In the last three weeks I have had to work on two pre-war Rolls Royces. My only Whitworth tools are a set of combination wrenches. It only takes one bolt on the oil filter screen of an old Roller to let you know how much of an innovation the ratchet is, unfortunately there are 12 bolts on them! Not to mention everything else. After the last Rolls left my bay I bundled the Whitworths up hoping to not use them for a while and what do you know today I wound up with a series one E-Type that has Whitworth fasteners on the fuel system.
I am not financially ready to order a set of dedicated whit sockets. Give me time and I am sure I will. Picking up a complete vintage set of King Dick sockets would be ideal.
The other day I noticed one of those spline socket sets at Lowes. You know the ones. Works on metric and SAE. I immediately think gimmick.
Then I remembered an old thread on garage journal where a dude used layout fluid and tested a bunch of sockets and found that spline and metrinch type sockets actually contact in the same way flank drive does.
So if it works with SAE and Metric it should work with the Whitworth that is inbetween right?
Anyone tried it?
Oddly enough almost every time I typed Whitworth I somehow managed to type E36 M3worth instead. LOL.
Never tried that.
However, in my short time owning a 1952 Morris Oxford (Morris Awkward) I found that there was one size of whitworth, can't remember which, if you bonked a 13mm socket on with a hammer, it worked every time after that without the hammer.
I don't think you should use that trick on a full classic like a rolls but a run-of-the-mill E-type, just find the one that's close and if it's close enough, give it a whack.
There's a reason circ saw blade bolts are 1/2". Sooner or later, everyone has a 1/2" OR 13mm.
Same reason most socket sets don't have a 16mm socket.
I've got a set of Metrinch tools that I have had for 20 years. Since most of my wrenching is done on old British, I have few metric tools and a lot of SAE. I also own a basic set of Whitworth wrenches and sockets that is most used on my MGTD.
I find the Metrinch set works best as a "fill-in" when I need a metric wrench to work on a modern car or a BSF (Whitworth) that is outside of the narrow range of sizes that I have. Particularly the small stuff that can still be found on fuel systems on post-war British stuff.
For daily wrenching I prefer my traditional design wrenches. The Metrinch work OK, but the feel of them doesn't inspire confidence. By design, they don't sit tight on a nut, so you have to be careful to hold them flat before adding torque. Then sometimes you feel like you're rounding the nut, even if you aren't. They are OK for occasional use, but I wouldn't want to use them as a primary set of tools.
BTW, I just looked out into the garage at my E-type (I do that a lot). Nope, doesn't look run-of-the-mill to me!
