Model A shops

[LeonardS]

Next you’ll want us to change to Chinese from English, because it works better for Chinese people…….aaahhh, no!

[bavArian]

Originally Posted by LeonardS

I’m quite sure that I’m fully awake! I also have all the metric tools, but I can look at a standard nut/bolt and tell if it’s 3/8”, 1/2”, 9/16”, etc. I can’t do that when I look at a metric nut/bolt……can you? It’s all trial and error with the metric crap.

Work with metric fasteners for a year and you won't have a problem with that.
You can't live in the past forever.

[LeonardS]

Originally Posted by bavArian

Work with metric fasteners for a year and you won't have a problem with that.
You can't live in the past forever.

This from a guy with a Ford Model A! I guess you can live in the past, forever!

[bavArian]

No, I don't have any kind of emotional attachment to the A. And I have 3 other cars that are way more modern than the A. The Ford is, for me, simply a good looking pastime. It could've been a Merc R129 as well. That was a close contender beside the A actually.


I'm just saying that most of the scientific and technological world has adopted the metric system. Imperial units are simply outdated by now.

[rotorwrench]

Yes were are hard headed here in the US. We are also relatively practical. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

The aircraft industry here in the US still uses the inch system and likely will for a long time to come. This is due to the complex series of standards that were developed for the aerospace industry. Home construction still uses 16 and 24 inch centers due to the manufacture of 4' X 8' and 4' X 12' standards for sheet rock and plywood. This isn't changing much either. I haven't used a yard stick in years but I do use my 4-foot and 8-foot aluminum rules as well as my framing square all the time.

I can use metric when I have to and have always maintained both imperial and metric hand tools. There are so many different size metric wrenches that I seldom ever use some of them. The ones I do use are very close to 3/8", 1/2", and 9/16" with smaller ones for aviation common fasteners but I think you can see my point. 10mm, 13mm, and 15mm seem to be the ones I use the most in metric.

[Brad in Germany]

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Originally Posted by rotorwrench

......

I can use metric when I have to and have always maintained both imperial and metric hand tools. There are so many different size metric wrenches that I seldom ever use some of them. .....

Very smart to have both sets of tools. I also maintain both imperial and metric tools. Here's how I've organized my wrenches:



Brad in Maryland

[Benson]

I bought two 1979 Chevy Malibus with 267 V8s and 350 THMs.


Both used SAE wrenches on mechanical units.


The company bought 300 as company cars.


As I remember some cars had 200 or 231 V6s and 200 THMs, those 200 THMs used Metric bolts.


In fact the oil pans on the transmission had "METRIC" stamped on them.


Most body bolts and nuts were METRIC.

Go figure...


Both were Janesville builds ... maybe the bodies were built in Canada!!


Those of us who ordered company cars when first offered got the 267 V8s and 350 THMs.


Then some bean counter said we could only order V6s because they got 2 miles per gallon more.


Every one of the V6s had the transmission rebuilt at least twice before they reached 60,000 miles. That sure saved alot money ... Heh?


The metric bolts did not make the 200's less reliable.


A friend who worked for AAMCO said that when they designed the 200's many plastic parts were used and that is why they were junk.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Yes we're hard headed here in the US. We are also relatively practical. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

Don't forget those that subscribe to, "If it ain't broke, keep fixing it till it is".
LOL..

[TomInCologne]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Yes were are hard headed here in the US. We are also relatively practical. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

<snip>

In that case our hobby should be Model T, not Model As... or a horse...

[Dino's A]

Originally Posted by slatgrille

I was a Technology (Industrial Arts) teacher for 28 years. First lessons were always how to measure using the English system. The Science teacher would always have the kids 'rib' me about teaching metrics instead. My response was to have them ask him how much he weighed, his pants size, and how far from school he lived.....

I guaranteed the kids the answers would be in lbs., inches, and miles (or feet) or else he had to look up the conversion!

Think our economy is bad now?....wait until the Metric system is mandated!

Craig

Hmmm..... So another member here that's also on G503.com!
Dino F.

[Terry, NJ]

Time to get rid of Metric! Time to go back to inches, feet and yards. It's too hard to covert as I get older. I use the 1 mm =.040 (1"= 25 mm) quick conversion too. And here's another, 1 Yd =11/10 = 1 meter. 1 yd 36", 10% 3.6" ! meter = 39.36" 3.6" or 10% of an yard larger. Hence 1 meter is 11/10 of a yard Long. It ain't perfect and I wouldn't use it for anything longer than two meters. But for quick estimates it works. Don't get me started on liquid measure! I fought that fight with Ivermectin a few months ago. Unfortunately, Bectin Dickinson refuses to make Hypos with anything but CCs on it. Give me ozs anytime .
Terry

[Bill G]

"But that's the way we've always done it."

[ursus]

Originally Posted by Synchro909

It should come as no surprise to anybody that we all feel most comfortable with what we grew up using. In this country when I was a kid, it was the "proper" imperial system. (The American imperial system is different - WHY?.) Then, in the 1960s, we converted to metric. That caused some people, especially the older ones some temporary difficulty but it wasn't long before everybody was comfortable with it. Nowadays, younger people - younger than in their 50s, can't believe we used such an awkward system. It makes no sense to them at all and I can see why.
My career was a Licensed Land Surveyor and when I started, we used to have to work from plans and land titles often a century old that were in links and chains - another almost metric system. In those days, we worked in feet and decimals of a foot. It takes me a second or two to convert a dimension from inches to decimals of a foot, even today - 50 years later. It has been many, many years now that we have all used metric and I can jump from links to feet to metres and back again like flicking a switch. The same goes for gallons and litres, degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius. I am quite at home with them all except some of the American version of imperial (because it was never used here).
Obviously, it is difficult to become proficient in another system when almost everybody around you is using something else. IMO, if there were a genuine attempt at change over there, people would adapt quickly and you'd be better off. We did and we are.

The Imperial system used in Britain was once subject to regional variations and this created problems at home and in the colonies especially as it allowed for all kinds of cheating by the British East India Company when dealing with trade from the colonies. At the time of the American Revolution the rebels in the United States established a customary standard for the Imperial system. The British later established a standard for their own Imperial system in 1825. They are similar in terminology but not in actual volumes, weights, and measurements.

When I took the exam for a pharmacist license 50 years ago, we had to know how to convert between American Customary, Apothecaries, Metric, and Troy measurement systems and do so from memory. How many minims are there in a fluid dram?

[nkaminar]

I am trying to loose some weight and get down to 12-1/4 stones. I just got back from a nice Model A tour. We drove between 40 and 55 leagues each day. I remembered to bring my 1/5 finger wrench in case I needed to change a spark plug.

[updraught]

Originally Posted by nkaminar

I am trying to loose some weight and get down to 12-1/4 stones. I just got back from a nice Model A tour. We drove between 40 and 55 leagues each day. I remembered to bring my 1/5 finger wrench in case I needed to change a spark plug.

Your speedo is in leagues?

I thought it would have been poles or furlongs.

[burner31]

Granma use metric all the time on varmints, trespassers and revenue agents...9mm

[slatgrille]

Yes Dino F., it's the g503 guy!

This thread is getting too funny....stones, leagues, fathoms....what was the original topic again?

Oh yeah....Model A shops! LOL.

[Dino's A]

Just too many passions in the car hobby. From WWII jeeps to Model A Fords!

[RandyinUtah]

I was surprised to learn that my 1959 Triumph TR3 made in England uses all USA standard nuts and bolts. Just a few tiny screws under the dash holding the instruments were not SAE but Whitworth.

[nkaminar]

The Zenith carburetor uses some metric threads. Why?