Schmucker

It appears that all of my suspension pieces (and they are pieces now...) are all metric. Atleast the metrics fit better. Am I mistaken, or are the cars equipped with metric fasteners? If so, how long has GM been using them?

74FLCONV

Some of my metric sockets fit better on older rusted bolts, for whatever reason. I use whatever works.

My '97 Chev Astro van was made in Canada and most of its bolts are metric (plus, its 4.3L V6 has 10 more HP than my 350 V8...go figure).

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

mapman

Schmucker,

Some parts English, some parts metric, some parts both (at least my power steering pump was). This was never intended to be easy you know! :crazy:

The good news is you get to buy more tools - the bad news is you have to know which one to use. :lol:

Smokehouse69

Sometime in the mid-70's GM started using a mixture of Metric and English bolts. I remember during this period of time that I was dropping the tranny pan on my wife's Buick for a fluid-filter change. All but two of the bolts were standard, the two holding the shift cable linkage to the pan were metric. During the time we had the car, I found several other incidents like this. It seems that some of the bolts on brackets under the hood and the like had blue paint on on them. These bolts were metric head sizes, the plain plated bolts were unpainted.
It used to drive me crazy!

442olds

Somewhere near 77 Gm switched to metric fastners. But the problem was that the engine blocks and transmissions were already set up to be tapped standard. Rather than put an engineering change through to fix this they let it go. So ussually anything that bolts to the engine or trans is standard and everything else is now metric. Any of the new engines that are created now are all metric like the new ls1/6 engine family. But if you go and get your hands on that new 496 big block they stick in the trucks you better believe that the bolts going in to the block of heads are standard.

'79ProwlerOrange

My vette is Canadian, and my blazer is Mexican (I think)
:chevy :chevy :chevy :chevy :chevy :chevy :D

my blazer is really bad with the standard/metric sizes, get a metwrench set. makes the pain go away :smash:

Tom73

ALL Vettes were made in the US. The Blazer, well that may be another story. :)

tom...

page62

It has nothing to do with the car being assembled in the US, Canada, or Mexico. These are all considered "domestic" cars, sharing the same engineering and parts suppliers no matter where in North America they're made.

Back in the '70s, it looked like the U.S. was going to go metric. So GM and other carmakers started changing over to metric components. But given the complexity of automaking, it couldn't happen over night. So we end up with bastardization: only certain components were metric -- you get to guess which are and which aren't!

BTW: My 200-R4 tranny has a very large "METRIC" stamped on the tranny pan. I guess is to let mechanics know which tools and replacement parts they should be using... :smash:

UKPaul

Goddamit Page, nobody told me that a 200-4r was metric! I don't want no stinking metric on my Vette :lol:
Back in the 60's certain manufacturers here were changing to what we call the Unified thread system, UNF & UNC (fine & coarse), mainly for the US market, as that's what you guys were using. It was good for me as when I got my Vette I had all the tools, Helicoil sets, etc already. Then I find that odd bolts or componants have the occasional metric thread, which isn't really a problem.... until you start working on the rear bumper area where there's a mix of similar size imperial & metric bolts. It's easy to mix them up & even easier for Bubba to force the wrong bolt into a hole.
What I've always wondered is who took the decision to change to metric & why? It must cost a fortune in tooling costs, drawing changes, stock changes, sourcing replacement fastners, etc, etc. Then you've still got to work with the old system to produce spares for existing vehicles, which means even larger stocks of spares (which costs money to store & is money tied up until they're sold) & the poor sods dealing with public have got to have even more stock in their inventories. And so on.
So why cause all this extra expense & hassle for everyone?
:cheers:

'79ProwlerOrange

You sure? i have read over and over that the C3 vette was made in Qubec until 80 or 81 where it was then built in Bowling Green, KY...

i just recently skimmed over in article called "Ch-ch-ch-changes!" that went into detail about switching to EFI and the KY plant. i think it was in corvette fever.

Dodge/Crysler/Chevy/ford/ all have plants in Mexico where most of the cars are made. Toyota has an assembly plant in the US. :lol:

page62

Last I checked, the old Corvette assembly plant was in St. Louis -- Missouri, that is. It only sounds French.

But the F-bodies (Camaro, Firebird) were made in Ste. Catherine, Quebec for many years....

Many "U.S." cars are made in Canada and Mexico. It's been that way for a long time (especially Canada). But people in these countries also buy a lot of these "domestic" cars, too.


[Modified by page62, 11:49 AM 1/22/2003]

Wrencher

All cars sold in the US are classified "foreign" or "domestic" by the source of the parts. Thus, even though they would appear "domestic", cars such as the PT Cruiser and Ford Crown Vic are classified "imports" because the bulk of their parts are manufactured and , in the case of the PT Cruiser, assembled in Mexico. At the other end is the Honda Accord which is a "domestic" car because most of the parts are sourced and the car is assembled in the US!

Go figure... I know my old cars were 100% made in the USA. :flag

Hans

Stewart's74

If my Vette were actually made in Quebec it would probably explain some things :banghead:
St. Louis was da place. Dont let anyone tell you different.

lars

Schmucker -
I was working for GM in '77. This was the model year when they started using metric fasteners as part of a gradual change-over to metric. GM Training actually held on-site classes at the dealerships to inform the line mechanics about the part-metric parts combinations, and they tried to ease the news onto the mechanics that they needed to buy metric tools... I was there, and you should have heard the groaning and bitching...! Initially, all the metric bolts were dyed blue so the mechanics would know to use metric tools on them. Metric hardware was common on the chassis, suspension and frame areas of the cars starting in '77, since this was easy hardware to change over (as opposed to the tooling required to change the engine hardware to metric).

Tom73

Ahhh yea, the PT Cruiser, a Germany car company with the car built in Mexico :sad:

page62

Sorry, Wrencher. Not the case. Many parts and components -- not to mention GM, Ford, and Chrysler vehicles -- have been manufactured in Canada for decades. No such thing as a 100% U.S. made car for a long, long time!

Only in the last decade --with the advent of NAFTA -- has Mexico come into the picture. A lot of cars from Mexico drive up here to San Antonio. It used to be they were all somehow funny looking. Nowadays, you can't tell the difference except by the license plate (and even those look decent nowadays).

So think of it this way: If you buy a Honda, Toyota, etc. the profits go back to Japan. If you buy a GM or Ford, profits stay in the country. If you buy a Chrysler...who knows? :lol:

67HEAVEN

Time to get with the program guys.....

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/internat.htm

Paul L

I cannot think of a fastener on a new GM car that is not metric. And as to globalization of the automotive industry, check under the hood of a Buick for example. Bosch electrics, headlamps made in the UK, rad hoses made in Brazil, etc. The 3.4L engine in my 2001 Impala was made in Mexico and the car was manufactured in Oshawa, Ontario. Those Impalas that your State Troopers are driving were made in Canada. They are not USA cars. Nor is the Ford Crown Vic: made in Windsor, Ontario. The Pontiac Vibe is a Toyota. The GMC Tracker is a Suzuki. GM sources where it wants under the optimal economic conditions.

So, time for a trivia. What percentage of the C5 Corvette is actually manufactured in the USA? Not assembled-but manufactured?