metric threads

[JHertzman@aol.com]

In AD6-009 Andrew Annakin writes, of a damaged intake manifold stud, "Are
replacements available or should I get one made up (parts spec. is
8x1.25x8x1x37mm. All I can work out from that is that the stud is 37mm long!
13mm nut)"

37mm long, with an 8mm x 1.25mm (pitch) thread on one end and an 8mm x 1mm
thread on the other. The stud should be available but if not, both 8 x 1.25
and 8 x 1 dies certainly are, and if he has an 8mm bolt more than 37mm long
with either thread on one end it should be a five-minute job. 

Metric taps and dies were one of my first purchases after buying my first
Alfa. An ancient (1978) industrial supply catalog I keep as a desk-reference
has individual dies for $1.04 each and generous sets (seventeen sizes of taps
and hexagon dies from 6mm x 0.60 to 12mm x 1.75, two die stocks, tap wrenches,
pitch gauges, oak case) for under $50. Fudge in your own inflation factor. The
sets will include threads you will never use, (because there are some Alfa
never used, probably obsolete French standards) but having them all when you
need one, when the stores are closed, is a convenience. One can save a few
dollars by assembling an Alfa set from open-stock. The vast majority of Alfa
fasteners (from a culling of 105/115 parts books) are 4x.7, 5x.8, 6x1, 7x1,
8x1, 8x1.25, 9x1.25, 10x1, 12x1, 12x1.5. There are exceptions, but they are
few; 14x1.5 mm for the nut locking the timing gear to the camshaft is one, the
crank pulley nut is another, but they are unlikely needs and in any case are
outside the standard set range.

John