MOTOR AND CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1922, Page 11

MOTOR AND CYCLE.

JOTTINGS. Varnish will not stick to the surface of a car that has been waxed. Skidding into curbs, and side swipes from other cars will cause wobbly wheels. A good washing will harden the varnish of a new car and lengthen the life of the lustre. Keep the engine clean. Oil gathers dust which works into the working parte and helps wear them out. A “knock” in an automobile engine of present design is due largely to carbon deposits inside the cylinders and to lime deposits in the water jackets surrounding the cylinders. When going down very steep hills, shut off the switch and use the second gear as a brake. This not only adds to the safety of the passengers, but also tends to cool off the motor. When an extra passenger is to be carried in a seven-passenger car, a section of board placed across the two auxiliary seats will accommodate the extra one .in the party .nicely. Never fill the oil reservior above the proper level. Old. tubes can be used to a good advantage by placing a piece between the casings and the patch of the repaired tube. This will remove possibility of friction between them.

A weak clutch can be remedied by placing washers under the spring, although in time it will become necessary to have a new spring inserted. ,

A small leak or crack in the waterjacket, cylinder or cylinder head ot a gas-engine can often be remedied thus: Put a handful of sal-ammoniac into the water. Run the engine till water boils, then drain. This will rust ehut the leakage.

Spare tubes should 'be carefully rolled up flat, the interior valve parts having been removed, so that all the air may be forced out. The valve parts should then be packed and the tube packed away in a grease-proof bag containing a good sprinkling of French talc. Extra casings should be kept in a good tyre cover, protected from light, sun and dust.

Have the carbon removed immediately upon noticing a carbon knock. The operation is not expensive and the engine bearings will be relieved of much unnecessary abuse. Screeching brakes can be silenoed by squirting a little kerosene on the brake bands. NEWS AND NOTES. HOW TO TELL GRADE OF A HILL. Sometimes it is interesting to know the exact gradient of a hill, and in the absence of a gradometer, all that is necessary is a piece of string, preferably weighted at one end, and a ruler. Place a wheel of the machine with the valve nearest the ground, and stretch the string across the centre to form a diameter. When it meets the other edge of the tyre hold it and let the free end hang vertically. Mark where the end passes the tyre, and measure the distance between this point of contact of the tyre with the ground. If the diameter of the wheel is now divided by the distance just found, the result is the gradient of the hill. Thus on a motor-cycle, for instance, having 28in. tyres, if the measurement is found to be 2in., the gradient will at once be shown to be lin 14. It is sometimes very difficult to determine by the eye the gradient of a given hill, even approximately, for the nature of the country beyond (in prospective) is frequently very deceptive.