The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Sad, Sad Day for Stovebolts!

I felt obligated to share this with the community. I ordered a 5" round mirror to replace the one on my 52 3600. I ordered it from that most American of Stovebolt suppliers....Jim Carter! Alas, I retrieved by boxed set of Craftsman 1/4" drive sockets and wratchet. plus vise grips, and removed the old cracked mirror from it's mount. I eagerly unwrapped the new one and slid it into the mount, grabbed by socket and....it wouldn't fit. The acorn nut and jamb nut on the new mirror were METRIC!!! IS NOTHING SACRED???
Sadly,
Dash Riprocker

Not any more, was the mirror made overseas like everything else?

I know what you mean. I wanted to use my old clutch head screws on my new outer door handles. No dice. Same story.

Same thing happened to my dad and I when we were messing with the wiring on his reproduction park lights(from American Classic - made overseas, I'm sure) for his '53, the nut on the back is a metric.

Blasphemy.

-W

why would it matter or not if the fittings are metric since reproduction parts are fake anyhow and are usually purchased when price or availability are the major issues... if accuracy is such a big deal it would seem one would pay the price for NOS and get what they pay for..

this scenario is played out everyday in our country when we demand higher wages; shorter hours; more benefits; and easier work and then complain when we find we have priced ourselves right out of a job because our products are too expensive for the average person to buy and the overall quality is nothing to brag about anymore either...

thanks to our greed we have priced ourselves right out of the world market as we continually beg for cheaper products from foreign markets... check some of your trusty Craftsman crap and see where that comes from or better yet try hocking the farm to get the junk serviced when it falls apart...

it seems we want to get a lot but don't want to give up very much to get it... we buy cheap and that's just about what we should expect... look around at the foreign made products we own and see what we've done to our jobs; our economy and ourselves...
bill in va

Bill I have to agree with TooMany,you seem to fault the American worker! From your tone I believe that you must not work for an hourly wage, but recieve a corporate salary! It is not hard for anyone with there eyes and ears truly open to understand who it is that is selling out this great country, Big Bussiness, Corporate Greed, and the pursuit of the dollar over the good of the country! I will apoligize to the board now for getting politcal, but this issue is getting to be an increasing sore spot. Also Bill if I have read you wrong then my apology extends to you also. I will step down off my soapbox now, sorry!

Another point that HillCity makes is also incorrect, I believe.

Many -- MOST of the parts for our old trucks are NOT available as NOS items. And lots of times the old part is simply missing or unuseable.

Given that, I think it's unfair of you to characterize purchasing repop parts as "usually purchased when price or availablity are the major issues."

Brian

Maybe Bill has a point, though. How many of us shop Wal-Mart? There stands a shining example of red, white & blue corporate greed. And how did they get so big, so fast? I'll tell you: The American - and Canadian - worker.

We, the stovebolters, are different. We are defective Americans in that we have not bought into the standard line of consumerism spoon-fed to us by the media since infancy. More is not better. I don't want a new truck. The old one works well, and that satisfies me. Planned obsolescence reeks. The disappointment of low quality lasts long after the satisfaction of low price has passed. Et cetera.

This isn't a new deal, dont most of you have a set of metric wrenches also.......seems like that problem has been going on for a long time....

by the way, I have a nos igniton switch that will fit a 52, will also fit a lot of others.. took it out of the nice orange and black box, dont need it,, you can have it for 45 bucks. made in the usa....

Everyone here has a good point,as far as I am concerned.The blame can be placed on the large cos. for wanting to get their goods mfg.cheaper,and yes the good old American workers are pricing themselves right out of a job.Gotta be a happy medium here somewhere.A little give and take.You cant blame the big cos.for wanting things made cheaper,because profit is their main concern.You cant blame the workers for wanting better wages.The heck of it is the imported stuff is just as good as the stuff made in the USA.As far as metric is concerned,I have had metric wrenches and sockets in my tool box for years.I need them to work on good old American cars,GM,Ford,Mopar,etc.

I think this discussion started off about metric bolts on a replacement Stovebolt mirror, not necessarily about quality. I understand the tragedy of putting metric hardware on a virtual time machine! I don't care for the mix either.

I own no metric wrenches,I have yet to buy a foreign car ,yet I have had at least 125 vehicles.My company of 34 years sold to a foreign country, 2 years later they closed it down.This large foreign company didn't care that the profits were $20,000,000.00 a year, cause they wanted the real estate.They sold it for an undisclosed amount for a fast bigger profit. I hope Karma gets these people that only care about money.I do my part for my country dispite what my friends and other people do.Our children depend on this generation to do whats best in the long run.In the long run ,I don't want to be the richest corpse in the graveyard.I don't buy foriegn stuff unless I have NO choice,I believe in keeping the money in OUR continent.
Lothar(I was born in Germany but I still wouldn't buy a VolksWagon either, cause I live in this country now)

Don't feel bad about your problem with metric madness. I have an 81 Malibu and I need a set of standard and a set of metric tools to work on it!

As far as off-shore manufacturing goes I was just looking at what I am wearing at the moment. Eddie Bauer shorts, Haynes underwear, Etonic runners, Fruit of the Loom t-shirt, and an Eddie Bauer sweatshirt. All made off-shore. I forgot to mention I am also wearing a baseball cap from the USAF's 8th fighter Squadron (Stealth Fighters) and it is made in China! As is my Boeing baseball cap!

What burned me was buying a 1/8" pipe x 1/4" inverted flare brass fitting at NAPA and the outside hex is METRIC! So now everytime I work on it, I have to make a second trip to the tool box for a metric wrench to hold the fitting while I us a US wrench to loosen the flare nut :mad: :mad:

DUH... get a stovebolters wrench set....

ie... a Crescent wrench.

Rusty, Back in Kentucky, we called that a "West Virginia Socket Set"

I think in West Virginia, they call it a "Mississippi Socket Set" ...


John

A crescent wrench, Vise Grip, hammer and some screwdrivers you can fix about anything on the side of the road oh ya don't forget the duct tape.

Can you get a metric crescent wrench........?

I've never seen one of those but I've got a sweet set of left handed screwdrivers.

olblu49..NO, but you can get left hand channel locks. Just hold them in the left hand!!
NOW..about all this metric/standard, quality, overseas etc. You guys do not want to get ME started. I've been in Textile's 37 years. In that time I've been in 3 plant plants that closed. No need to tell you why. You all know. I will not call names but in my life I have held some pretty high positions and knew and seen the P&L figures. It would astound most of you the corporate profits. Literally ASTOUND you. It would probably enlighten quite a few if you knew how the books are manipulated to show what they want. Period!! This last Aug.31 an automotive fabric plant closed in N.C. I worked there trying to help save it. Not because of the quality of people or their work but due to the Corporate "bad decisions" made by corporate ones who make millions, and still do, off the sweat and labor or hundreds of workers. Time nor space will let me go into detail here but it was mentioned above and is a FACT its Corporate Greed. Can't be satisfied with 25 cent on a dollar they want 75 cent on a dollar. Then its the "buy out" of other companies so they can have all the profit. The other side of this coin, and it goes back a few years, is the politicians sold us out....yep, plain and simple, sold us out. Fatten their pockets and the companys they legislated for. I do NOT buy at wal-mart. I do without if I have to. I buy all the american stuff I can when I can find it. Some things I don't buy if I can't find it. I wish I could type all I know and would gladly debate anyone who thinks international trade is so great. My qualifications on this?....started as a spare hand and painted trash cans and shipping rollers on 3rd shift, worked 14 hour days and EARNED my moves up in the ranks.

MAN!!! Pretty cool stuff! I got my mirror from Jim Carter just like I do most of my stuff. This is my first Stovebolt and I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's just sad that you have to have two sets of wrenches to work on this thing, especially since we all believe that they were made in America's best days. I don't know where it was made, I just know that it came from Jim Carter.....AMERICAN! I avoided buying metric tools for a long time but as you all know, you have no choice now. It just seemed sad to note that this well-built American truck now has to have metric parts on it. Times have changed..eh. The reason for owning "crappy" Craftsman tools it coz when you break one, you take it back to Sears and you get a new one at no charge. I don't know who makes em and don't care...the warranty is a no-brainer. As for all of the corporate bashing, I'm with you guys. What really gets me is that Toyota outsold Ford last quarter for the first time ever. Bet ole Henry is rolling in his grave like a rotisserie chicken! Seems we forgot about....and forgot to teach our kids about things like Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, Kamikazes, and the fact that over 80% of American POW's died in Japanese captivity. I'd like to forgive all that and drive a new Solara convertible, but I can't bring myself to buy a Jap or German car. Buy American...it's the best policy. I buy from most honorable Jim Carter-san and others, but I don't have time to do the research on where they get the parts. When did US automakers go metric anyway? I'll bet it was when John Z. went to Ireland to make his DeLorean. I have one of John Z's earlier models...a 65 GTO. You guessed it....no metrics. I've certainly enjoyed reading all these replies to my lil ole post. Will try to stir up more trouble when time permits.
BANZAI!
Dash Riprocker-san

And after you strip it ... when all else fails, get the BIG hammer!!

Hmm, that didn't come out exactly like I ment! Sorry Peg.

Achipmunk, Amen.

obsa,

I've been looking for ya. I need your name to go with your Gallery page. Can you email it in for me?

Thanks,
Peg

Jimbo - no problem. Sounds like a solution to me

Peg

After you round off the bolt with the metric crescent wrench, then take it off with the metric Vise Grip!

I actually have a metric crescent wrench, says so right on the side. Of course it also is standard on the other side.

Ya know, I'm with you all in this Corporate bash stuff, but factually, I think these are good times. I take you back to the hobby, throw out the politics.

Now-a-days, EVERYTHING is available. There are 1 inch think catalogs to restore anything. If I have to use meteric tools to put something on my trucks or muscle cars, yeah, I'll *****, but you know it is better than trying to restore something 30 years ago, thumbing thur the 5 page section of the Sears catalog, or J C Whitney where the car section fell right after the go-cart stuff. Sure the factory still had some stuff, but not as large of variety, and the price was (still is) lofty for factory stuff.

I wish it was a perfect world where we all used American stuff, but it won't ever be a perfect world... In the meantime enjoy the pros. When those mirrors are on, they'll look great and work fine. With all the overseas competition, I the cost of the mirros probably allowed other goodies to be purchased at the same time. Updates and new parts are better by the big box full!

Don't get me wrong, I am pro American, and metrics don't belong on old Chevy's; that's a given, but I'm just saying that this time and day we live in is very condusive to our hobbies and for that I am glad.

Why don't the companies responsible for overseas production of Bolt parts make them with standard threads anyway? I mean, if a company in the US were to knok off volvo stuff, wouldn't we use metrics for a proper copy? So....you would think....I mean it would make sense...well, maybe not.

I have been reading this thread and there are alot of good points on both sides. I have a question though.....is this thread standard or metric?

Well, now that depends where this site is hosted now doesn't it?

Due to the heavy duty nature of Stovebolts this has to be an ACME thread!

Quality aside, the US is the last place in the world where SAE measures are still the standard. Even here in Canada your cousins have been metric since 1978 (even though the ferry cashiers want to know how many feet long my truck is . .), and you might as well get used to the idea that SAE won't be around forever if the US wants to keep exporting its product. Does anyone remember British Standard Whitworth (BSW)? And how about those 9/16-16TPI head bolts on your flathead Harley?

Even so, I have several sets of taps and dies, and I can have my way with threads. Except maybe this one . .

After my inquiry earlier about a metric crescent wrench I found one at the local swap meet. Guy also had a spline splicer - something I've always wanted.

I've found my Harley tool kit covers most repairs;4" crescent wrench on my keyring,5" vise grips with wire cutters and my Buck 110 lockblade knife/hammerin my knifecase on my belt. I also carry a mini-mag in my pocket cuz it's hard to wrench and keep a BIC lighter going while working next to the highway at night.
And they don't care if it's metric or not.
Speed

I hate metric

it really all comes down to one thing...we can all thank the MANY people in the USA who are shopping at walmart and such places even as we speak. If the customer base wasn't so eager to purchase less quality for less money, then the foreign manufacturing wouldn't be so appealing to the "american" business tycoons. Once again, AMERICA, pat yourself on the back for being your own worst enemy.

If God had wanted us to use the metric system,
he would have given us ten fingers and ten toes.

Cheers,
mark.
'51 KY 3100

is this a bad time to say I used part of a Toyota fender for a patch panel on my 52' 3100? don't worry I didn't have to use my metric welder.

Back in 19 and 69 I was driving my '68 VW down HW 101 (pre-95) and that dang #3 exhaust valve was obviously burning up again. I pulled into a small "filling" station in S.C. and started to explain my problem to the old-timer (Stovebolter?) who walked out. I took a look at the bug, the length of my hair, spit, and then said he didn't work on any of them ferin cars; didn't have the special tools. Hmm...

Although I learned most of my early mechanical skills helping my brother with his Allstate, Cushman Eagle, Honda Superhawk OMG, Sportsters, and later and bigger bikes, it was obvious that we needed some metric tools. Really didn't care much for them originally, but the whole concept is so simple (and since I never was good at cypering out them fractions)I came to like metric.

Now, before all of you start blowing a head gasket, I'll let you know that I worked on some very fine American Ships trading mostly in Japan and repaired in the Far East for the 23 years I was sailing on them. Those ferin bolts, threads, tube sizes, gauges, iron plate sizes, metric "o" rings, etc. drove us crazy. Our answer was almost always to order good ole fractional sizes from the USA at great cost, especially considering the shipping cost.

Now, as far as Jim Carter... I would hope that they will perhaps start disclosing the COO (Country of Origin)and more importantly that if the part is metric the ad will state so.

My '41 1/2 ton is finally coming together now, and due to this thread, I've learned why my clutch head screw drivers and screw heads don't seem to like one another very much.

Don

I meant to say "He took a look at the bug...., etc."

Don

It's just a 60's thang I guess

I like metric duct tape. It's the handyman's secret weapon, aye?