What do you guys do about hardware?

Lets say, just for instance, A rear caliper bolt disapeared off my 240. What do you do for hardware like that that you probably can't get at a dealer?

I guess the options are either trying to find one in a JY, or just get a matching grade 8 or 10 from HD?

---

Enablers, All of you.

I goto 4 places in this order if I need fastners:

1. I add as many bolts as I can to my tool bag when at the junk yard. Getting them off the car you are working on is great and think of how much time you have saved the next guy who may want to pull the part you took all of the fasteners for

2. A local nut and bolt store. Some of them have minimum orders but there should be someone in your town that specializes in this.

3. I have also had good luck at old school hardware stores that have an aisle of the slide out bins that that look like this.



You may have to hunt around for which hardware store has the best selection but it is usually better than the big box stores.

4. McMaster Carr

For my build practically every nut and bolt must be replaced thanks to corrosion...

I've never used them but I've gotten a few recommendations that this guy is the best for metric hardware and he's local to me (Boston area)

https://www.belmetric.com/

You'll have to decode the size, pitch and length of the bolt but it looks like they have everything... HTH

---

Blog about my history with the rally car written for non-automotive folk: davescq.wordpress.com

Quote
dalspaugh
For my build practically every nut and bolt must be replaced thanks to corrosion...

I've never used them but I've gotten a few recommendations that this guy is the best for metric hardware and he's local to me (Boston area)

https://www.belmetric.com/

You'll have to decode the size, pitch and length of the bolt but it looks like they have everything... HTH

JIS Bolts? Beautiful!

For me so far (ie. rallycross only), it's been JY first, closest crappy hardware store (home depot) second. For a Japanese car, this can be problematic, as HD often has a bolt with the right thread/pitch, but the head is a different size, so I may need a 12 OR 13mm socket depending...

For the rally car, I'm going to make sure that the bolts are all consistent...

---

KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

Pick-n-pull
parts cars
local vw community

---

Runamuck Rally

Quote
Towona
Pick-n-pull
parts cars
local vw community

Yep 'specially for specialty stuffs like suspension pivot bolts, caliper mount bolts, etc..While you're there---with your handy Fambly-sized can of PB Blaster or equivalent---and a breaker bar, get spindle nuts, and extra CV bolts, and I like OEM Saab and Volvo AWAB hose clamps, aw well as OEM Mercedes hose clamps---the hex on every one is 7mm and I use flexy shaft nut drivers insted of screw drivers and its orders of magnitude better than US flat perforated POS things which kill the hoses they are 'spoosed to keep tight, and have a variety of hex sizes--or non at all...

If I have a car from the ol' Bundesrepubik, then i harvest a good selection og OEM VW/Audi or Bavarian Maggot Wagon clamps...same nice stuffs as the Swedish AWAB but now a 6mm hex and a bit narrower...

I have literally hundreds from 5/16 aka 8mm to gigantic things for old K-jet airflow door boots...


For some of youse with my struts I formerly made the threads at the top either "normal M12 x 1.75" normal DIN, but some are M12 x 1.25 and that means ya otter wander over to the Japonaise section and get some extras...gotta be careful tho cause there is no consistency in Japonaise sizes and threads once larger than M8....

Note for the 40/41 struts the nut at the bottom for the rod is M10 x 1--something you hain't gonna stumble across easily, and the 50s use M12 x 1---even harder to find..
Those you oughta have safe and secure in advance....safe and then REMEMBER where ya stashed 'em,,

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2015 10:07AM by john vanlandingham.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
Towona
Pick-n-pull
parts cars
local vw community

Now thats some handy info. Anyone else have any hardware they look for at the boneyards?


Worst part for me, there's no 'pick n pull's' that I know of around here. Land is too expensive i think, they have small yards and I ask about anything rally aged and they look at me funny.

Eighty-six?!

---

Enablers, All of you.

If you need high grade steel fasteners, Allen bolts/socket head cap screws are generally a grade above everything else at the hardware stores. Most metric will be 12.9, but you gotta check.

For odd chassis and suspension bolts, the boneyard is the best, or the spare shells you should have sitting along the side of the house, in the backyard, and the two sitting on the street with flat tires.

Quote
Robert Culbertson
If you need high grade steel fasteners, Allen bolts/socket head cap screws are generally a grade above everything else at the hardware stores. Most metric will be 12.9, but you gotta check.

For odd chassis and suspension bolts, the boneyard is the best, or the spare shells you should have sitting along the side of the house, in the backyard, and the two sitting on the street with flat tires.

Just remember that the DIN spec chosen was chosen for a reason...and the DIN numbers should be studied a little...

And above all think ahead>>. allen bolt...Do I need it?...What fun will it be in a rainy muddy service area with limited time and frantic nervous helpers---when they have to clean all the crap SPOTLESSLY in every bolt head or the round the hex and then you're fucked...

And then you cant find the room to swing a Allen socket on the ratchet head, and you can't find your 8 allen....and nobody else has it..

"There I was, in service in Falujah, taking fire from the Taliban....and all I had was a van load of sockets and wrenches, if we only had a 10mm allen socket we could get the bird in the air again.."

THINK a




Head



"thinking, if i only had a 10 allen socket i could......."

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2015 01:46PM by john vanlandingham.