HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1931.
SPARKS
FROM TEE PLUGS
ADVICE TO CAR-WRECKERS.
HOW THE REAL EXPERT DOES IT!
Adequpte opportunities are al is torn off your cylinders, pistons, ways available to anyong who is grankshaft, and gudgeon pins, you determined to get the worst out of have nearly succeeded in wearing his car, writes an Erening Standard | out the car, for this paper is over Motor expert. Of course, he three-thousmidlhs-of-an-inch thick. en ran into a wall and swash it
An engine, which in rend when.
#
cold engine, to tick over for
He was not satisßed until he had minute or more defore engaging tested the ear on the road, brak- gear and who change the oil regaing hard and noting the length of larly every 1500 miles. "They are each skid mark. He applied the still running cars that they bought brakes when the car was doing over five years ago and they live not fatty" and it pulled up without succeeded in wearing them out in
20,000 miles.
There are quite a number of ways in which tyres can be destroyed,
a waver although the steering wheel. was not held."
21
There is no fun in anatoring on var like that. It is far more
MOTOR MASCOT
PERILS."
is
SHARP PROJECTING POINTS.
Action has been taken by the British Minister of Transport in
TYRE ECONOMY.
UNDER-INFLATION AND OTHER ERRORS.
suspensions efficient there is no excuse for under-inflation. An idle owner hates the weekly application of modern lightning gauge, and the consequent use of a foot pump. but he will not get 20,000 miles front. a 20,000-mile tyre unless he attenda Two of my neighbours own cars to inflation. If the tyre has to bo which are identical in every respret | scrapped at 15,000 miles or less, he except colour. They were compar
must blame himself rather than the
and some of them damage the exciting to neglect the brakes on, regard to the serious danger tong notes after dinner a few days manufacturer. up completely, but this, is scarcely cald, is working at the same speed springs and chassis at the Antirely, but if your family object | pedestrians in the event of a colii. 14go and discovered to their genuine
artistic. The methods of the ne complished carwrecker are pulitle.
When starting away first thing in the morning, while the engine is still cold, he presses the klarter bition impatiently, discovering 10 Jate that he has left the war in gear and that the ignition in fully Advanced. Thus th starter is strained and the starter ring teeth get the fall force of an incipient back-fire when the engine does i spring to fe
In this way he can--and frequent by deep-in less than six months cause the starter to jam, the teeth in the starter ring to break and the battery plates to buckle. This Inst-
{
time.
as it does at 50 or 60 miles an hour.
The most certain of them Besides allowing the engine to is to overinflate three tyres while coin inder load before the oil bas leaving the remaining one Bofl. time to circulate, excessive um at
This allows one corner of the chas the strangler assists the ear-wrack-sis frame to be much lower than the ing process in a number of ways. other three, and it puts a de- It directs a spray of liquid petrol cided cross strain on the whole of on to the cylinder walls which the the car. It overloads at least two pistons carry into the sump to of the springa and twists the body. dilute any oil that is there,
Although not quite such an effec tive means of chassis wrocking, running with all tyres nearly fat helps to keep up the dividends of the tyre companies. The repeated faxing of the "walls as the tyres alge, when they come into contact with the road,, sets up friction be. tween the cords of the casing, and, if the ear is driven really fast and fully loaded, the tyres can be burst
Just Feel the Grit.
The really conscientious automo. bile destroyer ever, on any ne
certain
count, changes the engine oil, for that is a certain way to increase the power units longevity. When the cylinders are cast a amount of foundry sand remains on them although the foundry make sly ignoring the battery-maker's ; strenuous efforts to remove 'it by instructions to add distilled water chemical cleaning. until the level of the liquid is 1 inch gluve the plates.
unmed process he assists by studi
Wrecking the Engine.
As soon as the engine commenes to run he shows his neighbours a really impressive way to destroy a motor. By holding the strangler partially closed bu is able to force the nuwilling engine to newolerate rupdly while still cold,,
This is very effective, for the pis tons and crankshaft bearings are brought under load before the oil has tune to reach them, and metal rubbing against metal, without an interposing oil film, rasps like a file. A pust president of the In- Mitution of Automobil Engineers told me that you hase only to wear five-thousandth parts of an inch off every hearing surface of a car to reduce it to serapuron.
Think
To this sand, in the process of machining, is added a few micros epic metal chips, and later, as the car wears, further chips are rubbed off the bearings and fall into the oil. Tiny speeks of car- on from the combustion chambors, fine road grit, water condensed from the atmosphere and the au- vaporised, heavy constituents of the petrol, fou, help to contamin ate the fabricant,
If your friends do not believe that your oil is as dirty as I say it is empty the contents of the sump into a
elean basin. After the quid has been allowed to settle they can rub their hands along the bottom of the basin and feel the grit for themselves.
If that does not convince them, pour the liquid through a sheet of blotting paper and then they 'can
in.less than 2000 miles.
Thrills When Brakeless,
The car wrecker who takes a pride in his work will try fast cornering when his tyres are parti. ally debated, for if he is really swift and the tyres are safheiently soft it is possible to wrench them right off their rima.
There is a unn I know who wins cups and medals in races and re- liability trials. Only Tast wack, before the London-Land's End trial, I helped him jack up the four wheels of his car and adjust the brakes. He held the brake pedal down one inch by jamming a stick between it and the driving erat, and then he adjusted the brakes until all four went on together.
To reassure himself he depressed the pedal a further half-inch.and then tested the power of each brake
see the dirt adhering to the paper. independently by pulling on the layer of metal as thick as a page of this newspaper i ̈ There are some men' who allow a | tyres in turn.
FIAT
·
|
Da
tho
sine fremn sharp mascots Try radiators of cars and other mater
vehicles."
and
to riding in a brakeless car give the adjusters a few turns. giving one five or six turns Another half a turn; slack ope off and ignore the other.
Most Potent Method.
In this manner you will throw all the work on to one brake, and in a very short time you will wor the drum to destrcution and tear the lining to pieces.
You can then begin operations on another brake, but one at a time is the way to do the job, for if all the four lirakes are property ad- justed they will wear for years.
who wish to get the worst out of If there is any advice to those,
" '
their cars that I have omitted I must plead limitations of spaor, and I suggest that, next to doing things wrong, wilful neglect is the nist polent weapon at your lis Dosal.
The trade is under no illusion. If voluntary Retion is not taken fully to arct the views of the Ministry there will be more dris. Lic steps,
The Ministry has no objection to mascota which present a flat sur- free with sharp projections; such as wings, pointing to the aides, but only to those with sharp points pro- jecting ahead or slightly to one side."
and mutual amazement that one car is averaging about 8,000 miles on a set. of tyres, whereas the other is travelling nearly 20,000 miles un a Talks took place à few weeks ago similar quartet of tyres of the very between the officials of the Ministry same make and size. The contrast and the Society of Motor Manuprovoked a somewhat aerimonions facturers on the matter.
The Ministry put forward expert evidence of the danger of a number of forms of muscots, and pointed out that with the higher height of radiators the dagger-like points of figures seriously increase the risk of injury to anyone struck by the front of the car.
So strongly did the Ministry feel that a regulation banning the dau of sharp projecting mascot de
[+ vices was discussed.
* Undesirable."'
The Ministry has now
sent letter to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders which
states:
The Minister does not wish to make a special regulation on the matter if the moiety takes specia! steps to draw the attention of ali its members to the undesirability of xuch fittings."
This has been done, and all British car makers, British con cessionaires of foreign cars. and British necessary and component makers have been warned of the position.
An official of an necessery firin said:-
"(Continued on previous column)
discussion, as the respective wives became involved in it; and while one of these lailies considers that her husband is an extremely reek less driver, she likes her money's worth, and was anxious to know why his tyre bill was nearly two and a half times as large as it nerd e; the excess expenditure in this particular instance was about £30.
There are many rapid and in fallible methods of reducing tyres to premature destruction. Pro bably the speediest and surest in to ut the two wheels on either axle
Nevertheless, owners' can produce some small grievances against the tyre manufacturers. This in the twentieth century. The time of an average owner-driver, is valuable. Tyra attentions are boring, because they demand labour but not in- telligence. In order to keep our tyre. inflated we have to remove and replace four dustcape-ale secured by long fine threads, which are easily crossed; and if a tool in not used in rescrewing, the dustcap will probably drop off in the road;
wo have further to remove and rei place four sealing-caps; and finally (unless we spend money on specin! equipment) we have to attach and remove the pump nozzle four times. Quite possibly the pump supplied with a £1,000 car is a shotidy con- traption which ac garage or self.
out of correct alignment, when the respecting mechanic would dream of friction of the rond will bear on a ring. Quite possibly it has a screw part of the trend never designed to connector, instead of lightning sustain such friction and the Lyre type. Quite possibly it prevents may become useless after no more) the owner from teating the pressurs
than 1,000 miles.
Gross under-
inflation is tolerably destructive, without removing the nozzle. in Our ronds were in a parlous state other words, there is an unholy cons in 1019, and some of the earlier spiracy between the type designer post-war cars were not eminent for
and the car manufacturer to make perfect auspension. Motorista untur- ally ran their tyres a great deal tyre attentions as atúpidly tedious. softer than the experts advised; they as possible. It is high time that secured some additional comfort, the various attachments involved in. ' but the walls of the tyres floxod so
the process were improved; and that vielently that bursts occurred after
were supplied with decent comparatively brief mileage. i Now that ronds are good and. `pumps.
ᎥᏞ
cara
INDIA SUPER TIRES
THE RED RING IS YOUR
GUARANTEE.
W. R. LOXLEY & CO.,
-AGENTS HONG KONG.
CAR
and FIAT-5
FIAT 5
4 cylinders
Showroom:
AGENTS:
A. GOEKE & CO.
FIAT GARAGE:
350, Hennessy Road...
SPARE PART DEPARTMENT: CHINA BUILDING, 4TH FLOOR,
TELEPHONE. 22221.
210
6 cylinders
Service:
LANCIA GARAGE: 348, Hennessy Road.
"ALWAYS IN FRONT"
SOCONY
GASOLINE plus MOTOR OIL
STANDARD OIL CO, OF NEW YORK