilled water are service stations and chemists. But anyone can get the purest distilled water without cost or trouble. Rain-water that has not been in contact with a metal body is the purest distilled water procurable. Put an earthenware or glass bowl out in the rain and try the contents.

It has been figured that 7 per cent, of the fuel consumed by the average automobile engine is wasted in the transmission. Letting the gears go dry results in another 5 per cent. loss. It is estimated that the loss when the transmission lubricant is too thick is greater than if the gears were dry. * * *

When going over rough spots in the road it will ease the shock to feed the motor with the hand control while gently applying the brakes. The idea is that under this arrangement the car pulls, when going into the holes and when drawing out of them, yet without coasting into them with a jolt. By keeping the speed of the car constant the jolts are reduced to a minimum.

It will prolong the life of the front tyres and enable them to wear out uniformly to switch them from one wheel to the other after they have been run a season or so. The left front tyre is always “climbing out of the ditch.” so to speak, with the result that it receives a little extra wear. In changing the tyres be sure to keep them rolling in the same direction. It injures the tread to reverse the direction of rolling.

At a speed of 60 miles an hour, the pistons of the ordinary automobile engine are travelling at a rate of 30 miles every 60 minutes. Yet they reverse their direction about every five inches of the way. That this process can be continued without audible knocking of the pistons against the cylinder walls or banging of the connecting-rod bearings is one of the greatest single achievements of modern engineering. A 500 FEET ROAD FOR NEARLY 3,000 MILES A new idea in road construction is to be considered by the American House of Senate. It is suggested to build a road 500 feet Avide from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. It is to have separate lanes for goods and passenger traffic, and in addition it is planned to avoid all towns with populations of more than 2500 people. The reason for this is to miss the heavy traffic surrounding the larger towns. Should the road be constructed it will make high speed motor transit from coast to coast possible. THE MEXICAN WAY They have very pleasant, or unpleasant, ways in Mexico. It depends which side you are on. Motorists of California, adjacent to the Mexican border, have been troubled lately through having their cars stolen. This menace has been removed by the Mexican authorities executing nine automobile thieves. Different countries, different ways, but harsher action against car thieves, would be welcome in this country. FISHERMEN’S LUCK Although it is a fishing story its veracity is unchallenged. The skipper and crew of a trawler operating in the North Sea, recently had a unique experience while trawling. Hauling in the net a lorry was brought to light, and by means of the tackle on board was successfully hauled on the boat. After shifting their position, the net was again lowered, when a second lorry was brought to light. Both of the rescued lorries are believed to be army lorries, which were on a boat sunk during the war, and they were covered with barnacles and corroded. LOOK WHAT’S HERE A new device is said to have been developed in England for the safety of pedestrians. The idea, which probably had one of the contributors to “Punch” as its authority, provides for fitting out each pedestrian Avith a baloon attached to his shoulders which will enable him to take steps of thirty feet instead of moving so slowly that he gets in the way of automobiles. A LOVE CALL The call of a lover varies with the times and the customs of a country. In England, recently, a motor-cyclist was admonished by a constable for disturbing the neighbourhood. He replied to the effect that he A\ r as trying to attract the attention of his young ladj% who kneAv the sound of the exhaust from the bike. The magistrate looked with a cold eye on this new love signal, and fined the motor-cyclist for haA’ing an inefficient silencer. A PAYING GAME Although little is heard in this country of American speedways, it is a very profitable sport, judging by the reported winnings of the leading drivers. The A.A.A. champion driv’er for 1926 was Harry Hartz. He started in 19 events, and his Avinnings totalled 71,100 dollars. F. Lockhart, with 13 starts won 66,615 dollars, whilst P. de Paolo, with the same number of starts, annexed 40,187 dollars.