MODERN CAR ENGINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 November 1926, Page 14

MODERN CAR ENGINE.

PITCH OF PERFECTION REACHED. As regards power output and efficiency the modern car engine luis been brought to such a pitch of perfection that many eminent engineers now believe the most promising field for research to lie in the direction of reducing the rate of wear. The internal combustion engines come nowhere near the steam engine for durability of the bearing surfaces, and in the ease of the motor this is due to three main causes —the carbon and asphaltenes produced when the oil is partially decomposed by the high temperatures reached in the cylinders, the particles of road grit entering the engine through the carburetter, and the water and petrol with which the oil gradually becomes contaminated and so loses part of its value as a lubricant. It is the presence of grit and carbon which gives the oil a dirty' black ap- : pearance when it has been in the engine for quite a short time, and with which the forced-feed oiling systems so popular to-day, these hard, foreign particles, are continually driven through the bearings under pressure, giving rise to comparatively rapid wear. Certain of these particles are of relatively large size and can be stopped by ordinary' metal gauze, such as is commonly' used for filters, but the majority of them are of so fine a nature that no ordinary' filter can possibly extract them. This difficult filtering problem has, however, been successfully tackled by r a famous engineer and scientist. Dr. 11. S. Hele-Shaw has brought out a filter, working on a new principle, which will remove particles even though these may be only one-mil-lionth of an inch in size. The “streamline” filter, -as it is called, has been successfully' used for about two years in many industrial plants for treating oil which would otherwise be wasted, making it fit for further use in machinery. It does not pay' to have the valves ground when the stems and guides are worn. Have them replaced. When there is a fiat spot on the cam, roller or head of a valve tappet, tbj; noise cannot be eliminated by adjusting the tappet. clips holding the headlight fuses should always have tension enough to hold the fuses firmly, and make the proper contact.