WAYS AND MEANS.
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Useful Contributions From Our Driver and Mechanic Readers.
How to Remove Tight Valve Caps.
ADAY off to grind-in your valves and half a day spent in removing a couple of tight valve caps are no uncommon experiences," according to "E.S.," of Orpington. Large valves make it difficult to have hexagons outside the caps, and, if they be so, there is no room to work a decently hefty spanner on them.
Other caps are slotted and require a special tool to remove them. Hexagon caps, whether inside or out, must have good-fitting spanners. If a badly fitting one be used inside it only spreads the cap, thus making matters worse. If a badly fitting spanner be used outside, the cap is soon useless and too rounded to extract by the usual methods.
Any spanner used to remove tight caps always tries to slip up and off the cap ; to prevent this the writer rounds the corners of a I-in. bolt head. dropping this in the hole for the sparking plug, then screws in the body part of an old plug, putting the spanner on the cap and then a washer and nut on the bolt, which will effectively keep it on the cap. If the cap be provided with a compression-tap thread instead of one for a sparking plug, a stud can easily be fitteel to serve the same purpose.
Sometimes a tight cap can be removed by running the engine until it Is well hot and then pouring cold water into the cap ; the sudden cooling and shrinkage loosens the carbon around the threads and allows the cap to move. There are a few cars with yokes holding down the caps, in this case there is nothing to turn them by if they be stuck. If the yokes be slacked
back about in. and the lorry given a ruast this will usually blow them back and loosen them enough to make removal easy.
The sketch is of a handy spanner for slotted caps, a hole being provided for a hording-down bolt.
Obviating Draughts in the Driver's Cab.
IT is pointed out by "L.C.IB.," of
Rattle, that in hot weather, when driving a lorry fitted with a cab and windscreen, one is often very uncomfortable owing to the close atmosphere which has to be endured in such a con---fined space. When the windscreen is opened a draught is reflected from the hack of the cab and comes directly on to the back of one's neck. To drive under these conditions is not pleasant, so many drivers prefer to endure the stuffiness rather than have the draught.
Ourcorrespondent seems to have overcome the difficulty in a very simple manner by fixing a piece of wood, the same length as the opening of the windscreen, to the roof of the cab, directly behind the opening, and about a foot away from it, as shown in the sketch. The result of this is that instead of the draught following the roof of the cab and reaching the back, it is diverted downwards, thus cooling the atmosphere of the whole cab and making driving more pleasant. The strip of wood could be hinged at the top. We should recommend bodybuilders to give this matter close attention, and we feel sure that if owners of lorries had to drive them themselves for hours at a stretch the matter would have received consideration before now. A Few Useful Tips from an Oki Hand.
ONE of our correspondents, "H.T.O.," of Ashington, Essex, who appears to have had a long and varied experience, sends us the following tips, which may prove of value to those who have to make long journeys.
Water Joints.—He points out that, try as much as one will, it is not always easy to make a water joint that will not leak. He tells us that when other materials have failed he has obtained perfect success by cutting a washer from a sheet of Rubberoid, which is a material used for roofing purposes.
Spare-seized Nuts.—The nuts connected with spare wheels may remain untouched for a considerable time and when it is necessary to manipulate them the need is usually urgent, as the vehicle may be miles from succour and in pouring rain. Our correspondent makes a rule of loosening and lubricating such nuts whenever he has spare time, and by this means he ensures their being fit for service at all times.
Rear Lamp.—Experience has evidently prompted the suggestion that a driver should always carry with him a piece of red paper or red glazed cloth. so that should the tail-lamp glass become 'broken or lost he will be able to get home without the fear of being summoned by the police. Noisy Cears.—Our correspondent has found that a feW handfuls of the cork powder used for packing grapes, if put in the gearbox with the oil, will be useful as a silencing medium. This material can be obtained from any fruiterer.
To Prevent Flywheels from Coming Loose.
IN many of the older types of lorry it was not an uncommon thing for a flywheel to become loose on its bolts. Reamering the holes and fitting new bolts will in many Cases cure this trouble, but in some instances the bolts may be so near to the centre of the flange that the shearing stress may be more than they can bear, with the result that they soon become loose again. Making new bolts of specially high-grade steel will in some cases cure the trouble, but a correspondent, "F.N.." of Reigate, Surrey, has found that fitting face-keys is the most satisfactory way of dealing with the matter.
To do this it is necessary first to reamer the holes, then th make a pin drill, as shown, and recess three of the holes in both crank flange and flywheel. A useful way is to enlarge the holes to about in. larger than the bolt on each side, in. larger in all, and about 4in. deep in flange and flywheel. Collars to fit the enlargements should then be made a good fit in the holes, taking care that their length is slightly less than •the depth of the combined recesses, so that they allow the flange of the crank to meet the face of the flywheel. The holes through these face keys should be reamered so that the new bolts can be made a good fit.