My service manual specs torque (for tightening bearing cap bolt and such) in units of mkp. What is mkp? I'm expecting newton meters (or even foot pounds). The p can't be pascals. The units don't agree!

1 Nm (Newton-Meter) = 0.101972 KPM (Kilopondmeter)
Though it's usually rounded to be 1 Nm = 0.1 KPM.

The back of my 1974 TDM states:

"In the Federal Republic of Germany the law pertaining to the new SI Units becasem effective in July 1970. Accordingly, all measuring data for official and business use must be made in accordance with the new units after an officially established period of transition (generally by Dec 31, 1977).

These units are essentially contained in the SI system. Forseeably, almost all countries will convert to this system and a worldwide uniformity is therefore expected. For EEC countries, an EEC Directive has been in effect since October 1971.

For reasons of economy, an early beginning and the temporary simultaneous application of both the old and new system are needed to provide gradual conversion. Appropriate agreements were made by the Association of the Autombile Industry (VDA), in cooperation with appropriate authorities and other industries.

The respective ne data are obtained by appropriate conversion.

Conversion factors are rounded off according to DIN 1333. The factors 9.805665 for coverting kp into N (Newton), 0.980665 for converting atm into bar,, and 0.098066 for converting mm of water collumn into mbar are not suitable for workshop use and are therefore rounded up to 10, 1 and 0.1 (1 kp ~ 10 N, 1 atm ~ 1 bar and 1 mm water column ~ 0.1 mbar).

Output data stated in kW are rounded off to full numbers (acc. to DIN 1333). The system will be used accordingly in official documents, such as vehicle licenses.

Units for masses or loads (weight meaning the results of weighing, for example payload or axle load) will be given as before in grams (g), kilograms (kg) or tons (t).

For table indicating the most significant changes in technical data of engines and vehicles, refer to pages 404 & 405.

Old Unit - New Unit
1 HP (DIN) - 0.735499 kW
1 kpm - 10 Nm
1 kp - 10 N
1 rpm - 1 /minute ("1 revolution per minute")
1 atm - 1 bar
1 kp/cm^2 - 1 bar
1 mm H20 - 0.1 mbar
1 mm Hg - 1.33 mbar

Kg remains unchanged.

For everthing you ever wanted to know about dimensional analysis and conversion, visit my brother's web site http://www.georgehart.com/research/multanal.html and also check out his dimensional calculator download on the page.

-CTH

PS. And for those of you that survived engineering classes in college, the dimensional matrix stuff should bring back memories (and/or nightmaress .

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