Metric or standard on vintage Ferraris?

Yes, I think they are different. The reason I'm not unequivocal is I've always used the socket which fits the snugest! Late 330 brakes are Dunlop, so are most likely British Imperial.

 

I agree w Jon. In all things Vintage Ferrari, the Rule is: there is no rule

 

I've found both standards in mine, metric mostly.

 

i would say that there is us, metric and whitworth nuts and bolts on my 59 pf coupe. you never know til you try it out.

it keeps it interesting.

i used some wheel cylinder kits i had left over from my 51 cadillac hearse...1 1/16" bore i believe it was.

and i used a solenoid from a thermo king mercedes diesel on my starter. he had to exchange part of the linkage but the rest bolted up. it was an obscure german brand of solenoid.

tom w

 

Where have people found SAE fasteners in their Ferrari? Seat belt bolts?
I can understand metric and Whitworth, but not SAE.
I think that everything I've found on my 330 is metric.

 

I believe the Bendix fuel pumps on models such as the 365 GTC have NPT threads to the hose unions

 

i don't remember off the top of my head but i am sure i have found us bolts in my 59. if i go back through my log i might find it.

and it is not just seat belt bolts. perhaps brakes. my feeling is that ferrari bought their parts wherever they could get the best deal and or the most suitable part.

tom w

 

if you bought a new ferrari car today everything would be metric.anything not metric was installed after arriving in the USA. as far as the older cars they were all metric which is standard for all cars built in italy and europe. the only thing i can think of that might not be metric but original equipment was the laycock overdrive units on many of the 2+2 cars. any properly restored ferrari should not have any SAE fasteners though there might be an exception or two with one of the rebuilt competition cars. tongascrew george

 

my car is most definately not restored.

it even has the original spark plug wires and the original hoses on the marchal air horn.

tom w

 

I have found that metric hammers work best, particularly on the wheel knock-offs. Mind you, I did use AF lead when I cast the hammer so I can see where the confusion comes from.

 

The cars were all metric with the exception of components that were sourced from non metric countries like the example of many brake components that were British.

It also needs to be remembered that even the metric system is not standardized. On old cars 5mm fasteners were designed for 9 mm wrench size and 8mm fasteners had 14mm wrench size where the European (as opposed to the Asian) std now is 8 and 13 respectively but there are exceptions to that. Also different countries will use different fastener sizes and thread pitches on those sizes. 5mm used to be .75 pitch where it is now .8. Most countries use 1.5 on 10mm fasteners and 1.75 on 12 where the Italians use 1.25 and 1.5. The French are fond of 7 and 9mm fasteners but you will hardly ever see them anywhere else.

As I said even the metric system has few real standards and that leads to much question as to whether it is metric or not.


As to hammers I am fond of the American 5lb as opposed to the whimpy European 2kg. The extra American heft I find very useful in carburetor work. The French 1.5kg is a joke.

 

On the exhaust system, ANYTHING goes!

 

Sounds like time for the "flaming hacksaw" with a "Ford tool" backup.

 

I'm there, baby! LOL!

 

LOL. Actually I find that my Metric Vice Grip is better at snapping off rounded bolts, but I'm right there with you on the carb work!

 

I have yet to find an SAE or Whitworth fastener on my 60 PF coupe. I have done some work on her over the 30 plus years: head gasket, rear axle seals, fuel pump, brake calipers and I do not recall having to hunt in the SAE side of my tool box for any tool, except maybe for an SAE hammer to get the wheels off. Same goes with our old 56 Boano when I worked on it, all metric. The really scary thing on the Boano was trying to figure out which way to hammer the wings for the wheel retainers and axle crown nuts, took a lot of reading and close examination of the threads to figure out the left side and right side threads were not the same. Then a huge spanner topped off with a four foot length of pipe and jumping on it with full weight to get it off. Holy Hannah!
Ed

 

well, that doesn't surprise me.

ferrari got things from wherever it worked best for them.

tom w

 

yep.

studebaker had left hand threads long after gm decided it wasn't necessary.

i think still on my 64 studie they were lefties on the left side.

tom w

 

i will have to get me one of those metric hammers and metric vicegrips.. should solve all the problems i have been having.. tongascrew george

 

metric pitch are all std or std fine.the af size of a metric bolt vary and also include 12 mm for M8. all threads should be metric on a vintage Ferrari except out sourced parts such as Dunlop brakes. we also use your UNF and UNC.

 

actually when i said whitworth i actually don't know exactly what that means. i just found some bolts that had threads that didn't match either the metric or the us threads i have to compare to.

someone said that some of the metric threads were kindof ranom in size so perhaps that fits with my experience.

tom w