Evening Star Newspaper, June 1, 1924, Page 62

ADJUSTMENT ADVICE FOR AUTO OWNERS Expert Urges Tourists to Overhaul Ignition System Before Starting Trip. INSPECT PLUGS, HE SAYS. Points Should Be Set With Feeler Gauge, He Adds. The ignition system, including the spark plugs and generator, and the cooling system should be gone over hefore the tourist starts on cros country travels. The wrong adju ment of breaker points or spark plug points or the failure of the waterand alr cooling systems will be the source of continuey aggravation during a long summer's trip, according to G. Clark Mather, chief englneer, Paige- Detroit Motor Car Compa All ignition systems must have the breaker points in the distributor: cleaned, There ertain gap clear- ance for every ignition system which must be mmintained if_satisfactors 1. If the points ny make of mo W too wide on 1 affect th formance as well are set too clos speed performance oints are more will require more frequent New Spark recomiuende mak an p lugs Urged. almost univer- engine overhaul s be installed set with a fe Nt setting var ) moto comipany._the 022 to i is in new 1t the high-speed performance will not bo as good, and if they are set too close the low-speed and idle perform- anee will suffer The oldtime advice was that spark plug points should be set with a thin dime. The public su learned by now how ridiculous that advice K There i< really no data avail- on how thick a thin dime is therefore, it will p Uin a set of able and, owners 1o in gauges Should Watch Generator If the reader is driving a It battery system the output the generator should be carefully checked, preferably with a portable ammeter and, if the maximum out- put of the gencrator is over 1 amperes, it should be reduced to 12-ampere maximuni. A greater rate results in not only boiling the water out of the battery, but is also hard on_the plates of the batte Other evil resalts are the burning £ Jamp bulb. pitting of distributor points. The battery, of cou should checked at a service stution to that the electro-lite of the rect density and that there is sufli- clent liquid tu proper or the plates. Battery tormi inual- corrode yish., summy be removed brush and terminals with frequent and the cor- Al il with -a it the itself. | ve | ew car starts giving the world scems sad and drear.just think of the fellow who bought your old ome. Buying a Used Car? So many motorists have picked lemons from the used car mart that too many people forget how the wise buyers select the good ones. First of all there is the matter of finding out who owned the car. There are enough machines in the world, of all sizes. types and makes, to mako it possible for every used car buyer to know who previously owned the car he is interested in and to reject all offerings that are of doubtful origin. The next question is, “Why did the former owner part with this wonder- ful car?’ _There is always a reason. And that ‘reason must be carefully nalyzed. The argument that the owner wanted a closed car is sadly overworked, but it {s often true. The way to find out is to look up the {owner and see if he's running a closed car. Many people get discouraged with their cars because they are unable to find out exactly what gives them trouble. . They may not Know that the best mechanic is always the cheapes(. and they may labor under the delusion that a littie trouble is |always a sign of a Niagara of it. | Some people take a dislike to a car |for as foolish a reason as others like it. Don't be afraid of the facts. any reliable dealer will tell You. You can always tell more about what a car {is and will be by what it has been | and how it I been treated than by | taking some sort of conventional | demonstration and guessing at it | Reliable automobile men do not take |in used cars on somebody's say so. !nor do they aim to sell their stock | on pure speculation. You can be just | a5 businesslike in your buying. The Old Mechanic Says: “One of the hardest jobs 1 have s fundol ar owners’ amateur work. {1t taki as much time as it would if they'd omly bring in their machine$ when the trouble first starts. 1've a lot of respect for the | motorist who can tinker with his car, but most motorists seem to ‘fix’ the car instead of th' trouble. “a common mistake is to get too energetic with a socket wrench, The owner forgets how much more lever- age he gets with this sort of wrench land the first thing he knows he's sheared off the heads of a few bolts. This means a lot of extra work in gettin® off his chest whatever it was |he was tacklin’ in the first place. 1A\hd he's got to come to me even- | tually. “Some motorists can't seem to clean spark plugs without gettin’ the igni- |tion wires crossed. If they’'s clean one plug at a time they'd have only one wire disconnected at a time. | Couldn’t possibly make a mistake | The Sunday Motorist An Abridged Magazine for Car Owners. EDITED BY WILLIAM ULLMAN. hookM' ‘em up again. the use of tellin' ‘em this? It re- quired a half hour's labor removin’ the upper water hosc and other stuff on top of the engine in order to un- screw_two of the plugs of one chap's car. He had been givin' each plug a fresh turn each day, and you'd think he was plannin' to keep the plugs screwed in forever. “Crossed threads make a lot of work for mo and expense for owiers Even ou rim lugs_they come around here for advice. Strippin’ threads all the time just becauge they won't take v and use a littlo horse sens put a few drops of ofl on the ds of a rim bolt before I start turnin’ down the lug. Vaseline will_do Now I'm workin' on a_job whers the owner made trouble for himseclf by mot puttin’ in a new gasket when replacin’ the cylinder head after grindin’ in the valves. Cracked the old one. Course it leaked. Penny wise and pound foollsh I call 1t.” No Excuse for It. Have you discovered how Iittle it costs to replace many of the parts on the car that are giving trouble? It vou haven't, the chances are that you are still making apologies for the worn and broken things about the car and are still, ignorant of the pleasure of having your car ship-shape. For $25 it is possible on majority of cars {0 buy enough new parts to bright them up considerably, which is a very small sum compared to what ma- Jjority of owners lose when they trade in because they have let the car go to seed. Nothing is more unsatisfactory in a car than door catches that do not work properly. Peopls will go for months with something on this order and never know that for 86 cents or therenbouts and a half hour's time they could put the door in order. Keep These in Mind. But what's The so-called pep in lots of motors is nothing but a too limber acceler: tor. When an accelerator is too sen- sitive, as is the case when no provi- on {s made for steadying the foot, it's a very simple matter to make the engine jump. You could do the same with any motor by suddenly pulling the hand control all the way down, but you wouldn't. Tapping the muffler now and again helps to dislodge some of.the carbon | from its inner sides which Is partially blown out by racing the engine just a little. . A little ofl on the carburetor con- trols will do much to xave wear and consequent alr leaks. This applies to the shaft of the throttle valve, the rods or plungers for the auxiliary air or gas valve and to the accelerator and hund throttle control assembly. Theso parts frequently appear to be lubricated merely because they are covered with gasoline or Kkerosens from the carburetor, which is just another way of saving they are sadly in need of real lubrication. ‘Worth Remembering. er drive along the r an interurban street car and another motor car coming at you, your share of the road running between the two? The situation is a trifle perplexing, for it seems as though both vehicles were coming down upon you for ce tain destruction. In a situation of this sort always gauge your clearance Dby the street car since it i on rails and therefore dependable. 1f you gauge your clearance by the motor car you may find that its driver is running you off the road and too close to the sireet car. Satisfaction in polishing the car is largely a matter of willingness to try agaln when the first treatment falls to produce results. When a mo- torist gets around to trying a new polish for his car it usually means that he has long passed the day when the car should have been polished. He has got to give it several applications before he can catch up. -Always keep the horn motor, but- ton and connections in such condition that the horn is sensitive to the briefest touch ' of the button. TIn an emergency one haslittle time to sound a warning, and whatever brief touch of the button is given must produce immediate results. Clean the commu- tator of the horn motor, oil its b ings and sce that the brushes clean. are Two Parking Pointers. Whenever possible park the car tacing downhill. In event of battery or starter trouble the engine can then be cranked by coasting in gear. Greater speed and faster pick-up are immediately noticeable if a new set of Champion spark plugs are installed. You will know genuine Cham- pions by the double- ribbed sillimanite core. Champion X is 60 cents. Blue Box 75 cents. Champion Spark Plug Co. Tolede, Ohie CHAMPION oo Botos Bagrar \ NE_ 1, Sometimes there's a reason why parking spaces are abundant on cer- tain streots. Better consider it. It's Automobile Fever. Poets who once lolled on mossy banks of babbling brooks, pen in hand and heart in Arcady, are rapid- ly going by the boards. No wonder! Every spring day now brings its army of poets of activity to dung smart looking sport models before the giddy eyes of listless t.m.b.'s. Phone bells jingle the day long, tempting one and all te drep dutics and see nature in all her Intriguing highways and repainted road signs that lead to elsewhere. Spring has a new meaning, a snap and bingo that rudely replaces the llatless conven- tio Yes, ‘tis true 'tis gpring, but utomobile fever” one has nowa- It makes a difference. Try to gross a busy street and ses for vour- self. e Parlor, Bedroom and Car. The enormous increase in the num- ber of small apartments is interprot- ed to mean that the average man fig- ures his car as a lving room. Ry dispensing with the formal room for recreation he is able to motor with- out financial burden. In summer the car frequently serves as pantry, Bungalows 1924—PART 3. while at any season of the year it is the simplest ineans of conducting the family to the dining room, which is so versatile as to be anything from a “gne-arm” to the Ritz, Times have changed! She's Some Industry! When automobile production is mentloned in terms of an annual out- put of 4.000,000 cars there is cau enough for wonderment, but when it is considered that every car hus four wheels and hubs -it_is even more astounding to consider the production of the parts manufacturers, Take rim lugs. lixclude 2,000,000 Fords as not having demountable rims, and it s seen that if there are an average of six 1ugs to a wheel the 1923 production of lugs could not have been less than 48,000,000 An average of flve spark plugs shows a production of 20,000,000, whilo an equal number of tires had to be made to meet thls tremendous output of cars, 20,000,800 tubes, dust caps and valve insides. More Truth Than Gas. There {s something very similar in the causes of the divorce and used- car problems. of singing Instead ‘If 1t Only $5 Down—$7 Per Month Buys an Attractive GARAGE *UHESE ARE OUR LOWEST TERMS— loss, in fact, then most folks are pay- ing right now for RENT. Wise folks are BUYING THEIR OWN— the payments as rent each month appeal to everyone. OUR UNUSUAL Pl OF FINANCE_sllows us to offer these EXCEP- TIONALLY LOW TERMS, Garages TPASHINGION CONSTRUCTION CO. CONTINENTAL TRUST BLDG. PHONE MAIN 7984 » T A R ) Looked the Same in the Morning,” some motorists make it a point to dust off the car before closing the garage doors for the night Motorists who trust steering mechanisn rb as protectio the car coast away a hill _would profit mind the old saying, * turn.” to po in toward the gainst having | n parking on | Keeping I | he worm will | 2 A Manhattan cocktail for ists has just been discoverc sists of two parts zipp Broadway traffic, o motor- | It con- one part | part bewilder- ting the ' S ment and gencrous daslies of twin ling theater entrance scatter brained pedestrians, sluggish brakes and drizzling Consrigit, D AND RETAV RIMS FOR ALL CARS SERVICE TIRE CO. 1336 14th W The reason many Buick streets is because their formance and have been prov you Cars see on S0 the per- dependability en by a record of more than twenty vears of progress. We Suggest That You Order That Buick Now Terms may be arranged so that can instead payments incone be made out of of principal STANLEY H. HORNER Retail Dealer 1015 14th Street Main 5296 vaseline. an Belt Should Be Tight. In preparing the coolin te | radiator core and all other passages should be flushed out and thoroughly cleaned. Possibly the hose will need replacement, especially if the rubber has started to disintegrate from the use of anti-freezing solutions the previous winter. Most garages and car owners do not adjust the fan tension properly. Proper adjustment must be made for mountain driving. The motor should have the benefit of the air output of the fan. To gain this it is necessary that the fan elt be so tight that when the fan blades are grasped with the hand is impossible to turn the fan. This adjustment is estremely important in widi the motor up the long hard g and should be checked from time to time during the | trip if very much mountai f done. af some Tan belts lose their tension quickly Remember that tight enough for if_vou cun t your hands REVOCATION VOIDS PERMITS OF DRIVERS Bpecial Dispatcl to The Star. BALTIMORE. May 31.—Autono- | Billsts whose licenses have been re- voked are held liable for operation of thelr machines without a license if they refuse to surrender the license, even though they notice from the wtor commis- | stoner's office to turn in the licanses. Judge Frank, in passing on the ap- peal of Roy Gordon, who was sen-. tenced to thirty days in jail in the traffic court. pointed out that regard- less of whether a man actually re- celves official notice from the motor vehlcle commissioner's office to sur- render his license. he has no right to operate a machine under the old li- cense E. Austin Baughman, motor vehlcle commissioner. in commenting on the decision, suid: “Tha court's ruling is important to ug because we frequently have to deal with persons who refused to surren- der thair licenses after they have been Tevoked. Under this ruling, it does not make v difference whether the automobilist whose license has been revoked gets a registered letter from us or not, the revocation means that we literally take the license away from him. If the notice is sent to him to the address he gave us, then | it i3 supposed to reach him, and our responsibili for it ends. AUTOMOBILES OVERHAULED | Painting and Trimming Bodies Built to Order 24-Hour Service Central Auto Works and Garage Wm. Beuchert, Prop. 449-51 Eye St. N.W. » 0806 the fan is mountain drivi the fan blade car without themse Model 24-45, Five-Passenger 6-Cylinder Touring, $1,415 Delivered ~ A REAL MOTOR CAR FOR WASHINGTONIANS An automobile to render satisfaction in this community must have Power to climb the hills Brakes that guarantee safety Flexibility to creep along in traffic . Speed for the open road Comfort for the passengers Design beautiful in appearance. Buick meets these demands to such an extent that people say of it, “A real car.” We would appreciate the opportunity to have you ride in the model that you believe would best meet your requirements. Don’t hesitate to ask for a demonstration, or Drive it yourself and you’ll be won to Buick. For the moment our displays are fairly com- plete. How long we will be able to continue to make immediate delivery is difficult to say. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU SELECT YOUR BUICK NOW All Models Are Equipped With Four-Wheel Brakes Automobile Showrooms ‘ EMERSON & ORME 1620 M Street Franklin 3860 Home of Buick—Where Service I's Paramount Standard on all } Buick_ Models ‘ | receive vehicle Sl FOR LEASE 14th and Que Sts. (Northeast corner) BUICK MOTOR COMPANY WASHINGTON BRANCH Division-of General Motors Corporation Fourteenth and L Streets N.W. Telephone Franklin 4066 EMERSON & ORME, STANLEY H. HORNER 1620 M St. N.W. Phoné Frank. 3860 1015 14th St. N.W. Phone Main 5296 C. C. WATERS & SON, ROSSLYN MOTOR CO. Gaithersburg, Md. Rossiyn, Va. Phone Clarendon 460 FLETCHER MOTOR CO., OREM MOTOR CO. Alexandri Phone Alex. 379 Waldorf, Md 1601 14th St.—40-ft. fromt, 1605 14th St.—20x43 ft. 1607 14th St.—20x93 ft. Always Open You cant afford not to in- Never Closed vestigate these at once. [SHARNON & LUCHY) 713 14th St. Main 2345 Exclusive Agents