Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-07
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MOTORISTS


A sticking valve and undue wear on the
stem may be due to the end of the valve
tappet being out of true. Anything that
tends to push a valve to one side, or lift
it by applying force at one side OF the
center of the rod, will cause abnormal
wear on the stem and disturb the seating
of the valve. For this reason the end OF
the stem and of the tappet should be
square and make even contact
Carburetion may sometimes be helped
by substituting sheet lead as material
for manifold gaskets. instead of asbestos.
The reason is that lead is a much better
conductor of heat than asbestos. and
hence some of the jacket heat warns the
manifold and consequently the incoming
mixture If the manifold is cold, While
the jacket near it is warm, and the stuoS
to which the manifold is bolted are warm,
the fitting of a sheet lead manifold is
likely to improve carburetion in exactly
the degree that the manifold is warmed
by the heat from the jacket. or course,
the lead gasket should be very carefully
fitted to prevent leaks, and should be
made of soft sheet lead.
Leaking piston rings are usually lndl-
cations that the cylinders are being over
fabricated, or not supplied with the right
joints in the rings may work around to
position one above the other, the failure
of the rings to hold compression is due to
their becoming gummed with carbon and
oil. This acts as a bond, holding the
rings in their grooves, and not allowing
them to spring out against the cylinder
wall. The piston should be removed, and
the rings and grooves thoroughly cleaned
with kerosene. If the rings become I'M
duly gummed in short time, better
grade of oil should be used: either one
that will not carbonize as much or is
lighter in body.
Tar splashes on nicely vanished body
are blemishes not easily removed. Salt
butter has been found to be a solvent of
tar that does not adversely affect the var
nish. Even salt butter will not be
remedy if the tar is allowed to become
dry, and car that has been splashed
should certainly not stand overnight
without any attempt to remove the
splashes. To ordinary fresh butter a
certain amount of salt needs to be added.
1t can be applied by the finger. and. If
the butter be rubbed lightly over the Of
Tending spot, the tar will be found grad
ually to disappear. Before the butter is
applied. all dust should be removed from
the vicinity of the splash, or the varnish
will be scratched thereby. spot of tar
not removed will eat through the paint
work on to the metal panels Of the body
and become a permanent disagreement
until the body is reprinted from the
ground work.
In the absence of a blowout patch
fair shift to get home can be made by
wrapping bandage around the inner
tube before inserting it in the casing and
after it has been partially inflated. The
effect of the bandage is to prevent the
tube from bullying through the opening
in the shoe. 1t will serve this purpose
in satisfactory manner provided the
latter is not too large. In an emer-
gency the bandage may be obtained by
tearing an old duster into strips.
Dry batteries used for ignition should
be tested Immediately after run and
that after the batteries have had rest
they reeunerate to some extent and show
a fictitious power 1t gives better mar
gin of safety to do the testing after the
run, when the batteries are run down,
as they will be soon after starting out
all batteries run down to less than ten
amperes should be replaced with new
ones.
If the car is full and you want to take
on another passenger, do not allow him
to sit on top of one of the doors. His
doing SO will strain the hinges and cause
the door to touch at the bottom and
sides. This may result ever afterWard
in annoying saueaks from the door when
the car is driver. or 1t may break the
hinges or crack the. body where the
hinges are fastened. If the extra pas
senger won't sit on somebody's lap. have
him sit on the floor of the car. opening
the door and holding it SO that it will
not slam about.
On some cars fitted with single pres
sure system for both the gasoline and oil
systems. misflring and actual stopping
from lack of fuel in the earburetor may
low in the tank. The trouble is much
like that caused by floating obstruc-
ton in the gasoline line, but is actually
caused by the air pressure escaping
through the drip feeds when the supply
of lubricating oil is nearly exhausted.
When the level becomes low, the air
will force its way through the feeds with
the oil. thus lowering the pressure to
point where 1t will hardly send gasoline
to the carburetor. The remedy, Of
course, is to pour In more lubricating
oil.
When applying blowout patch to a
torn casing. care must be taken to see
that the patch completely covers the le-
sion, with good margin of overlap all
around. To insure the patch remaining
in place after the tube has been inserted
and inflated, a good scheme is to apply
the former to the tube. rather than to
the casing, after partially initiating it,
and to secure it in place by means of a
piece of light string. The patch will
then stay with the tube, and If prop
erly laid into the casing will work per-
fectly The string may break when in
f1ation Is completed, but if light enough
will not chafe the tube. Rubberized or
cemented patches, of course, require no
such precaution.