[Mg-t] What's a Whit worth?

[Charles Hill]

Scott,
You are in for quite an education.

Almost everything on the TD should be British Standard Fine (BSF).  A 
lot of people call them Whitworth but Whitworth is a coarse thread while 
BSF is of course a fine thread.  The use the same set of wrenches but 
usually the BSF wrench is one size smaller than the Whitworth for the 
corresponding size bolt.  For example, a 1/4 Whitworth and a 5/16 BSF 
use the same size wrench as the wrenches are marked according to the 
size of the bolt, not the size of the bolt head.  To confuse you even 
more, the XPAG engine in the TD is a metric engine.  All the fasteners 
are metric - mostly 8 or 10mm but the heads are machined to fit British 
wrenches.

Here is the chart you are looking for: 
http://www.britishfasteners.com/images/nuts_bolts_key.pdf

British Fasteners also has a good selection of British tools and 
fasteners at reasonable prices and very good service.

Charles Hill

    On 5/26/2013 11:06 PM, Scott Fisher wrote:
> Now that I'm back in the loving arms of the Sacred Octagon, I need something
> more than the metric wrenches and sockets that have stood me in good stead
> with the cars I've been working on since my last MGB went to its new owner
> some 15 years ago.
>
> I seem to recall that most of the work I did on the MGB
> required 7/16", 1/2", and 9/16" wrenches, with a few odds and ends larger and
> smaller. So of course, I'm planning to buy two each of those, in combination
> and gear wrenches, as well as an assortment of sockets.
>
>
> But then there's
> the Whitworth question. I never required Whitworth wrenches for the B or
> Midget, but I'm wondering how much of the TD's hardware is held on with
> something the SAE stuff won't fit.
>
> Moss sells a couple of Whitworth tool
> packages. Have any of you purchased them, and how critical/useful have they
> been? Or was the TD's connection with the "modern" Y-type chassis enough to
> make the Whitworth tools a historical oddity? I really don't know.
>
> Would love
> any and all advice, including a Whitworth to SAE (or metric) conversion chart
> on line -- c'mon, there HAS to be one, right?
>
> Best,
>
> --Scott Fisher
>    1951 TD
>    Tualatin, Oregon