FORD VAN POINTERS.
Page 19
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By R. T. Nicholson (Author of "The Book of the Ford").
IKNOW OF no more comfortable going than is .to be got by driving a Ford along well-laid tram lines. Jar, rattle,. and vibration stop : greased lightning and velvet • are not•in it. And the. Ford rwheel-gauge fits the track to a nicety in most districts.
. . .
117.—Talking of Tram Lines. .
. But those said tram lines are too often deep-laid traps—especially when the lines themselves are laid -deep. Unless they lie flush with the surrounding road-way, you are really driving in ruts—ruts which it is not at all easy to leave when you want to do a bit of a swerve for the sake of passing; meeting, or avoiding traffic. Get in a rut, and there you are—stuck. it you twist your steering-wheel hard enough and far enough, you may get out, but when you do, you will make a sudden rush across the road at right angles— and that is not good in traffic.
Unless, thereforehe tram lines are well and truly laid A
, avoid them. And mark—it does not follow that, because they are well and truly laid at the Point where you first get on to them, they will continue to be 80 for all the rest of the way.
Particularly just now, tram lines are not to be trusted. The roads arc suffering from the long period of neglect due to war conditions, when there was no labour to make them up. Tram line ruts therefore are plentiful.
Particularly in wet weather—and more particularly in greasy weather—shun tram lines. You can skid on them worse and more easily than on any other road surface. Even wheu you do not skid, you can slide whenever you apply your brakes ; and it is not a comfortable feeling to find yourself butting into the back of something ahead, just because your wheels will not grip the slithery lines. And avoid train line points—places where lines join at an angle.Those angles can play mischief with tyres, by cutting them dead—at least, the tyres will be cut dead if often gashed by 'rushing the points.
.118.—Hot-air Pipe.
With the present low-grade fuel on sale, it is best to retain the, hot-air pipe from exhaust manifold to carburetter in position even in hot weather. In the good old days, when petrol was good, it was as well to remove this hot-air pipe in summer. Now, the Towgrade spirit vaporizes better when warmed up, and the hot-air pipe serves this purpose: (This pipe is, of course, of no use whatever for easy starting, since it does not get hot till the exhaust has begun to pass --which is not till the engine has been running for a few minutes.)
119.—Fuel Improving.
My impression is that our petrol is realty improving in quality. I say so because I noticed a marked increase in ,power a -week or two ago when I filled up with some new spirit.
120.--Painting Radiator Fins.
Do not japan or enamel your radiator fins. I know they look horrible when rusted,. and I know how easily they get rusted : I know too that they look very pretty when japanned black, but any such treatment hinders radiation, and tends to overheating. The fins ought to be kept scrupulously clean—brushed so with petrol when the radiator is cold. Then, if you-want. a nice dead black finish, use a paint lampblack mixed with methylated 'spirit. If you give the fins a light coat of this mixture occasionally, you will keep them good-looking, and assist radiation, for a dead-black coating helps it. Ordinary paint, japan, or enamel,
iS too thick and treacly : it is in "_blobs." You will find, that the lampblack-Methylated spirit mixture rubs off quite easily, and so -calls for rather frequent renewal : but if you mix just a trace of boiled oil With it, it will cling well, to the fins.
121.—Another Use for Old Inner Tubes.
A suitable length of an old' 30 in. by 3 in. inner tube will make quite a good water connection between radiator and engine.
122.—Using Up OldCommutator Wires.
When the cottimutator wires get filthily oily at the lower end, and so electrically leaky, turn them bottom upwards—that is to say, put the commutator terminals on to the low-tension binding-posts on dash, and the upper (dash) terminals on to the commutator binding-posts (seeing, of course, that you do not shuffle them). There is little tendency for electricity 'to leak at the dash end, because there is little metal there to short-circuit it, whereas, at the commutator end, there is metal everywhere.
123.—Oily Floors.
Occasionally scour the floor of your motor house, so as to remove the oil that is apt to soak it. IY possible, scrub-with hot water containing plenty of ordinary washing soda. If the oil lies about, it will get on to your tyres and perish them. It is a good plan to have shallow drip pans made, and place them, filled with sawdust or sand, under the lower transmission cover while the van is at rest. It is from the edge of the lower Over that most of the oil drips. You then keep the oil off the floor, and scouring will rarely be necessary.
124.—Water on Commutator Cover.
'Ware water on commutator cover. It can get there from a leaky radiator, or it can get there when you are hosing the van when washing it, Water at that point can throw your firing all out of timing, so that when you next turn the starting handle you-will get a backfire of the worst sort. One of the inost.puzzling cases of hard starting combined with backfiring arose in my own experience from this very cause. The reason is, of course, that the low-tension current gets conducted by the water to the wrong terminal on the commutator cover, se that the wrong cylinder fires— and it necessarily fires at the -wrong time—before its piston gets anywhere near the top of its travel. The piston is thus driven hard back—against your clanking.