British mesurements...

[karimbo]

Dear British friends, forgive me for this very unusual and curious question... I don't know if this is the right forum for it...

You see, motorracing is a lot about drivers but also about cars. And when I think about cars and engines, I think about physics and engineering...

I was asking myself if in Britain today people use the metric system or the Imperial system for their mesurements...

For instance: do you say miles per hour or km/h. The pressure of the tyres is it in ppi or kPa. Do you put gallons of fuel or liters. The cars are built using inches or cm. Races distances are calculated in km or miles.

And what about of the track, on the road of the UK, what is the system more commonly used ??

Thank you for the info...

[wensleydale]

We use a good old mixture of units some metric, some imperial.

Speed is usually quoted in miles per hour, pressure in psi, and distance in miles. However, fuel is measured in litres, and measurements for cars are given in millimeters.

It seems that the more technical side of things is embracing metrification faster than the general public, so it may be some time before everything sorts itself out.

[Chucky]

I think the mess is easily summed up by the Stack setup screen where it asks you whether you want Metric, SAE or "British" units of measurement! The "British" system uses mph, psi, litres and bar in some pressures.

[zefarelly]

we're Euro-septic . . . ie half American/Imperial and half metric

I was lucky enough to start working at an old Engineering Company after a metric education so I'm fluent in all sorts of useless units !

[Mathias]

Hey, don't get American confused with Imperial! All kinds of troubles there.

Personally, if it's a nut and it ain't a Whitworth, I won't use it.

[Woolley]

It's a joy, isn't it? Only in Britain could you have a 500km race on a 1½ mile oval!

Personally I still translate metric to imperial as I simply cannot imagine metric measures. If someone is 80kgs, I have no idea whether they're thin or fat, for instance. The exception is temperature which I prefer in Centigrade. We've always been odd about that anyway. If it's a cold day it's 'below zero' and if it's hot it's 'in the eighties'. I figured it was worth standardising on that one.

[graham bahr]

i use mostly metric, although when talking engines athough bore, stroke, crank pin and valve sizes are all metric to me, if talking valve lift, clearances, bore or crankpin wear i do it all in imperial! dont ask why i dunno, but its the only way all the sizes are meaning without conversions

[imull]

same as Mr Bahr above.

I work in a builder merchants where wood is sold in metric lengths, but teh standard sizes increment in 1foot jumps. ie 4.2,4.5,4.8m which is 14,15,16 feet from memory. Our vehicles only had a bar rating for pressure until i crossed it out and put in psi

[Chris Griffin]

Graham ..I expect you have the same problems I have. Some of my cars' nuts and bolts are metric and some not. Tends to be the ad-ons that are metric. Once you get to know it well you pick up the correct spanner on instinct. I do most stuff in metric but bar means nothing to me. Torque wrench settings are always foot/pounds. Fuel tank fill ups are in litres but fuel consumption has to be in mpg or it means nothing to me!

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by graham bahr

i use mostly metric, although when talking engines athough bore, stroke, crank pin and valve sizes are all metric to me, if talking valve lift, clearances, bore or crankpin wear i do it all in imperial! dont ask why i dunno, but its the only way all the sizes are meaning without conversions

I grew up with Imperial units. Although I now prefer Metric for most stuff, when it comes down to precision work, I have to think in Imperial - I have to mentally convert to thous for tolerances to mean anything. It's really just a matter of familiarity, not any inherent superiority of the old system.

[Al Weyman]

Originally Posted by imull

same as Mr Bahr above.

I work in a builder merchants where wood is sold in metric lengths, but teh standard sizes increment in 1foot jumps. ie 4.2,4.5,4.8m which is 14,15,16 feet from memory. Our vehicles only had a bar rating for pressure until i crossed it out and put in psi

Yeah but worse than that the length is sold in Metric but the width is imperial so for eg.you go into a wood yard and order 2.4 metres (8ft #) of 4" x 2" not 100mm x 50mm.

[imull]

would that 8' be the 2440 imperial 8' or the 2400 metric 8'. Worth bearing in mind as the two main plaster board thicknesses vary between the two. Momst frustrating when you happen to be putting new plaster board onto an old house with different spacings in teh timer lol

We sell our timeber in imperial measurments (ie 4x2) however when you get the the computer it is booked out as 47x100. 2x2 is 47x50. if anyone can see the logic in this system please tell me. Oh, and the saw mills sell it in cubic quantities just to help the process

Then when we get onto dressed wood, 2x1 is actuall 20x45 and 2x2 is called 45x45. Nowonder my head always hurts when i get home lol.

Screws are imperial and nails metric too.

+++++++++++++++

Just out of interest, how many people know that the Europeans have now decided that Red and Black are not suitable colours for electrical cabling. They are changine to new 'harmonised' colours over the next year or so. Forget the actual colours but they are typically bland and hard to differentiate between

[Mackmot]

What I dont understand is why Americans decided the British Gallon wasnt good enough and made their own

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by imull

Just out of interest, how many people know that the Europeans have now decided that Red and Black are not suitable colours for electrical cabling. They are changine to new 'harmonised' colours over the next year or so. Forget the actual colours but they are typically bland and hard to differentiate between

Aren't they Brown and Blue? That's what's in my plugs and has been for 30 years or so...

[dtype38]

Oh its even worse than that... can't remember the details, but its something like they want to use yellow or green for neutral

As for units, I'm in a complete muddle. For example:

BorexStroke = mm (brought up on Japanese motorbikes)
Valve clearance = thou of inch (used to borrow my dad's feeler gauges)

Fuel for my road car = Imp gallons (I don't care what the pump says)
Fuel consumption for my road car = miles/gallon
Fuel for my race car = litres (cos of using 20 litre cans)
Fuel consumption for my race car = litres / min (all my races are by time rather than distance)

My height = ft & inches
My kids heights = metres (for the height restrictions in theme parks)

Guess its a convenience thing... when I use a measure I use the closest exact measurement I can, so if the distance is exactly 10 1/4" then that's what I use, but if its nothing particular in inches but a nice round number like 270mm then I use that instead.

Oh, and I've found that I quite like drinking beer in litres rather than pints

[zefarelly]

bore x stroke in mm
bearings in inches 7 thou
valve sizeds and cam lift in mm
valve clearances in thou
exhaust manifold in inches
inlet and carb chokes in mm
wheels in inces, and tyres (scooters have metric tyres in 10" rims !)
weight in Kg
fuel in litres
economy in miles/gallon
speed in miles an hour
torque settings in lb/ft
pressure in lb/in2
temp in degrees C

time seems to be a fairly universal unit hours minutes and seconds ?

ale in pints
lager in Litres
wine in cases
vodka in gills
water in bushels !

[Peter Mallett]

Colours.

Interestingly we used to have different colours for disfferent types of fire extinguisher. Now the EU has decreed that red is the colour and you have to read the label.

Hmm,

There's an electrical fire over there, is this water or powder extinguisher, its getting a bit warm, hmm nope that's water, where's the powder one? Nope that's foam um, er. Run away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chris Griffin]

My thoughts entirely Peter. It bloody madness!

[Al Weyman]

Yes I came unstuck with that 2400 x 1200 plaster board size when I was doing my extension, at work all the sheets of plastic board I use in sign making is 2440 x 1220 so I naturally thought the plaster board was the same, wrong! And all my studwork spacing and joists were wrong as well. It is absolute madness overhere why on earth don't they just go metric on everything and have done with it. Oh and as an ex surveyor I always measure in mllimetres. Forget inches, feet, centremetres, metres etc just millimetres and you won't go wrong,

[imull]

You would be amazed the amount of people that go wrong Al. Trouble is, that it wasnt even changed on a set date. For a long while, it depended on who buildt your house/extension as to what sort of plaster board you used lol.

Luckily we live in a smallish close-knit area so know who did the work on the whole, but every now and again one slips through. Amazing thing is that most DIY-ers just cut sheets without thinking there is anything wrong and asking us to change for the other size :confused:

New wiring colours Hmmm, black brown and grey in a able. sounds easily noticed when working at speed, in teh dark in a tiny wee basement :confused:

Who uses metric or imperial feeler guages out of interest. When working on engines, I seem to always go for the imperial ones and otherwise use metric. Thats before i check the clearances needed and will normally do a rough conversion in my head if needs be...

[Al Weyman]

I use imperial feeler guages but I am working on yanks!

[dtype38]

Definitely imperial, make it easy to remember, Inlet valves 10, exhausts 12 :-)

[Woolley]

Didn't one of the Mars landers go wrong because of this? IIRC, the Americans kindly converted the arrival speed into km/h, but since we still use mph and we know they do, it got programmed in mph. Consequently it was going a little quickly when it should have been touching down gently.

[imull]

Another one for you. 15,22 and 28mm copper tubes. Why do plumbers always ask for 1/2", 3/4" and 1" tube?

[emjaya]

Radial tyres are a mixture of both,except Michelin TRX's.