Evening star., 1923-01-28
MODERN IMPROVEMENTS MAKE.
MOTORING EASY FOR AMATEURS
Newer Cars Built With View to Accessi-
bility of All Parts and Contain Devices
for Saving Time In Repairs.

the'poor location of the battery. Shs
allowed herself SO many minutes In
which to pour in distilled water, and
could not overstep this limit without
cutting down somewhere else on her
daily scheme of things.
The day when the family drops
everything to watch Uncle Henry fill
the battery cells is definitely locked
in the great past. There is no reason
why a motorist should dismantle the
car In order to find the battery any
more than he should be obliged to run
over to Neighbor' Smiths for a few
live Goals to start fire.
One woman motorist bought GER
tain model because the floor boards
of the tonneau could be raised just
as easily as the boards in the front.
This gave easy access to the rear
universal joint. pinion gear, spring
shackies and brake assembly. making
1t a simple matter to clean, grease
and adjust these parts. She did not
anticipate doing any of this work
herself, but she knew that any me-
chanic can work better when he
doesn't have to work at a disadvan-
tage. She figured that II was worth
money to her to have every job done
In the least amount of time. Simpli-
Tying the routine jobs gives the me-
chanical-minded motorist more time
to study the high points.
Adjusting Tnppets.
One of the most pronounced trends
in simplicity of car care is seen in
the line of valve tappets. There are
some motorists who are not annoyed
by tapping valves or who do not
know that much Of the loss of power
on hills, the skipping and "bucking,"
is due to too tight an adjustment of
the valve tappets. But the man who
wants his. car to run at it's best all
the time. for the sake of comfort and
economy realizes that it pays to get
out the tools and make few
changes: Up until very recently, how
ever. this has been difficult job. even
for a mechanic. 1t is not unusual to
spend an hour trying to set a few
valve tappets so that they neither tap
nor hold the valve open after the
stem has expanded.
Now. with the advent of overhead
valves operated by overhead cam
shafts. the end of this sort of dim
cuIty is in sight. Even where the
location the work Of adjusting tan
pets Is remarkably simple on a num-
ber of valve head motors All the
motorist does Is turn a screw in the
center of each rocker arm and lock
the adjustment with lock nut The
job is done while the motor runs. thus
combining the adjustment and the
testing into one operation.
New Universal Popular.
Fabric universals are Just another
evidence of the trend toward sim
plicity of maintenance. These do not
need greasing, and while they event
ually need replacing the expense and
time involved is not as great as with
metal joints. The motorist, however
must be careful to see that the fabric
joints on the car he selects are
equipped with a centering device. But
even where metal joints are retained
we find simplicity the rule. One of
the pioneer manufacturers now ar
ranges the universal Uhere Is only
one in his carr so that it Is fabricated
by the grease from the transmission.
The increasing Importance of motor
ing in every day life Is rapidly chang
ing the car owners idea of what he
most desires in a machine. If the
newer models are any criterion his
idea at present is to select the car
that only requires twist or turn
when things go wrong land. presto,
it's done"'
Copyright. 1928, by the Ullman Feature Service.