MOTORING NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 25, 3 September 1920, Page 14

MOTORING NOTES.

An Invercargill busiiiess man iniorms me of a mixture which he has used successfully on the shield. About equal quantities of glycerine and methyiated spirits. Rub on the shield and it is stated to be very satisfactory. EASY STEERING. Easy steering of a car is made possible j by merms of gear reduction between the J steering arm and -and wheel. These geai's are generally at the lower end of the steering post, and are arranged so that the hand wheel turns farther than the arm, thus giving more twisting leverage. A CRACKED W ATERJ ACKET . A mechanically inclined motorist can do his own mending on a cracked waterjacket by this method. Drill a small hole at each end of the crack and tap it for a small copper plug. Scrape the surfaces near the crack until the metal is bright. Cover the crack with soft copper filings and inelt them in with a blow torch. Use a flux of resin dissolved in aleohol, A W AT ERPROOF BONNET. Rain can get through the hinged joint at the top of most "two flap" engine bonnets, and under certain weather conditions such leakages are a cause of trouble. One remedy is to rivet a wide flap of leather or fibre along one side of the hinged joint so that it will overlap the joint when the bonnet is shut. Tne other is to fiix a- long narrow sheet of fibre to the bracket which supports the high-ten-sion cables, thus forming a protecting roof over all the plugs. In the absence of such protection it is wise to keep the engine running during any car stoppages in the open while damp conditions prevail. The temperature of the plugs will then evaporate any moisture that falls upon them. CLEARING OUT BEARINGS. After long usage, all bearings accumlate dirt which has worked into them from outside, fuie metal particles worn from the rubbing surfaces and lubricant which has decomposed either from heat or chemical action into gummy or acid substances. This is true not only of the numerous bearings in housings, but of the ball and roller bearings in wheel hubs, the pins used at spring ends and in the steering gear and the like. Unless this grit and deteriorated oil are frequently removed, they act like abrasive compounds wearing the hearing surfaces rapidly, and it is of little use to supply fresh lubricant until they have been eleaned out, as they remain in new oil Or grease and continue their action. For wheel bearings, the best method of cleaning is to remove them and soak them in kerosene, as the same time cleaning out the hubs thoroughly, before putting the bearings baek and packing anew. TO PREVENT TYRE-PUNCTURE. "It is safe to say that during the last 25 years hundreds of patents have been taken out for the prevention of punctures in pneumatic tyres. In most of them the cen. tral idea was to make the tyre impenetrable to nails and other injurious aritcles, savs Cham'ber s Journal.' A recent inventor approached the problem from a new angle by studying the process by which. the Jia.il gets into the tyre. He found that (1) nearly all nails lie fiat on the road; (2) in motor cycles and cars 90 per cent. of nail punctures are in the rear tyres; (3) punctures occur most readily at high speeds and on dry roads ; (4) the front tyres are pierced by short nails, the rear tyres by long nails. "From these observed facts he concluded that rear-tyre punctures are caused by the front tyre turning objects on end, with the result that if the rear tyre reaches them before they fall again, it is pierced. Experiments condueted over a track strewn with nails verified this theory; not only were the nails seen to act thus, but they were caught 'red-handed,' as it were, by a high speed camera. The puncturepreventer designed as the outcome of these observations and experiments turns down nails as fast as the front tyre turns them up, and so the rear tyre is saved. The form of it suitable for motor cycles consists of a specially constructed rubhercanvas flap, 3in wide, usually mounted 011 a scroll spring attached to a curved steel bracket fixed by one bolt through the fore-end of the rear mudguard, but occasionally attached to the silencer or to a special adapter. The flap 'covers' the rear tyre, and clears the road by hali an inch. It lasts for about 25,000 miles, and then can be renewed cheaply. "The puncture-preventer has kept the inventor free from punctures for 25,000 miles: previously he had 47 in 11,000 miles. On one oocasion he rode for eleven hours over a track strewn with thousands of nails, So long as the apparatus was in position, uo damage was done j when it

was removed rear punctures came thick and fast. Forms of the preventer suitable for motor-cycles are already on tbe market ; models suitable for cars and cycles will be ready shortly."