How to measure things like a Canadian

[steve dunham]

When the weather here gets hot , humid , miserable , stifling, with high dew points the local weather announcers refer to it as that “ HORRIBLE FLORIDA WEATHER “
When the sun shines , the skies are bright blue ,the temps are moderate , and it’s beautiful outside they refer to it as that “ WONDERFUL CANADIAN WEATHER “
Now if they start showing the temps in C

[Centex]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Not only does the U.S. still use the foot, it has two different definitions for its length. One is about to go away:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/s...gy-dennis.html

Thanks for that link to a fascinating article

[Ron in BC]

Pretty crazy situation. Surprised it lasted as long as it did.

This whole thing is confusing. I just finished my morning cup of coffee. Was it an imperial or metric cup of coffee? Is one bigger than the other?

Ron

[dfandrews]

Thoughts:
-It was a "cup" of coffee I had this morning (8A.M.?);
Hmmm, but I use real time (24 hrs in a day; none of that AM/PM stuff!),
but my wife still negatively responds when I say "0800 hours".
-I like that fact that I have metric and English system wrenches: when I
have a rusty heavily corroded bolt/nut to remove, I have a greater variety of tools to fit the deteriorated faces.

-long ago I learned (and amazingly remembered) that 68°F is 20°C, 25.4mm = 1" (and even better: 3/4"=19mm),
and 1L = 1.06 quarts.
-I still haven't figured out all the different gallons??
-I have learned that, in construction, setting and calculating slopes is sooooo much easier using metric, rather that a bunch of fractions (Thank you, my friend Felix, from Austria, who, after laughing at my pencil figures and scatchouts, suggested using metric).
-In the USA, it's not so much that we've resisted changing, but that we just ignore changing!

Edit: I almost forgot: In the US, I can drive like 60,
In other countries, I can fly along at 100.



So, I get by!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Yes, our speed limits are metric but a lot of us still think mph and stores still put the weight in lbs. by the weight in kg.

This is due mostly to the fact that a pound is smaller than a kilogram, so the price per pound looks smaller; retail stores encourage continued use of pounds. In liquids there is no such problem - other than "pints" in bars, volumes for sale are metric and essentially no one had an issue converting. Even in weights in the same grocery store that advertises produce and meat prices per pound (with price per kilogram in much smaller text), the deli department shows prices per 100 grams, not showing the higher price per pound. This incomplete transition has nothing to do with what units people are comfortable using, and everything to do with marketing.

[sherminator]

Our shop went metric for fasteners and drawing dimensions after we first sold a machine to a European customer 20 years ago - it was much easier for us and our suppliers (machine shops) to go metric than to deal with trying to make Europeans deal with imperial measurements. I can do pretty well with rough conversions, and for lengths under 100mm, I actually visualize better in metric. There is hope for us Americans.

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

Thoughts:
-long ago I learned (and amazingly remembered) that 68°F is 20°C, 25.4mm = 1" (and even better: 3/4"=19mm),
and 1L = 1.06 quarts.

I needed to order a freezer (at work) good to -40C. Probably did the conversion 10 times before I figured out that is where the C and F scales intersect. -40C IS -40F!

[Tom&Joan]

I personally find it a pain to work on a vehicle with a mix of SAE and metric fasteners. Adding to the confusion is what is the need for hex 10, 11, 12, 13, etc. bolt heads? Often too close together. Sometimes need a pile of wrenches to do a simple job!

[Ron in BC]

I know what you mean but I work on a variety of mechanical stuff and those sizes do seem appropriate for some uses, except for the 11mm, could probably do without it.

SAE wrenches aren't a lot better. I have sizes such as 25/32 that don't get a lot of use and either 13/16" or 7/8" would do the job.

Ron

[dfandrews]

I kind of liked the old VW bugs (I had a '56): 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 36, and then 15 for the head nuts. The 36mm socket was too expensive, so I paid a 1/3 the price for a 1-7/16" socket (close enough).
Edit: I almost forgot: the jam nuts on the clutch cable were a 14 and a 13; how convenient! Good ol' German engineering!


Edit #2: by the way, with the above sizes you can literally take the entire car apart!
Edit #3: Argh. Now that I was disassembling the car in my head, I remembered that you need a pair of 27mm bonney wrenches for the front wheel bearing nuts. (It's been 30 years and I still remember.) Now I'm done.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I know what you mean but I work on a variety of mechanical stuff and those sizes do seem appropriate for some uses, except for the 11mm, could probably do without it.

SAE wrenches aren't a lot better. I have sizes such as 25/32 that don't get a lot of use and either 13/16" or 7/8" would do the job.

Ron

Ahh yes, I remember putting the 25/32 on the rear end gear case plug to take it out to check the gear oil level with a bent wire. I was hanging on the wrench as the truck was up on a hoist, but I couldn’t budge the plug. I was about 15 or 16 years old. My dad walked over and took the wrench and turned the plug loose like it was nothing. I just stared at him. How could he be that strong? He shrugged and said “never send a boy to do a man’s job.” It did not make me feel bad, it gave me the determination to get stronger and he didn’t have to crack one loose for me again. I still have that wrench but the old Chevy and GMC trucks are only in parades.
Iowa Dave

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

I kind of liked the old VW bugs (I had a '56): 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 36, and then 15 for the head nuts. The 36mm socket was too expensive, so I paid a 1/3 the price for a 1-7/16" socket (close enough).
Edit: I almost forgot: the jam nuts on the clutch cable were a 14 and a 13; how convenient! Good ol' German engineering!


Edit #2: by the way, with the above sizes you can literally take the entire car apart!
Edit #3: Argh. Now that I was disassembling the car in my head, I remembered that you need a pair of 27mm bonney wrenches for the front wheel bearing nuts. (It's been 30 years and I still remember.) Now I'm done.

Good thing that you didn't have the older split rear window one. You'd be kicking yourself that you ever let it go.

A neighbor gave me a ride in his old VW. The two things that I remember about it are the split rear window and the roller gas pedal. Remembering it came in handy when I was trying for a design that would let me put the power on smoothly in the very cramped foot space area of a car that I built.

Ron

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

and he didn’t have to crack one loose for me again.
Iowa Dave

No one has to crack one loose for me. I learned to use a bigger hammer.

Ron

[Oldtimer]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

I kind of liked the old VW bugs (I had a '56): 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 36, and then 15 for the head nuts. The 36mm socket was too expensive, so I paid a 1/3 the price for a 1-7/16" socket (close enough).
Edit: I almost forgot: the jam nuts on the clutch cable were a 14 and a 13; how convenient! Good ol' German engineering!


Edit #2: by the way, with the above sizes you can literally take the entire car apart!
Edit #3: Argh. Now that I was disassembling the car in my head, I remembered that you need a pair of 27mm bonney wrenches for the front wheel bearing nuts. (It's been 30 years and I still remember.) Now I'm done.

Dont forget the 35 mm socket for the flywheel

[Dave Walter]

I remember switching to the metric system when I was a kid. As an engineer I have used both systems my whole career and I am fine working or thinking in either metric or imperial units. I still think that the metric system of measuring fuel consumption in Litres per 100km is kind of hokey (that is the technical term for it) and kilometres per litre would be more intuitive. However, I am used to it now and know that when I am towing my Escape, the Litres/100km shown by my 4Runner is nothing to brag about. Thinking of my weight in kilograms is still something that comes hard to me, although I do weigh a lot less in metric than in imperial so the metric system is a good thing!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Tom&Joan

I personally find it a pain to work on a vehicle with a mix of SAE and metric fasteners. Adding to the confusion is what is the need for hex 10, 11, 12, 13, etc. bolt heads? Often too close together. Sometimes need a pile of wrenches to do a simple job!

I've never heard of a metric vehicle needing that sort of combination. If it needs 10 mm wrenches (for M6 bolts), it typically won't need 11 mm for anything, because the next size up of bolt in the same bolt sizing system will need a larger wrench. Yes, both SAE and metric is annoying - that happens mostly with older (from the 1980's, for instance, or later if it has an old style of engine) North American vehicles.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

The populace of the US has resisted changing to the metric system primarily due to laziness. ...

I went to grade school in SF in the 1960s, we were taught the metric system, and California had dual signs on hte highways with miles and km, cars had dual speedometers with km inside the miles, etc.... around about the early/mid 70s, the regressives fought it and got it blocked. excuse was the car industry would cost too much to retool.... funny thing, cars are all metric now, even pure american ones. but we're stuck sounding like dinosaurs on a global forum.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Good thing that you didn't have the older split rear window one. You'd be kicking yourself that you ever let it go.

A neighbor gave me a ride in his old VW. The two things that I remember about it are the split rear window and the roller gas pedal. Remembering it came in handy when I was trying for a design that would let me put the power on smoothly in the very cramped foot space area of a car that I built.

Ron

In the 70's, I was always looking out for a split window one for sale. Nada. My '56 and the early '57's (before August/57) were the last of the small rear windows. Our postman would ask me about once a year if I wanted to sell. When we switched to Hondas, I sold it to him, and he restored it to original primo condition, so it went to a good home!!!
I loved that roller pedal. On long drives on uninteresting stretches of highways, I would spin it back & forth to relieve boredom. I had a '62 bug as well for a while, and installed a roller on that one.


Back thinking about the split window. WE (our shop) got a hold of a '53 engine. It was a 25 HP (as opposed to my powerful 36 HP), but had Okrasa dual port heads and hemi-head pistons, so we don't know what its actual HP was. The boss put it in a dune sand rail.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

.......... it typically won't need 11 mm for anything,................

I have worked on a plethora of German and Japanese cars over the last 50 years, and all my 11mm open end has ever been, is the handle for the 10mm open at the other end!

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

the regressives fought it and got it blocked

Don't know what you mean by "regressives". One system isn't better than the other. They're just different, that's all.


My Tacoma has km inscribed inside the mph scale on its speedometer, but you can't see it because it's red on black. So I set my ScanGaugeII to read kph for use in Canada.