DICTIONARY OF AUTOMOTIVE TERMS - "Ad"


Ad:
See:
classified ad
Adapter: (Also spelled "adaptor")
  1. A device used to connect two different types or sizes of electrical terminals
  2. A connector which links two items usually of dissimilar structure or size.
  3. A bracket on disc brakes on which the caliper mounts, or slides or floats. Bolted to the spindle or steering knuckle, or the rear axle or control arm.

Also See:
bit adapter
bit adapter
caliper mounting bracket
carburetor adapter
engine adapter
increasing adapter
ratchet adapter
reducing adapter
transmission adapter
wheel adapter
Adapter plate: (Also spelled "adaptor plate")
A plate which is placed between two different parts in order to link them.
Also See:
transfer plate
Adaptor:
See
adapter
Adaptor carburetor:
A device attached to a gasoline carburetor which permits an internal combustion engine to run either on gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LP gas).
A/D converter:
Circuitry to convert analog information into numeric form for use in a digital computer
Additive:
A substance (liquid or powder) which is added to gasoline or oil and is intended to improve the characteristics of the original product.
Also See:
anti-knock additive
fuel additive
oil additive
Add-on:
An accessory.
ADEFA:
Acronym for "Asociacion de Fabricas de Automotores" (Argentina).
ADF:
Acronym for automatic direction finding.
Adhere:
To stick or be glued to something.
Adherend:
  1. Each surface that is to stick to another
  2. A material which is stuck together by an adhesive.
Adhesion:
  1. The force which causes two surfaces to stick together
  2. The sticking together of surfaces in contact with each other
  3. The bonding of materials with adhesives (glues, cements, binders, etc), in which the intermolecular forces between adhesive and adherend provide the bonds.
  4. The sticking together of two metals as a result of compressing them together
  5. The sticking together of two dissimilar metals because of electrical transference of electrons.
    Also see
    cold welding
  6. The ability of paint, primer, or glue to stick to the surface to which it is applied.
  7. The ability of a tire to grip the surface of the road.
  8. Mutual forces between two magnetic bodies linked by magnetic flux, or between two charged non-conducting bodies which keeps them in contact
  9. Intermolecular forces which hold matter together, particularly closely contiguous surfaces of neighboring media, e.g., liquid in contact with a solid.

Also See:
intercoat adhesion failure
limits of adhesion
Adhesion failure:
See:
intercoat adhesion failure
Adhesive:
  1. A substance (like glue) that is used to join two substances. An adhesive must bond both mating surfaces through specific adhesion (molecular attraction), through mechanical anchoring (by flowing into holes in porous surfaces), or through fusion (partial solution of both surfaces in the adhesive or its solvent vehicle). Various descriptive adjectives are used with the term adhesive to indicate types, such as:
    a. physical form
    Liquid adhesive, film adhesive, etc.
    b. composition
    Resin adhesive, rubber adhesive, silicone based, mastic, etc.
    c. end use
    Metal-to-metal adhesive, plastic adhesive, rubber adhesive
    d. application
    Sprayable adhesive, hot melt adhesive, etc.
  2. Agent for joining materials by adhesion, usually polymeric material. May be based on thermoplastic resin (e.g., polystyrene cement) or thermoset (e.g., epoxy resin). Viscosity is important for gap filling (high, as in epoxies) or surface penetration (low, as in cyano-acrylates). Also called binder, cement, or glue

Also See:
automotive adhesive
air drying adhesives
impact adhesive
separate-application adhesive
Adhesive film:
A thin layer of dried adhesive.
Adhesive tape:
A tape with a sticky substance on one side. It usually comes in a roll of various widths. Sometimes used to insulate electrical wires (e.g., electrical tape) or to wrap a larger object (e.g., duct tape). Often the non-sticky side is shiny (but not always) to distinguish it from the sticky side.
Adhesive weight:
Lead wheel weights which have a sticky backing. It comes in strips and is applied to a wheel rim to balance a wheel. Also called tape weight..
Adiabatic:
A property of being able to maintain heat evenly. It does not gain any heat or lose it.
Also See:
thermal efficiency
Adiabatic change:
Without changing the temperature of an enclosure or its surroundings, there is a change in the volume and pressure of the contents of the enclosure.
Adiabatic compression:
Compressing refrigerant gas without removing or adding heat.
Adiabatic efficiency:
The ratio of that work required to compress a gas adiabatically to the work actually done by the compressor piston or impeller.
Adiabatic engine:
An engine which is very efficient in transferring combustion heat to those parts of the engine which are being cooled by the flow of anti-freeze coolant -- thus maintaining an even temperature of the engine. In this way the engine is warm enough for efficient running and it does not overheat.
Adjust:
The action of putting something into its proper alignment or position. It may involve one component (e.g., He adjusted the gasket to fit properly.) or a series of components (e.g., He adjusted the poor idle -- might mean he set the ignition timing, adjusted the carburetor screws, changed the choke setting, cleaned or replaced the spark plugs, etc.)
Also See:
tweak
Adjustable:
A characteristic of something that can be changed, removed, or give different properties.
Also see
height adjustable steering column
Adjustable bottom bracket:
  1. A component of a bicycle through which the crank fits. It has two bearing cups on either side. One cup is fixed in place while the other is removable or adjustable.
  2. This is the older type of bottom bracket before sealed cartridge bottom brackets became prevalent. The adjustable bottom bracket requires fixed and adjustable cup tools to properly tension the bearings. The bearings are not sealed, but they're easily accessible for cleaning and lubrication.
Adjustable cup:
The left-hand cup in a bottom bracket of a bicycle, used in adjusting the bottom bracket bearings and removed during bottom bracket overhaul. The other cup is the fixed cup.
Adjustable off-idle air bleed:
Some emissions-era Rochester carburetors have a separate air passage to bleed air past an adjustment screw into the idle system. This screw is preset by the factory to produce precise off-idle air/fuel mixture ratios to meet emission-control requirements.
Adjustable part throttle:
(APT) a supplementary circuit on some carburetors that can be adjusted to control part-throttle mixtures more accurately than a fixed orifice. The APT detours around the main jet, going directly from the float bowl to the discharge nozzle feed well.
Adjustable-pitch propeller:
See:
propeller
Adjustable-port proportioning valve:
Air and fuel valves for oil or gas burners, motor operated in unison by automatic temperature-control equipment.
Adjustable rocker arm:
A type of rocker arm with an adjusting nut that can be tightened or loosened to adjust valve lash.
Adjustable shock:
See:
adjustable shocks
Adjustable shock absorbers:
Shocks with adjustable jounce and rebound characteristics can be stiffened to compensate for wear or to fine tune a suspension for a particular application such as rough roads, heavy loads, or racing.
Adjustable shocks:
adjustable shock absorber

Click to supersize
Adjustable shock absorber

A type of Shock absorber which can compensate for varying needs of stiffness or softness. Manual types (especially on motorcycles) require that you physically make the adjustment from one level to another by rotating securing rings. Automatic types are controlled by a computer as it senses particular changes in road condition.
Adjustable spanner:
British term for adjustable wrench.
Adjustable steering:
See:
height adjustable steering column
Adjustable steering column:
See:
height adjustable steering column
Adjustable variable exhaust port:
A device used on two-stroke engines which automatically alters or varies the exhaust port size.
Adjustable wrench:
A crescent wrench or pipe wrench. A tool which has a fixed jaw and a movable jaw which is controlled by a spiral gear. It is used to install or remove bolts and nuts of various sizes. The wrench itself comes in a variety of lengths and jaw sizes. A crescent wrench has smooth jaws while a pipe wrench has serrated jaws. British term is "adjustable spanner."
Adjusted:
See:
factory adjusted
Adjuster:
A device for moving something into the correct position or into a different position such as a seat adjuster.
Also See:
automatic adjuster
automatic wear adjuster
brake adjuster
horizontal adjuster
jet adjuster
ride-height adjuster
Adjuster cam:
A device for moving the shoes on drum brakes closer to the drum itself so that there is less travel when the brakes are applied.
Adjuster mechanism:
A mechanism used with drum brakes that maintains the proper lining clearance as wear takes place.
Adjusting:
See
electrode adjusting tool
headlight adjusting screw
self-adjusting
Adjusting cams:
Eccentric bolts that adjust the shoe-to-drum clearance. Located in the backing plate of drum brakes, the cam positions the shoe(s) closer to the drum. Some adjust automatically and some manually.
Adjusting gage:
See:
adjusting gauge
Adjusting gauge:
A tool used to determine the small distance between two parts so that they can be brought within specifications.
Adjusting screw:
A small screw usually found on carburetors, brakes, or headlights which change the way something operates, such as increasing or decreasing the amount of fuel entering the engine; or changing the idle speed; or tightening up the brakes; or changing the setting on rocker arms; or the level of the headlights.
Also see
headlight adjusting screw
tappet adjusting screw
valve adjusting screw
Adjusting shim:
A thin washer or plate which reduces or increases the clearance between two components (depending upon where they are placed). While some valves are adjusted by screws on the rocker arm, others are set by inserting a shim to make the same adjustment.
Adjusting sleeve:
A small threaded cylinder on the end of the tie rod which shortens or lengthens the rod to make changes in the toe-in and toe-out.
Adjusting spanner:
See:
brake adjusting spanner
Adjusting tool:
See:
brake adjusting tool
electrode adjusting tool
Adjusting wrench:
See:
brake adjusting wrench
Adjustment:
  1. Changing or modifying the position or alignment of two components.
  2. The distance of travel that a component has.

Also See:
fore and aft adjustment
idle mixture adjustment screw
idle speed adjustment
Adjustment screw:
See:
idle mixture adjustment screw
Adler:
The brand name of a vehicle. With required application the 1925-48 models are classic cars.
Admission:
The point in the working cycles of a steam or internal-combustion engine at which the intake valve allows entry of the working fluid into the cylinder.
A-dos:
See
dos-a-dos
A-drier:
See:
a-dryer
A-dryer:
A paint dryer which has the heating elements below the paint drying line.
ADS:
  1. Acronym for "Association of Diesel Specialists."
  2. Acronym for air data system
Adsorbent:
Substance with the property to hold molecules of fluids without causing a chemical or physical change.
Adsorption:
The bonding that takes place when a gas or vapor comes into contact with a solid. The opposite is desorption.
Adsorption canister:
See:
activated carbon canister
Advance:
  1. The act of changing the ignition timing so that the spark occurs earlier in the cycle. The opposite is retard.
  2. It may refer to the device which makes this adjustment.
  3. The length of railway track beyond a signal which is covered by that signal

Also See:
angle of advance
automatic advance
centrifugal advance
electronic spark advance
ignition advance
mechanical advance
ported vacuum advance
spark advance
speed control vacuum advance
vacuum advance
Advance capsule:
See:
vacuum advance
Advance curve:
As the speed of the engine increases the ignition advance also increases. On paper, a pattern is drawn as a curve to represent this relationship.
Advanced:
  1. A condition in which something occurs early.
  2. A product which is on the cutting edge of technology and shows the latest in new ideas and concepts.
Advanced rim taper:
A rim where both bead seats are tapered 5°.
Advance mechanism:
See:
vacuum advance mechanism
Advance spring:

Distributor: Advance Spring

Located in the distributor, one of two small springs which pulls the advance weight back as the engine slows down.
Advance unit:
See:
vacuum advance unit
Advance weight:

Distributor: Advance Weight

One of two small weights located in a centrifugal advance assembly of a distributor.
Advertising:
A colloquial term for a police car with its emergency lights flashing.



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