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Metric Bolts in a Mini
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Author:  1275LS [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Metric Bolts in a Mini
Hi all.

I know my car is a late one, built in 1978 - but even I know all the bolts are going to be imperial.

I'm getting pretty sick of every time I am working on the car and I find yet another bolt that a previous owner has stuck a metric bolt in.

I'l be happily reassembling something and one won't go in. So I have a close look and bugger me the thread is too coarse, I look at the head and its a @$%^#@$%^##$ metric bolt. The thing that gets me is that some of them are so tight I think, they had to use a ratchet gun to get the buggers in.

I'm getting a pretty good collection now of the UNF packets you can pick up for $4.00 at super cheap. It isn't even like they are hard to get.

I've added the poll at the top for a laugh. Let me know if I can add a category :wink:

End of rant.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, either with your m ini's or families or better still - both! :D
Author:  drmini in aust [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
What gets my goat is my local fastener shop N***** Bolt****** carries bugger all UNF bolts. Nobody uses them any more, the world is all Metric he says. :twisted:
Well, he is only in his 20s... probably drives a ToyoMazNissHyunKia :roll:

[edit] I noticed today, it's a Camry... :!:
Author:  brett [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
I found a real good Nut and bolt shop in Dalby, they stock UNF in Zinc !! I have bought a fair few!
Author:  Harley [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
It doesn't bother me, but then I'm young enough to understand the whole fangled metric system. :D
Basically on my car suspension, bodywork and running gear is imperial, and the rover AC, EFI, and interior parts are metric.
Author:  GT mowog [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
I know your pain, but there is one worse.

Some cars made around 1980 and a few years after that were part Imperial and Part Metric.

Point in Case - The Austin Metro - most of the body and suspension has Metric Fasteners, but the Engine and Gearbox (basically a mini unit) was still Imperial, as was parts on the suspension (ball joints and CV nuts).

When I bought that car, I had to go out and buy a set of metric spanners and sockets - oh and some funny inhex things holding the seats down, which (at that time) took a couple of years to find out they were torx head - no one out here had seen them before!

I think too the Holden VN Commodore was similar.
Author:  Harley [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:18 pm ]
Post subject: 
I have torx bits too, I forgot. But in most cases I swapped them for metric button heads.
Annoying little fasteners they are.
Author:  Wombat [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:28 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've found Noosa has a big Nut and Bolt place that I didn't know was even there - Figure seeing they had a 5/8"UNF grub screw they will have practically anything.
Author:  Irish Yobbo [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
Oh, don't get me started...

The previous owner of my mini, while he kept it in good running order, was keen on the quick fixes (and some of them were a little dodgy).

He gave me a spare radiator with a 'pin-hole' in it. I later found that the radiator was being held in with self-tapping screws. Coincidence?
Author:  Timbo [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
The vehicles in my garage have something like seven different thread standards, just for nuts and bolts. I HATE it when some useless lazy PO has substituted something that he thinks is near enough, probably because thats all he had in the rusty biscuit tin he keeps all his old bolts in. It drives me bonkers!

Tim
Author:  Mick [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
I HATE mixed bolts, really poor engineering practice, and poor self discipline.
Author:  Tombo [ Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:45 pm ]
Post subject: 
I agree it's a bit annoying finding a mish mash of bolts,

However, with all the time i have spent working on both metric and imperial bolted cars i find it easy to look at a thread and tell if it's one or the other, so i end up putting the right stuff back.
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