My understanding is that BA is a metric specification. Try converting the diameters. 2BA for instance is 4.7mm dia.
A quote from the wiki
The pitch of 0BA is 1 mm and the pitch of each higher numbered thread is obtained by multiplying the pitch of the lower number by 0.9 so K-BA has a pitch of
.[1]:12 The major diameter is given by
[1]:12 and the hex head size (across the flats) is 1.75 times the major diameter.
All derived no doubt when there wasn't precisely 25.4mm to the inch. It's essentially an instrumentation type thread. It's closer to metric coarse than fine
Lotus used 0BA to fix the radius arms to the rear hubs on the Europa. That cause me a lot of grief as other threads will fit and then work loose.
John
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