On 15 May 2017 20:21:45 -0300, Mike Spencer
wrote:


robobass writes:

1: Do you really use a 14mm socket? Do you actually encounter 14mm
hex heads? Give me one example.

I'm essentially retired, but in the late 60s, back when "foreign car"
meant something and shops that worked on N. American marques shunned
them, I worken on foreign cars.

Likewise - I was about the only mechanic in town who'd work on a bug -
or an austin, or a borgward, or a vauxhaul (other than the GM
dealership who had one guy who worked on them), Datsuns, and Toyotas.

I left town to work at a Toyota dealership, then returned to work at
the new Mazda dealership (also AMC/Jeep/International Trucks)

I drove an old Mini in the early years.
Perhaps half were Volkawagen. The remainder included Borgward, DAF,
Alpha Romero, Panhard [1], Fiat, Mercedes, Porsche, Renault, Amphicar,
Lancia, Saab, Volvo as well as a very heterogeneous mix of British [2]
cars. Never saw a single Japanese car. (College town, y'know? Lot of
eccentrics and we were the only folks who could work on their
eccentric cars.)

Now, 50 years on, I don't recall exactly which bolts or nuts were 14mm
but my 14mm 1/2" drive socket and my 14mm boxend & openend wrenches
show a lot of wear. Valve adjustment screw locking nut on 60s VW
engines? Yeah, I think so.
Nope. The valve lash adjusters on Beetles from '54 to '77 for sure
were 13mm. I think my '49 was as well.

The only specific item I can think of just now is a locking bolt on my
4" metal-cutting bandsaw. But all that wear came from came from the
auto work.

Of course, all the cars I worked on were made before you were born.
Maybe some standards or conventional choices have changed.

Depends on who you are talking to ----


[1] I actually owned a 2-cyl air-cooled flat-opposed, front wheel
drive Panhard for awhile. Very cool car. Would like to have
ralleyed it. Swapped it even for a McCulloch chain saw.

[2] Yes, I even have a few Whitworth wrenches, solely because of
Whitworth nuts on some Brit starter motor power cable studs.

My dad drove a 3 cyl 2 stroke DKW Scnellaster for a while, as well as
an Envoy CA. My older brother had a Vauxhaul Victor Special and a Viva
HA, as well as a Rover 2000TC, as well as the R12 Rallye car. Younger
brothers had Sunbeam Arrow coupe, Sunbeam Minx/arrow sedan,and a few
other oddities, while I had the '49 beetle, Peugeot 204, Vauxhaul HC
Firenza,and even drove a Sunbeam Alpine for a while, as well as a TR7
and an MGB. Lots of "european" cars - along with some Japs and a whole
handfull of 'merican iron going all the way back to a '28 Chevy
National Landau.

Wrenched on every one of them except the DKW.