I'm currently mucking around with a set of Keihin carbs from a Honda CBR 600, trying to adapt them for use with a Ford Kent engine.

I had to make some spacers to match the carbs with an inlet manifold gasket, so I separated the carbs and measured the sleeves that line up each unit. When I measured the sleeve it came out as a funny value in metric, so I switched my vernier to imperial... it was 5/16"! What the *&%$ is a classic imperial measurement doing in a Japanese carburettor!

And I'm not talking about 'nearly' or 'just about' - I'm talking about EXACTLY 5/16"! Not 8mm or some other standard metric diameter... 5/16".

How very odd...

David

I had a similar experince (quiet) a few years ago.

Bought some Alpine speakers 6x9's they were. On the template the main dimensions were marked in mm as you would expect, but the English equivalents were very strange like 5. 37/93", and 3. 7/21" hole sizes were 5mm or something like 5/26"... very odd.

Steve

Lots of things in Japan are measured in imperial as the Yanks who occupied the country, after the war, used the old feet and inches.
I tried to buy a tape measure when I was last there and had a job to find one in metric.
Regards Kipper.

I spent ages trying to get the right oil pressure switch and sender for my kawasaki engine. Everyone said "it'll be M10 fine" or whatever. No good. Tried 1/8" NPT, no good. Then tried good old 1/8" BSP. Perfect fit for that and the temperature sender.

I guess that when the Japanese copied British bikes some bits stayed Imperial?

Cheers

Mike

Everyone knows that during the war, the Yanks were fighting the IMPERIAL Japanese navy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_Navy ) , imperial army and imperial airforce so no surprise the stuck to the same units???

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paul TigerB6
Everyone knows that during the war, the Yanks were fighting the IMPERIAL Japanese navy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_Navy ) , imperial army and imperial airforce so no surprise the stuck to the same units???

---

i wanted a blanking plug for the turbo release on my nissan engine in the indy and it was bpt, i thought it strange at the time.

Ah, how many people know that the post war MG T-type XPAG engine has some metric threads due, I am told, to the use of some liberated French machine tools?

Cheers

Fred W B

Its not just that even the electrics screwy

"In Japan, the electrical power supply to households is at 100 V. Eastern and northern parts of Honshū (including Tokyo) and Hokkaidō have a frequency of 50 Hz, whereas western Honshu (including Nagoya, Osaka, and Hiroshima), Shikoku, Kyūshū and Okinawa operate at 60 Hz. To accommodate the difference, appliances marketed in Japan can often be switched between the two frequencies.
"