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FORD VAN POINTERS.

12th September 1918
Page 18
Page 19
Page 18, 12th September 1918 — FORD VAN POINTERS.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By R. T. Nicholson (Author of "The Book of the Ford ").

FEW DRIVERS really grasp what washing the van means. There is a vague idea that if you wet and wipe, you wash. It is like the dirty boy's idea of washing himself. Wettingand wiping will not do the trick : they are only aids towards the end in view—remqval of the dirtfrom the van.

23.—What Washing the Van Means.

And there is only one way to remove the dirt—to drop it off the van. You cannot get it off upwards, or sideways : you must just drop it. You certainly cannot make it invisible, or wipe it out of existeoce.• Dirt is matter, and matter is indestructible. On the van, it is "matter in the wrong place," and you want to get it back where it belongs—where it came from --on to the ground.

Thereason why you use water is that water helps to budge the dirt, and, then. helps it to drop off—in the water. It seems as if ..a good sousing with water vanishes the dirt : so it does, for the time being ; but unless the sousing is thorough enough to drop the dirt off in the water, the dirt will become as noticeable as ever—perhaps More so--when the van dries.

The reason why you use a sponge, 'or other form of swab, after applying the water, or in applying the water, is to shift, the dirt, so that it will readily fall away on to the ground You do not Use it merely to spread the dirt—though the general idea is that you do. You want to get the diet taken up by the water, and carried off the van in it. Mere spreading of the dirt with a sponge, brush, or other form of wiper, makes the 'dirt invisible, as long as the van is wet ; but directly it dries, there it is again, only in the form of smears, instead of blobs. • Here is the proper way to wash a van.

First, wash it, if possible, when Nature has been busk with her hose—when (to drop poetry) it has been raining cats and dogs. Then, all the mudis more or less liquid, Mid ready, with a little encouragement, to drop right off the van. If you let the mud get dry, you will have to soak it thoroughly yourself to get, it into that fluid condition, and Nature's eats and dogs do the work better than your hose, or sponge:Half-an-hour's work on a *et van is better than a couple of hours on a dry van. .

In any event, .use a hose, and squirt as mach as possible of the mud right off the van. If you can. manage it, clb not use a goonge, brush, or other wiper. That is only possible, however, after the " eats. and dogs" treatment. If you are hosing a dry van, you will have to use a wiper or pusher—and even when you are•dealing with a wet van, you may find a sponge or a brush needful in' the angles and corners. But go gently to work with it : do not foree.nbstinate mud off the van ; humour it, if you value appearances. Mud is simply grinding powder—fine stone or other mineral off the roads. It scratches when roughly rubbed. Soak with the idea of enaking it drop off. Do not be too sure the van is clean because, when well soused, it looks clean. Go on hosing for a while. Then take a dry swab.' and wine till it is. too damp for further usefulness : then tale another, and wipe again, and so on, till the whole van is dry. Those swabs, when they are dry, ought to 'show hardlyeany trace of .dirt. The less dirt they show, the better the -washing has been done, and the cleaner the van will _look, when dry. If the wiping swabs dry brown, that means that you have not used the hose thoroughly. If the wiping swabs, when dry, show dirty, you will usually find that the van, when dry, also shows dirty, or smeary.

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24.—About New Paint.

• Do not take out newly painted. vans too soon. if the paint is soft, it will piaup, and retain, any amount of dust—which will spoil the look of the paint for its whole life. A week 'is none too long to allow after the last coat of varnish has been applied: in fact, no pe,riog. is too long : the drier the varnish,: the harder, and the more it resits dust penetration. Give one or two washings with clear cold water before' taking the van out. Be very tender in washing new paintwork. Water, applied gently with a. hose, il1 do it no harm ; fact, it will do it good, because water helps to harden the varnish. But do not. squirt high-pressure main Water fiercely atnew paintwork, beeause it can ruck. it up, and make it look wavy—which will utterly spoil its appearance. Donot use anything but 'Old water on it. Hot water will soften it, and perhaps blister it. Do not use paraffin, or even, sodacertanily not petrol—eVen • When peace makes it plentiful again. On paintwork,' even when old, use just clean cold water, and nothing. More.

25.—On Washing the Underparts.

Do net be too particular here. The underparts are net seen, and any old way of getting the dirt off is good enough. Soften the dirt with hose water, and' use .a sponge or brush freely—not toe, roughly, of course. If paraffin were plentiful, I should recommend paraffin for the greasy parts. As it is, soda in warm water -is a good substitute. This is particularly good for washing the wheels. You will generally find that the dirt under the mudguards will fall off in chunks when attacked by water ' from a strong hose, more particularly if you have just been running through heavy rain, • 26.-0111-tight Drain-plug.

There is a little detail -which many drivel's are apt! to overlook—and' it is easily overlooked : that is the tghtness of the drain.-plug 'in the crankcase (as illus• trated). Leakage here means ehronie, loss of oil, and', it is the slow, regular driblets that squander good' stuff in this world. ("Little drops of water," etc.). ' This plug should be tight. Do not assume that the leakage is necessarily at ' the plug, however, if yeu find that the bulge of the crankcase round it gets covered with oil ooze. Most likely, the leakage is there ; but it is just possible that the oil gets out round the lower transmission cover. If there is leakage at the. plug, -you will usually , find a "blob." of oil wthtng to fall from it, after the van has been. standing for any. -length of time with the engine still, and blobs thathave fallen will have. collected into a pool underneath. While slight _leakage does not matter (except that. it means waste--and war-time waste is wicked!) any, marked wastage, as indicated by a po.ol under the. engine, after an all-night rest, ought to be stopped..

27.—Tyre Cuts.

Never run on a tyre that has a deep cut in it, one extending down to the canvas. Get the gash vulcanized up at once. An open wound in a cover means early death. Wet and grit work in, and perish the fabric.

If you only knew it, you could use a vulcanizer yourself. For Ford tyres the small vulcanizers advertised are quite serviceable. They call for no skill in use—mothiag more than a very little care, "as per instructions on the box." Most drivers look on vulcanizing as being altogether beyond them. Nothing of the sort: any handy man can use one of those 3imple, small vulcanizers referred to.

If you. do not see your way to using a vulcanizer yourself, send the gashed cover to the garage for treatment just Fig. 21.—A Harvey-Frost "Baby" as soon as the gash vulcanizer at work. appears. Do not drive with that cover for a, mile further than need be, especially on muddy or gritty roads. Because, if you do, even if you do not puncture, the fabric will get weakened to such an extent that vukanizing.will &come more difficult, and less effective when it is done.

• 28.—Sparking Plugs.

Do not take your plugs. to pieces to clean them. It. is difficult to put the parts together again in such a

• way as to make the plugs gas-tight under compression. Give a dirty plug a paraffin bath all night, and swill it out with petrol in the morning, brushing also not hard enough, however, to widen the gap between the points. The swill with petrol is necessary because, if you start with the plug Pimply sodden with paraffin, it is likely to get fouler than ever, with deposit formed by the burning of the paraffin.

If you use Champion plugs—the kind standard on the Ford when new—remember that you can buy spare porcelains for replacements. The porcelains are liable to crack, and it is a pity to throw the whole thing away on account of a crack in the porcelain. As you take the plug apart for replacement of the porcelain, note carefully how the parts are assembled, and re-assemble just in that same way. Do not screw up the big nut too tightly—the nut that bears on the porcelain itself—or you will crack the new porcelain

too. You only want it gasAight. You can test, for that with a squirt of oil when the plug is back in place and the engine running. If no bubbles appear at the joint, leave the nut as it is. If bubbles show leakage of compression, stop the engine and tighten up gingerly.

29.—The Non-demountable Plug.

What is known as the demountable plug, that in which you can replace the porcelain if it should become broken is gradually losing favour in this country, the non-demountable type taking its place. It is becoming recognised that gland nuts permit leakage, pickings loosen, and-other small troubles rise. The average non-mechanical motor driver can seldom stop leakage and blowing in a plug or replace a porcelain perfectly. Hence the plug with the body spun over the upper packing making a good and .permanent joint between porcelain and metal is growing in popularity.

30.—Avoiding Shocks.

Never use any tools on the plugs when the engine is running, or you will get high-tension -shocks— nasty I You can, however, avoid shocks while work ing on the plugs if you will slip a length of rubber inner tube over the handle of the tool in use. That insulates your hands.

31.—Buying New Plugs.

Buy plugs which your kit sparking-plug spanner will fit. It is a great convenience to be able to use that hefty tool for removal and replacement.

32.—Mica Plugs.

Personally, I prefer mica plugs to porcelain plugs. They last nearly for ever. You cannot crack mica with an accidental blow from a tool, or by water getting on to it when hot (which will often crack porcelain). Mica plugs cost more money, but they are worth the extra.

33.—The Front Plug.

It is generally the front plug on the Ford that fouls first. This is because the return oil pipe (which has to do with the circulation of the oil supply through the engine) discharges under the front cylinder, which thus gets "first refusal." I believe in having this plug out for -an all-night paraffin bath once a week, whether the plug has given trouble or not ; if it has

not, soon it will. Of course, this advice does

i . not ap ply f you are lucky enough to have an engine that does not tend to oil up the front plug ; but most Fords suffer from fouling of that plug—and no other, unless too much oil is carried in the sump.

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