1960 morris, whitworth or AF?

[davidmayo]

i have a 1960 2 door but it has been sat outside for quite a few years and i have now decided to restore it. but alot of the nuts and bolts have corroded and are now obviously a bit smaller than originally so none of my spanners or sockets neither AF or whitworth fit very well and i am being forced to grind off the ones that are so tight that the spanner slips
so i was just wandering whether they would have originally been AF or whitworth?

thanks, david

[MoggyTech]

Honestly, if your Minor is anything like my 1968 Traveller, there will be a fair old mixture of nut and bolt sizes. The majority should be BSF. During my last tidy up resto, I fitted zinc plated metric to most items. Makes spanner selection a tad easier now

[bigginger]

The real answer is 'depends' Harry Mango is the 'what size is it really' guru, but even he would need to know which one...

[millerman]

Ageed, use metric nut & bolts where ever possible!

[HarryMango]

Ageed, use metric nut & bolts where ever possible!

Anyone who does this should be taken out and shot


To answer Davids question - your car would have been a mixture of UNF (AF) & BSF threads; The majority of the body & suspension being BSF & the Engine/gearbox UNF - Trim fixings would have been BA.

Rog

[davidmayo]

thanks guys, i do think that replacing fixings with metric is a very good idea and that is what i will start doing,.

i curretly have my morris proped up on its side on top of an old matress in the yard and replacing all the rotted bits in the chassis. but i was getting a little angry with it last night as i was trying my best to get an engine mount off whilst its still on its side because i needed to weld a piece of metal undernieth it but i couldnt get it off because none of my spanners would fit the bolts and one of the bolts i couldnt grind off because the back of tie bar is in the way. this resulted in me gassing the bolts off and burning the rubber bushes on the end of the tie bar which i now will need to replace, thats a bit of a design fault if you ask me.

[bigginger]

Hmmmm - 'fraid I agree with Roger over this, though I do have to say that I HAVE used the occasional metric myself...

[bmcecosse]

You would be needing new suspension bushes anyway - so nothing lost there!

[chickenjohn]

Only use metric out of desperation. Its enough to have Bsf, unf and BA on the car without adding some horrid metric nuts and bolts to the mix. What about the captive nuts, are you going to replace all those with metric???

[millerman]

Use metric where POSSIBLE. It appears to me that metric size nuts and bolts are much easier to source when buying from local trade outlets.

[bmcecosse]

Of course they are - but problem is - they may be loose bolts in holes designed to be snug fit for imperial bolts! Better to stick to original spec where suspension loads etc are involved - if it's to fix the AA badge on - use anything you like !

[bigginger]

Use metric where POSSIBLE. It appears to me that metric size nuts and bolts are much easier to source when buying from local trade outlets.

I'd guess you're on a hiding to nothing over this one ;)

[millerman]

But I like supporting local traders!

[bigginger]

and irritating anyone who owns the car after you ;)

[millerman]

Big G, I am surprised if you are not able to select the correct spanner by sight whether it be AF, whit or metric, although it does help to keep each size separate in your tool box. You should see the fitters with their Snap on roll cabs for good tool storage!

Cheers

[bigginger]

?????? Can and do. pretty much, and have separate boxes for them. Still can't really see the point of confusing things further though

[chickenjohn]

and irritating anyone who owns the car after you ;)

Absolutely! I have to admit I let a few metric on my Traveller, but only because I was desperate to get him back on the road, there are some 10mm head M5 nuts and bolts at the bottom of the front panel and holding the sill finishers on but those are relatively easy to change for the proper BSF items in time (will do to finish off a small order to get the cheaper postage).

As for supporting small busineses, I'm all for that and that is where you are most likely to find BSF and AF/UNF sized fixings still being stocked, a few years ago my local hardware store has some 2BA nuts!

[IaininTenbury]

Absolutely. Nothing worse than struggling with a car where someones fitted a range of metric fasteners in the past... Just changed a pair of back wings where a PO had removed all the captives and put long metric nuts and bolts in. Was a two person job to get those out, and a one person job to weld in some nice 5/16" bsf captives so it could be done properly...

Btw, BSF is a slightly coarser thread than metric fine and in my experience seize up less readily than metric.

Confession time: I have used M6 nuts and bolts to hold sill finishers on, when I've not had any 1/4bsf in stock, but I regard nuts and bolts in that location as disposable - far easier to remove with a grinder than a spanner once they've been on a year or two...

[chickenjohn]

Good man! Yes, I think BSF is better than metric too.

I squirt waxoyl/dinitrol on the sill finisher nuts bolts and they are still good two years after the resto.

[MoggyTech]

Ageed, use metric nut & bolts where ever possible!

Anyone who does this should be taken out and shot

Rog

Eeeek, can I have a blindfold please