Arizona republican., 1918-11-10
ENGINE EFFICIENCY
 IN COOL WEATHER
 JAN BE INCREASED

This is the season of the year when the motorist may be excused if he somewhat petulenuy misquotes: Now is the winter of our discomfort upon us.' Soon the chilly mornings will begin to threaten freezing, or at any rate a thermometer low enough to make trouble in starting the frigid engine, as the owner likes to have it start-on the first turn. Yet by talk ing a few simple precautions the mo- torist may obviate most of the trou- ble and have reasonable engine eff ficiency even in the Zippiest weather. ! Hard starting in cool weather has 1 always been a chronic disease in mo- l tordom. In the early days of the motor era we had superfine gasoline, 1 but the engines in which we burned | it were so crude that they were diff l cult to start any way. Now we have | excellent engines, but our gasoline ! has deteriorated so that starting trou
 bles are, if anything, more prevalent 1 than they were.
 1 Fortunately this situation has led to l the invention of many devices and ma | terials designed expressly to over come this reluctance on the part of | the cold engine. Even in the sunny 1 southland and in California there are many mornings in winter when the car owner is glad to avail himself of ! the help thus afforded him.
 Undoubtedly the best method of get ting an easy start in cold weather is | priming. Those of us who are Veter- ans at the game have primed religi- ously for years, opening the petcocks and pouring in a little high test gas to start things going. But this pro- ! cedure has been too slow for the present generation, and there are on |, the market now a number or priming | outfits, by means of which the opera
 tor can sit in his seat and prime from 1 there. These sets consist of a small tank holding say a quart and placed
 out of sight under the dash. From this
 a lead conducts whatever liquid is used
 into the intake manifold at the will
 of the driver, who has a control, us
 ually in the form of a pump, con ! veniently placed. A primer outfit of
 this kind may be purchased at a cost
 of anywhere from $5 to $10. It is cas- fly installed by any one who is me
 chanical enough to be fit to drive a
 car
 Now as to the question of what to
 put in the primer. There is nothing
 much better than 76 degree Pennsyl-
 Vania gasoline or it's equivalent of
 fuels from the other fields. This is
 practically the fuel we used to get in the old days when the motor car was . a newcomer on the roads of America and it will fire every time on the first
 turn if there is a reasonably good ! spark. Some of the companies put
 out a product known as petroleum ether" which is simply one of the lighter products of distillation and makes an admirable starting fuel. IT
 the old days, when most of us lighted by acetylene, it was possible to have , the gas tank adapted for use as 2 primer and this too served excellent . ly we'll
 f There are a number of tried anC . true old fashioned methods of assisting
 the start in cold weather; for instance there is draining the cooling system
 and filling it with hot water to warn up the metal and make it possible t
 vaporize the ordinary gasoline. Tn, . application of heat by any other mean. to the inlet manifold may produce tn,
 desired results although the presen
 grade of gasoline is so heavy that tn
 old method of laying hot cloths on thu = manifold will scarcely do. An ingeniou. l OptluASU
 gets his winter start by applying tn s flame of a blow torch to the inle
 manifold, but this method has obviou 8 drawbacks. However, enough has beel = said to show the car owner who ha : been troubled by hard starting tha
 equipment is available to end his trou = bles.
 But winter troubles do not end wit
 the start. With our present grades 0 ;. fuel there is a constant tendency to " ward condensation. Even after tn ' gasoline has been carbureted and is O
 it's way to the combustion chamber
 is quite likely to condense on the side
 of the manifold if these becom
 chilled. For this reason it is neces
 sary to use as much heat as possibl
 in connection with the carburetio
 system. The air for the mixtur
 should be taken from around the ex = haust manifold, so that it will b Q heated. This is easily arranged b Il means of a so-called stove and flex e ible tubing. Many carburetors al T now fitted with hot water jackets, an
 it would be a good thing if all of the1
 had such equipment. In cases wher 'l car owner has had unusual troubi L. with lowered engine efficiency in col Is weather it will pay him to install n jacketed instrument in place of his ol | one. This question of engine efficieno z is more important than might appea J. at first glance. The Fuel Administrs '- tion in Washington has asked US a l. to be as saving as possible with gasC
 line. Now engine efficiency mea1 g, fuel economy; the two terms are syr
 onymous and it is our duty to get u It last ounce of power out of every ga " Ion of fuel we use.
 S Last winter was signalized by u appearance of a considerable numb, 'S of so-called hot spots" This simp
 means an area of the intake manifo D. heated, so that the fuel vapor passir i, over it is heated and goes to the con U bustion chamber with plenty of sna and vim in it. These hot spots are u.
 rally obtained through connection vii the exhaust manifold, and they LII | doubtedly contribute to engine e ficiency in cold weather In this COT
 nection it may be noted that a h.
 spot does not contribute to easy star l ing for the simple reason that the SD U does not get hot until the engine h;
 been running long enough to heat u as eXhauSt This is obvious. thOus