Hi Guys. Now I am (almost) an owner I realise I will need to update my toolkit. I have a very complete collection but it is all metric. The XK8 is metric too.
I know there are various systems when it comes to imperial thread sizes but are there also different conventions when it comes to spanners, sockets etc?
Anything else apart from spanners, rings and sockets that I should be thinking about that I wont already have for basic maintenance?

 

A good set of imperial sockets and spanners will be essential, most common sizes are 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4 and 7/8 (all in fractions of an inch). Ideally with sockets get six sided if you can as they are less likely to round off old nuts.

You will also need a set of feeler gauges ideally in imperial sizes (thousands of an inch) but metric can be used.

I find a plumbers blow torch useful for dealing with stubborn fixings but hopefully with your car you won't have those sorts of issues, the cars I work on tend to be restoration projects.

If you then need other special tools (like a rear hub puller to change the rear brake discs) you can add these as required.

 

Thanks. Totally agree about hex sockets. I have a socket set I bought for my first real rebuild (Commer camper van). 40 years on and still going strong and newer rounded off a nut.

 

Be careful asking for imperial in the Netherlands as you might end up with a lot of Whitworth, which won't be very useful. The units may be imperial, but the spanner and socket sizes are AF as in across face of the nuts and bolts with UNF and UNC threads. I can go through a few sizes before I get to an angle grinder.