I've taken the liberty of repeating Roland's direct mail to me as it still
intrigues me. It's a fascinating bit of Cobra information that I never
knew. Other than electrics, is anyone aware of other use of BA on
British cars of the period?
At the time that Cobras were still running at Le Mans and in the Targa,
I was serving an electronics student apprenticeship at a UK government
defence research establishment. At that time, all screw threads used
on electronic equipment and it's associated hardware were BA. On
major radar and electronics projects, the goverment department
concerned frequently had to work with, and interface equipment with
the equipment of; the GPO, then the government monopoly telecomms
provider.
As the total number of thread sizes, material, head style, lengths and
whatever became too large for stores to handle, a meeting was held at
a VERY high level to take the decision to only use alternative BA thread
sizes in the future.
All stock of the "other" sizes, apart from very small stocks for
maintenance of existing equipment, were disposed of (probably by
dumping at sea, I wouldn't be surprised...).
All went well, until the next time the GPO swung into action to do
their part in maintaining Britain's defences. Only then, of course, did
they discover that the Ministry had standardised on all the "even" BA
sizes, and the GPO on all the "odd" ones ...
=============== Start of forwarded message ===================
>> That's intriguing, Roland. I can well believe them being on electrical
>> accessories on British classic vehicles, but I wonder if you are
>> finding them elsewhere too?
>>
>> Bob
> I received a longish letter from a car restorer located near Slough who
> specializes in restoring ACs including Cobras. This fellow, who's name
> is Nick Green, described the various fasteners used on Cobras which
> included BA. According to him, this was the type of small machine
> screws used exclusively on the car. I can think of several places other
> than the electrics where there are small machine screws, and if Nick is
> correct, I they are likely BA. One example is the windscreen frame.
> Mostly I've been replacing these small screws with stainless UNF, but
> there are some places where this substitution can't be made.
>
> One other type of fastener I discover my car has is one BSB (British
> Standard Brass) nut holding the steering wheel to its shafts. I suspect
> MGBs have the same size and type nut. For reference this nut is 1.2"
> across the flat, has a thread pitch of 26tpi, and requires a 3/4" BSF
> socket.
> Roland
=============== End of forwarded message ===================
My home town of Redditch was very much a centre for "metal
bashing" suppliers to the Midlands vehicle industry, as well as having
factories of the BSA and Royal Enfield companies.
My box of old taps and dies contains a few BSB tools, as well as
British Standard Gas (and that was the stuff made locally from coal, not
the stuff most of you fuel your cars with ...), and quite a few obscure
"standard" cycle and motorcycle threads.
Bob
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