I am in the process of looking for a Classic British Salon Car from the mid 50`s to early 70`s, I have not yet decided on a particular model, but I am looking to get a selection of imperial sockets and spanners for its maintenance. Am I right in thinking Ford and Vauxhall were AF Bolts, but what did BMC and the Roots groupe use. And when did British cars go metric ?
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Bolt type on Classic Car`s
- Thread starter BQW
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As a rough guide, Ford escort Mark 1 (68 -74 approx) were imperial and mk 2 (75 on ) were metric.
Most British car manufacturers changed around the same time.
So previous to that 74/75 would be imperial unless you go a lot earlier (50s maybe) then they were whitworth generally.
Most British car manufacturers changed around the same time.
So previous to that 74/75 would be imperial unless you go a lot earlier (50s maybe) then they were whitworth generally.
I don't remember the MK2 Escort being metric.
Through the 70's almost all British cars still used A/F bolts. For me the change started in the mid 70's, but it was gradual. i.e. Chevette engines and gearboxes were imperial because they were from the Vauxhall parts bin. While the rest of the car being from Opel, was metric.
All the CF vans were imperial, unless they had the Opel diesel engine, which was metric.
I wouldn't lose any sleep over having the the right spanners. If you need something you've not got, they are easy gotten, and cheap enough.
Through the 70's almost all British cars still used A/F bolts. For me the change started in the mid 70's, but it was gradual. i.e. Chevette engines and gearboxes were imperial because they were from the Vauxhall parts bin. While the rest of the car being from Opel, was metric.
All the CF vans were imperial, unless they had the Opel diesel engine, which was metric.
I wouldn't lose any sleep over having the the right spanners. If you need something you've not got, they are easy gotten, and cheap enough.
I can. A particular incident always sticks in my mind. The place we used to buy our recon gearboxes from charged £3 extra for a mk2 box compared to a mk1 box "because it is metric". Only difference I could see from the outside was that it used 10mm bolts to hold the top cover on instead of 7/16” ones!
Not a bit interested in a Mk2 Escort at all the only Fords I might be interested would be a 2000E Corsair or a Mk3 Zephyr.
Were Hillmans and motors from the Roots Grope AF ?
Were Hillmans and motors from the Roots Grope AF ?
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Example given was relevant to the gradual change from imperial to metric, nothing more .
The dates (very approx) were the point of the post.
After mid 70's , mostly metric, some imperial still used for a bit. Some metric crept in on old models before they changed.
Pre mid 70s mostly imperial.
Pre 50/60s often whitworth.
There is no specific change date. And the point made by stivino about spanners is important ,still easily available.
Got full sets of imperial if you want to buy them
Edited to add
AF just means across the flats. Metric is measured the same way. Easier to use imperial or metric.
Erm, why not just buy the car first? Or am I missing something?
Especially the Zephyr. Even got some fins. 
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Buy the car first - some mad stuff from that era (60s 70s) . UK car makers started to move away BSF UNF UNC and started to standardise with Metric threads , but in a bid to save money many kept with the imperial hex heads so new tools were not needed - so you get daft stuff like an M10 thread with a 11/16 hex head
and some had a mixture of imperial and metric
and some had a mixture of imperial and metric
