ROADSIDE AND GARAGE.
Page 29
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A Page for Drivers. Mechanics and Foremen.
Removing Stubborn Valve Caps,
The sender of the follouving communication has been awarded the extra payment of 6s. this week. .
[2,347] " H.F.R." (Lewisham) writes: —" Recently we had a lorry in for overhaul, and my portion of the work was to take down and examine the engine. I commenced by removing the valve caps, and almost immediately got into trouble. Six of them came away all right, but the other tw I could not remove by any known expedient. I soaked them in paraffin, tapped them, punched them, heated them with the blow-lamp, broke three box spanners on them, and finally heated them in a brazing hearth; all to no purpose. The foreman of the shop could suggest no other means, and finally gave me a free handto do as I liked, provided I did not break the cylinders.
" I decided to sacrifice the caps themselves, and commenced by dressing off the smali hexagon heads, which, by this time, were not much use for the purpose for which they were originally intended, thus leaving the top of the valve caps quite plain except for the sparking plug hole in the centre. I then selected a drill of such a size that it would bore a hole which would be just short of cutting into the threads, on the one hand, of the sparking plug hole, and on the other hand of the outside of the cap itself. With this I found that I could conveniently drill five holes round the cap, which I did. I then drove a sharp-pointed chisel from the sparking ping hole into each of these drilled holes, thus splitting the cap into five pieces, which could easily be removed. Having once decided to remove the caps in this fashion,-.t took me only 11hours to complete the jeb in connection with two of them, whereas
two days had been expended in the efforts to which I have previously referred."
Another Solution to the Ford Problem.
"Let Welt 4Ione.".
• [2,348] " MM!' (Kensington) writes:
'I have read with considerable interest the various suggestions as to the source of trouble in connection with the over-oiled Ford, concerning which a Blackburn reader asked for advice. Most of them were quite practicable and useful, but, to my mind, quite unnecessary. To start with, no one would purchase a new Ford which smoked badly, and surely one which gave trouble from overoiling would indicate that such was likely to be the case by copious quantities of smoke issuing from the exhaust pipe. Furthermore, no respectable Ford agent, would sell a vehicle in that condition. The trouble is certainly not due to slack pistons, as I have myself dismantled Ford engines, the pistons of which have had from .012 in. to .015 in. of play, yet none of these engines gave trouble of the kind indicated. On one occasion tho cylinders were found to be badly worn; they were larger at the top than at the bottom. Instructions were, therefore, given for them to be bored out and new .pistons fitted. On .starting up this engine, smoking. commenced and trouble was at once' experienced with
oily plugs. I dismathled 'the pistons, but could find no cause of the trouble. I had the lower portioniturned down a little, so far as the bottom ringlastill without curing it, and-the only remedy I could find was to let the engine run until it ceased to be troublesome.
"My present practice with Ford engines is never to touch the pistons, even if they have as much as .010 in. to .012 in. play ; I simply fit new rings and carry on, and I can assure readers that if they will do the same they will find the pulling power of the engine as much as ever. I must admit that I am still wondering what is the cause of this excessive smoke, but .1 am certainly not going to experiment any "more—it 'merely means expense. So long as the' engine is not smoking:if the user 'takes care -that his oil level is aIways'right, he will find that the best thing to In with the Ford is to Let well alone.' "
Repairing an Exhaust Manifold r2,3491 `` H.M." (West Bromwich) writes :—" A short time ago we had a well-known make of light van in for over haul, and amongst those parts requiring attention was the exhaust manifold, one flange of which was broken. This, as it happens, is a frequent source of trouble, particularly in the case of engines in which the cylinders are cast in two' or more blocks, as rarely, does it happen 'that the flanges all bed evenly on the facings on the cylinder. The consequence is that one flange or other will, when the engine is in use, commence to blow. A spanner is at once applied to the nuts which retain the offending flange, and frequently enough the result is a breakage.
"In the particular case to which I am referring the trouble was more likely to be encountered owing to the fact that the
flanges themselves were only 13.a in. thick. My particular object in writing this letter, -however, is to demonstrate the best method of effecting a repair to -exhaust pipes broken in this manner. It can, of course, be effected by welding, and the job takes only a few minutes, provided the casting is properly erected prior to commencing the work. In this case I procured a piece of it in. by -lin, flat bar and drilled four holes to correspond to those on the flanges, as shown on the accompanying sketch, in which A indicates the manifold, B the piece of flat bar, arid a line the fracture. Three flanges were bolted to the bar, and -the broken piece was tapped and held in place by means of the setscrew, thus leaving sufficient space to enable' the welding torch to be freely manipulated. After the outside had been welded the bar was removed and the inside treated
in the same way. After welding the flange only required a little dressing off with the emery wheel and the work was complete."
Lamps Alight.
• On Saturday, January 28th, 'light your lamps at 5.9 in London, 5.0 in Newcastle, 5.1.3 in Birmingham, 5.3 in Edinburgh, 5.13 in Liverpool, 5.19 in Bristol, and 5.56 in Dublin.