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Tips

Source for nuts bolts and screws

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whitey72mg

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I am battling every nut and bolt on my 72 midget. Anyone have a good source for the correct replacement nuts and bolts needed to put this mess back together.
 
They're all SAE. Most of 'em NFT. Any good fastener house should have everything you may need on the shelf.
 
Buy each size you need by the box. Much cheeper.
 
Nuts and bolts shops are good. Lowes and Home Depot will have some of the sizes you need, just make sure you pick up the fine thread UNF ones not the coarse UNC ones. If you have no such nut and bolt shops near you, visit https://www.mcmaster.com and buy them by the box from them. You'll pay a bit more but they have almost every fastener you could want.
 
Be careful of Home cheapo or lowes bolts, you want grade 5 for most everything, you can not get grade 5 at those places.
Any hardware store has all you need, check for a screw/bolt supplier in the local phone book, $50 worth of new nuts bolts and SAE washers will restore a couple of Spridgets.
 
You can definitely get grade 5 and grade 8 hardware at Lowe's and Home Depot. It's not the junk in the baggies but in the drawers labeled as grade 8 and 5. However, I have much better luck at Tractor Supply.
 
I've discovered that online hardware shopping is easy, and the total cost is often better than the local hardware store. The online selection is greater and it is easier for me to compose my order.
 
I had good luck at Fastenal. I bought boat loads of stainless at my local Fastenal store.
 
I've used fastenal too, as well as grainger. They are both about 2 miles from my house, but I still prefer ordering online. It seems that when I go to buy an assortment of hardware there are always one or two items that they must order (therefore necessitating another trip). But when I order online I usually am able to get everything I need at one place. But like Frank, I've bought many boxes of hardware and only occasionally need something oddball.
 
There is always an issue with overseas import "counterfeit" fasteners being of low quality, but... assuming you can trust your source, buying the right grade of fastener is fairly easy.

Look at the "tick" marks on the head of the fastener. Count them and add "2". That will be the grade. Grade-5 fasteners will have 3 tick marks, Grade-8 will have 6. An unmarked head (to me... a butter bolt) is Grade-2 and are typical of the low grade you get in coarse fasteners if you don't "look" to see what's in the bin.
 
I went to home depot the other day to buy a fine thread bolt....found what i needed but in coarse thread, asked the salesman where the fine thread bolts were...they dont stock them!!


mark
 
10-32 pan head 5/8" long
1/4 x 28 x 3/4" hex
5/16 x 24 x 1" hex
3/8 x 24 x 1.25" hex
SAE flat washers, split washers, and nuts for the above
Grade 5 is what was original.

A box of each usually does the trick.

Courtesy of Frank C.
 
I stock a fair amount of fastners, it's part of my regiment, I probably have 10,000 pieces of new at any given time. I'm lucky to have three fastner shops near me, they provide me with 90% of what I need, when I can't find it there, I use McMaster Carr.
 
The issue you are addressing is one we have all looked at and made. Last year my buddy and I decided to have a big winter project of new SC motors for our BE and total repainting. John tried to clear coat old bolts he had cleaned up for under the hood. Of course, a little water and time showed the error of his ways. Rust! All this effort and rusty bolts. So this summer he bought stainless steel and replaced the rusty ones. Do it right the first time and you won't regret it.
 
I use mostly grade 8 fastner in my engines, even where they don't really need to be, mostly because grade 8 stuff comes in cad or yellow zinc, and grade 2 either unplated or white zinc, and grade 5 is white zinc. I just like the way the yellow zinc look on the motors. 90% of my stock of fastner is grade 8. I used yellow zince grade 8 on the race car forever, they seem to hold up well cosmeticly. Somethimes you have to re-use fastners because the are unique to a chassis or engine, on those I bead blast them, mask the threads off and use cast aluminum paint or stain black on the non thread portions.
 
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