I grew up in a gas station and was forever sorting nuts/bolts and the like. I don’t think it was till I started sailing I realized how many different thread types there are.
Recently I bought a new temp. sender for my 1973 Land Rover. I paid extra for a OEM part and after removing the one that’s been in there for 49 years discovered it doesn’t fit!
Back in the parts list I discover they sell a ‘adapter’ for about 30 bucks!
Unbelievable a rig that’s had a production run way over a million units as recent as the 80’s doesn’t yet make a sender that fits the cylinder head?
Anyway, I refuse to pay $30 for a thumb size reducer/adapter, I’ll make one on the lathe first, It’ll probably work with 50 ft. of thread tape or splash zone! ha hah a
anyway, whitworth, american std, and all the rest. I wonder if anyone has bothered making a thread finder for all that stuff that’s smaller than a basket ball court?
I owned a 1973 Landrover 2A Safari Station wagon . It had a Holden (GM) 186 petrol engine with an Overdrive . The fuel consumption kept the Arabs happy, an extensive toolkit was required to keep the show on the road and braking had to be carefully planned. Good practice for ship handling. 
Try just about any edition of Machinery Handbook. My copy is at edition 25.
I see this is around $10 or less used (at Thrift Books for example). The reviews are mixed as to what level the book is. How technical is it compared to what a chief or 1 A/E would use for a reference?
It’s been on every ship I’ve worked on. It’s a reference book not a ‘how to’. Although there are also semi deep dives into various topics that one might not need every day. Types and grades of abrasives, fits and tolerances for example.
yup, I got it! use to work building boeing stuff
There’s also thread kits that can be used.
I had a 1970 BSA Firebird. It had Whitworth,Metric and SAE. 3 sets of tools, for the many times it broke down.
I’ve got a few machinery handbooks around… as it stands i put the old sending unit back in the head and will deal with it when I get stuff moved into the shop but that’s going to take a while. meantime, I’ll know if the rover overheats using the old standby method !!!
thx all for the ideas
“planned braking” … ha ha, gawd, i could write a book about that. towing things that lifted your pickup when you hit the brake, know the brakes would fade after using them 3 times and only 3 miles to go (at 7% downgrade), grinding the drums whenever you hit the pedal, … youth!!
I often wonder how many people know how to rivet brake linings on drum brake shoes now. I doubt many. I base this on a 20 something year old who came to check out one of my clunkers sitting out back. He asked if it ran and I said it did. We went for a ride in the field and things were fine until he tried to stop. I said “Pump the brakes!” He had no clue what I was talking about and into the ditch we go.
If you still had it to sell you would get about $5000 to $6000:for it which should cover the tools.
yea, I had a mechanic friend of mine “take her for a spin”. I don’t even remember what vehicle it was but I live on a substantial hill so even without brakes he could go a mile till the first turn. (the take her for a spin had NO brakes. … what fun!) of course he knew what to do but always fun
I cannot resist commenting: I have had a die nut on my desk for years to remind me to get all the details first. Story: ship in Lisnave shipyard needing a die nut to chase the threads for main engine hold down bolts. I got it in the states and sent it by air. A few days layer…right size (2 3/8 inch) but wrong thread.
I still have a kit similar this one. Saved me much frustration and I hope they are still available. Oddly enough a Unitor rep gave it to me
I imagine those incidents, lived some. in this case you ended up wearing out a bunch of thread files?
That has saved many a dumb deckie!
It has saved many a dumb engineer too including me. I learned early on while working on ships that had equipment that came from different countries that matching thread was a pain. This was made abundantly clear when as a 1st engineer I ordered a LOT of BSPT fittings to fit JIS fittings thinking the 60 degree cone would work as the angle was the same. Wrong. After that embarrassment I resorted to making sure ISO standards matched which was not easy info to find at sea. Then my Unitor rep handed me the Parker book and tools. We are friends to this day