MOTORING NOTES.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 33, 29 October 1920, Page 13

MOTORING NOTES.

ATTENTION TO THE SPOKES. Too little attention is given the spokes of the wheeis. After some wear, due very often to friction and shrinkage of wood, the spokes become loose. not only causing unpleasant noise%, but doing sei'ious damage to the wheel and tyre if not repaired immediately. Loose spokes throw the wheeis out ot the true, and the tyres soon become ruined. A LEAKING CARBURMTOR. When uenzine is leaking from the carburettor the float valve mechanism is operating poorly. When the level of the petrol in ihe float bowl ig at the proper height the needle valve eontrolling the flow of the fuel into the carburettor's reservoir should be shut off. If it doesn't, the valve and its seat should be examined i'or dirt and grit. Or, if the needle valve is worn;,it should be ground carefully into a good seat. CAOBE OF POOR COMPRESSION. If you "feel" a loss of coinpression In any. of the cylinders, watch the oil. It may be such a light or thin oil as not to givfe the engine a light compression seal. Or it may be due to faulty valve adjustment or incorrect timing. A graphite preparation in oil, in suitable proportions, will help the engine's compression eonsiderably. It will also increase the oil economy and keep the engine in better i'unning condition. THE LEFT-HAND DRIVE. That ihe British Government is at last alive to the importance of Teaching some deeisioh in the matter of the left-hand drive car i8 obvious from the fact that the Inter-departmental Committee on Motor Legislaliou and Regulation was sumrnoned to consider it after a period of eeveral months' suspended animation. It has been practicaily decided, says the "Autocar," that some restrietive measures shall be taken, and that the only question is : To what extent shall the restrictions go ? The police authorities are in favour of the imposition of a ban upon the lefthand drive car, but more modcrate counsels may prevail, and it may be considered suificient to draft regulations that will have The effect of preventing the further 1 importation of these cars, aria the rendering of those macljines that are already in this country a souree of less danger to the community than they are under present conditions. A NEW SILENCER. There has recently been placed upon the 'market a new silencer, which consists, very simply, of a metal chamber, to the end plates of which the exhaust pipe from the engine and the outlet pipe from the silencer are connected, the attachment being such that any size of pipe can be accoinmodated while keeping the body of the silencer 'of a standard size. Within the cylinder are a series of pressed> steel baffle plates, pierced with large holes at the centre and dished, the central orifices being in lin.e with the engine exhaust pipe. There is thus ho tortuous passage for the exhaust gases, a part of which can pass freely through the silencer to the outlet pipe, but as the gas ent-ers the spaee between each of the baffles naturally it expands very ra^iidly and, by expanding, loses thal sharp crackle which is so disturbing when no silencer whatsoever is fitted. An additional advantage of the design lies in the fact that there are no sinall holes liable to become clogged by deposit, because there are few operations which are more tiresome than to have to take down an exceedingly dirty silencer and to clean out a number of small orifices in the baffle plates.