motorgliders as towplanes

At 11:44 21 March 2009, The Real Doctor wrote:

You think that;s bad? Try getting specialist fasteners for old Polish
gliders. Or, on the ground, getting fasteners in the odd 5mm-but-not-
M5 thread that Citroen used. I've seen refurbished original Citroen
nuts and bolts at =804 per item - not per set!

I have to keep my Whitworth wrenches on hand when working on my
Austin-Healey 100. Some of the basic stuff that came out of the parts
bins, like suspension and transmission, uses Whitworth hardware, while the
rest works with SAE stuff. It's still possible to buy Whitworth threaded
fasteners, but you have to know where to look. Are there any British
gliders left that are old enough to have used Whitworth hardware?

Jim Beckman

On 21 Mar, 13:30, Jim Beckman wrote:

*Are there any British
gliders left that are old enough to have used Whitworth hardware?

The UK car industry switched over to UNF/UNC in the early sixties, but
I wouldn'r be suprised to find Whitworth/BSF in anything Slingsby made
until the late 60's. They were masters of improvisation ... for many
years Slingsby glider main wheels were surplus Spitfire tailwheels.

I have to keep a full set of imperial tools for my Herald and a full
set of metric ones for my DS. I still have a Whitworth set from when I
had a 1959 Morris Minor but it doesn;t get much use. The Micra just
never needs mending, so nut sizes are irrelevant ...

Ian