1/4'' Whitworth

Post by **chickenjohn** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:06 am

Recently changing the engine mount rubbers, I again came across the 1/4'' Whitworth nuts and bolts holding the engine towers to the tie plates.

These 1/4 Whit size also hold on the front wings to inner wings, seats to floor and door hinges to the A pillars.

Glad I have some Whitworth spanners and sockets!!, just enough- could do with more!!!

I found a place that sells a comprehensive set of whit spanners (open and ring), sockets, box spanners and even dies!! All good quality "new old stock".

Is there an easy to access list on-line of all the whit sizes on the minor??

Post by **Dominic** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:18 am

Would it be possible to have the contact details please?
Cheers, Dom

Post by **paulk** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:53 am

Would be interested in Details also.

All I can find locally are Rolson (Yuk)

or Britool (Yummy but too expensive

)

Post by **chickenjohn** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:16 am

I'll really have to wait till the tools arrive (and I've used them) before recomending the tool supplier!! Just in case the tools break the first time they are used!

However, the chap on the phone at this company was REALLY helpful and friendly and the upshot of or conversation was if I can get an accurate list of all the Whitworth and BA nut/bolt sizes on the Minor they will put together a Whitworth toolkit from their stocks specially tailored for the Minor!!

A great idea, if the quality and price of the kit are OK.

Post by **NZJLY** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:51 pm

Only trouble is most of the original nuts and bolts have been replaced

I have even come across the odd metric

and I hate to admit it I have used metric

Post by **Matt** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:58 pm

I have used all sort of weird and wonderful thread types for the little bits and bobs, but all the major stuff gets what was there before

same with my spridget

Post by **IslipMinor** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:33 pm

ChickenJohn,

Whitworth spanners fit 2 sizes of bolt/nut. In your example, 1/4" Whit (BSW), is also 5/16" BSF, and it is this size that should be fitted to the engine mounting towers. I would not like to think of 1/4" bolts being used here!!

Richard

Post by **Alec** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:32 am

Hello Richard,

I would be surprised to find any Whitworth bolts now that suit the spanner sizing, 5\16" Whitworth is now the same as 5\16" BSF but spanners are still marked as 1\4" Whitworth.
I remember doing my apprenticeship in the early sixxties and coming across both new and old Whitworth head sizes, very confusing.

Alec

Post by **chickenjohn** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:10 am

IslipMinor wrote:ChickenJohn,

Whitworth spanners fit 2 sizes of bolt/nut. In your example, 1/4" Whit (BSW), is also 5/16" BSF, and it is this size that should be fitted to the engine mounting towers. I would not like to think of 1/4" bolts being used here!!

Richard

I re-used the original nuts and bolts as all were in good condition, however, my 1/4 whitworth spanners definitely fits the nuts and bolts on the engine towers.

Bizzarely, the nuts holding the actual rubber mountings between engine and towers were all AF.

Post by **Dominic** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:22 am

I replaced the bolts with the nearest AF equivalent (1/2" I think, without checking!) but the bolts that are held captive by the tie rods I left alone, filing a tiny fraction off the flats of the nuts to fit the spanner. I suppose I'll change these over to AF whenever the suspension needs attention!

Post by **chickenjohn** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:29 am

Those nuts in the corner were not captive on my car!

Post by **Dominic** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:44 am

They were only made captive by the ends of the tie rods!

Post by **chickenjohn** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:08 am

I took the tie rods out on one side, and just managed to get an open 1/4 Whitworth spanner over the flats on the other side.

It was a much harder job than I originally thought, and a fiddle to get the engine back on the mounts again, but the car is up and running again!

Best to remove front panel to get more access!!

Post by **millerman** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:23 pm

Let's move on from Whitworth spanners!

A good metric set will fit most nuts on a Minor, I believe 15 mm will fit some of the front suspension nuts and bolts and an 18mm will certainly fit wheel nuts.

Ask any experienced car mechanic and s/he will no doubt reel off the metric sizes that will fit AF size nuts, unless there is someone on the forum that knows equivalent spanner sizes ???

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:41 pm

Let's move on from Whitworth spanners!

1/4" whitworth is 13.3mm - there's no metric equivalent size, and given the choice I'll use correct replacements if possible- especially for the wings where they fit to the captive nuts - there's nothing worse than having a random mix of heads sizes.
I admit to using metric some times times, but prefer to use the correct old english size if I've got them.

Post by **Dominic** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:12 pm

It was the 0.3mm that I filed off........

Post by **chickenjohn** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:16 pm

millerman wrote:Let's move on from Whitworth spanners!

A good metric set will fit most nuts on a Minor, I believe 15 mm will fit some of the front suspension nuts and bolts and an 18mm will certainly fit wheel nuts.

Ask any experienced car mechanic and s/he will no doubt reel off the metric sizes that will fit AF size nuts, unless there is someone on the forum that knows equivalent spanner sizes ???

I've tried using metric and AF equivalents, but you run a serious risk of rounding off the heads if you don;t use the correct size spanners and sockets. Fed up with struggling, as the metric ones don;t fit properly, best to get the proper tools!!

Its amazing how much easier jobs become using the correct Whitworth sized spanners and sockets for jobs on the car.

Post by **RogerRust** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:44 pm

I found this chart on an ebay advert.
I don't know how good it is. So its just for information purposes.

looks about right to me. - Roger

Post by **Packedup** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:52 pm

14mm might just manage a not too tight and not rounded/ corroded 1.4" Whitworth, but 9/16? No way. Well, not unless you don't treasure the shape of the ehad, or your knuckles very much!

To do some 1/4" WW the other day I found I'd got a very cheap n nasty 13mm socket that was badly enough made to be a near perfect fit

I seen to recall both 15mm and 16mm are useful on the front suspension, and as I've got some 6 sided ones in metric (a very cheap set - Was a fiver for a 1/2" drive 32 bit with mix of AF and metric!) I can usually find those rather than mess around trying to work out what unusual sizes BMC were using...

Post by **Multiphonikks** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:02 am

Hi John,

Whilst working on my car this weekend taking the wings off I found at least seven different sizes of bolt and even a self tapping screw!

You can find out what sizes should be on there but you're going to be very lucky if you actually have them!

Nikki