Evening star., 1935-09-22

drivers have such difficulty seeing
safety through it.
When a motorist spends $40 having
a lot of electrical work done on her
car and then discovers that the en-
CINE hesitated merely because the
acceleration pump Of the carburetor
was sticking, she is likely to assume
that she wasted her money on service
detouring." She ought to know better,
however, for with the mileage modern
owners put on their cars almost any
thing in the way of a replacement or
adjustment really is needed.
know from personal experience
that I have often run into the buds
of trouble by going all around the car
looking for the cause of some elusive
ailment. Sometimes failure to find a
remedy right of the bat is good in
surance against future trouble.
Close on the heels of the announce
ment of a radio set especially fash
ioned for farm tractors comes news
of the new all-metal radio tubes which
are said to make car radio much more
satisfactory. This not being enough
for a public that is always ready for
something new and better, one of the
leading spark plug companies has put
on the market a line of plugs with
built-in suppreSsors. The reSistor units
can be removed and cleaned. Incl
dentally, to check your radio set for
causes of noise, take the car tu park
or some open place where reception is
normally good and try the set with
the engine switched off. If the noise
comes in as soon as the engine is
started be sure to have your service
man consider possible interference
from the generator cut-out.
In spite Of endless improvements in
engine design, many modern motors
still are entirely too sensitive to damp
ness. Allow a little moisture to COL
lect on the tops Of the spark plugs,
or on the distributor, and there is
prolonged starting delay. In a heavy
rain the only way to start some of
these engines is to tow their cars to
the garage. Pushing them with an
other car is no certain help, since the
trouble is one of trying L dry of
the ignition, not of cranking speed.
A bicycle pump is handy for blow
ing water from the recessed parts of
the cylinder head around the plugs.
The rest can be dried off with the
aid of cloths or absorbent paper FIRE.
quently it is necessary to remove the
distributor head and dry out the
inside. AS a convenience to owners
who are facing this sort of trouble,
one accessory company has just an
nounced new kind of liquid which,
when sprayed on the damp or wet
ignition parts. dries them Immediately.
Courtesy signaling seems to be gain
ing hea iway and. while it is COM
mendable. I should like to warn
against taking it too seriously. Re-
Gently a woman driver was given
a signal to pass around a large truck
She started to pass. then hesitated.
A moment later transcontinental bus
came tearing down the road.
After overtaking a car on a curve
a very thoughtful chap waved to me
to come on. indicating that the road
way was clear. Being skeptical of
courtesy signaling. decided to bide
my time and take no chances. The
road was clear so far as he was con-
cerned, but I figured he was signaling
from point too far ahead. ANY one
might have come out of a driveway
to block my path and make me legally
responsible for anything that hap
pened.
Several women have complained re-
Gently regarding their inability to get
away as fast in traffic as do some OF
their friends. They seem to feel there
must be something wrong with their
cars and possibly with their way OF
handling the controls. The truth is
there is considerable difference in the
way various makes and models of cars
shift. Some transmissions are fast
some slow. In fact, unless shifts are
made quickly some transmissions are
extremely hard to shift without max
ing racket. Quick shifting is a re-
markable aid to speedy getaway.
Those tires you have used all Sum-
mer may be worn largely because of
the service they gave. but some of
this wear may be a direct result of
misalignment of the front wheels 1t
is wise policy to have the wheels
checked over carefully before invest
ing in new tires-if you want them
to stay new.
Compression is the secret of power
in an engine. but since it is some
thing which cannot be seen or han
died like mechanical parts of the car,
many women have difficulty gathering
a mental idea of it. Yet compression
is simple enough.
When piston is going down on
the first of its cycle of four strokes
it sucks in a mixture of gas and air
Next it moves upward and congresses
this mixture to about one-fifth of its
original volume. The mixture is then
under compression and its pressure
measured in pounds per square inch
is the compression of the particular
cylinder at the particular time. This
compression is higher if the original
air sucked into the cylinder is under
higher pressure, as where the car is
operated at sea level. Its compression
is increased by any change in the
engine which forces the original mix
ture to be packed into a smaller space
If the compressed gas mixture occu-
pies one-f1fth of the space it takes
up when first admitted to the cylin-
der, the compression is said to be
to l. Many engines now are to /.
Racing car engines run up much high
er than this. Compression, however,
will not be up to standard II gas
leaks out during the COMPRISING.
Thus for best results the rings, valves
and lubricant must be right at all
times.