Fasteners- Ireland vs Maximillian vs McMaster vs local v DIY

[BarrettN]

Hi -

 

I'm putting a 74 tii back on the road, seems like every time I work on something I'm running across a fastener that isn't in great shape. I'm a big fan of doing things once, so I'm wanting to replace the fasteners as I go.

 

Ireland and Maximillian both have fasteners kits, or a person could just buy fasteners from McMaster-Carr. Any comments on the quality of the fasteners from each and for Ireland & Maximillian, how useful their pre-packaged assortments are. Has anyone ever put together a crib sheet for common fasteners for McMaster-Carr? Are the fasteners available notably different from the fasteners originally used?

 

I've never had fasteners re-plated - Any comments as to the pros & cons of going this route? Any tips on how to find or what to look for in selecting a local plater? Is it worth shipping fasteners to someone who is known to do a good job? Any idea what the minimum typically would be for a batch?

 

I also have looked at the Caswell plating DIY kits - that's let me do as big or small a batch as I needed. Anyone used their setup? Is there a shelf life on the chemicals, or could you just keep the mixed in sealed buckets and use as needed?

 

thanks!

 

Barrett

[Mike A]

Go to Belmetric ....if this project is a one-off, order a batch of 20, 6 and 8 mm bolts in a a couple of lengths, washers and nuts...in yellow zinc. Maybe a few 10mm as well. As for the larger ones better to do them piecemeal 

Get yourself a 6 x 1 and an 8 x 1.25  tap and matching die to repair the odd fastener the length of which you don’t have. 
mid you plan on doing a lot of this work most of us have something like this

Edited April 29, 2020 by Mike A

[fjord-tii]

Fastenal.com. You can order one’s and two’s or boxes of 100’s. Some yellow zinc. Top-grade manufacturers. Check realOEM.com for exact sizes you will need for each part before ordering. I used re-plated for non-structural fasteners only (see also hydrogen embrittlement) and bling, otherwise German (Wurth?) if you can find it or Taiwanese unless going for concourse. My 2 cents.

[markmac]

+1 for Belmetric.  Very rarely screw up your order, many, many options on grade, finish and size.  Even in Covid-19 world you get your stuff in 2-3 days - max.  Website is easy to use and navigate. 

 

Sometimes though, the way to go is BMW.  I just ordered and received a set of brake caliper (to strut) hardware.  M12 x 1.5 x 32mm (gr 10.9).  You can't get that from anyone but BMW.  You can get 30mm and 35mm from others, but not 32mm, and not with a shoulder.  Does the other work?  Yep.  Is it right? (not quite but yes).  Special hardware like that, I go with BMW when I its available even if at a little of a premium.

 

Plating is a whole different deal.  Not all plating (or platers are the same).  How they come out depends on the condition of the piece.  Some won't touch parts that have paint or other on them so it means you spend time doing the prep.  Others will do it, just depends on how jacked up they are on how they come out.  Few do cad anymore, most do gold zinc (which gets way overdone on resto cars now IMO).

Edited April 29, 2020 by markmac

[Conserv]

I believe it depends on your goals and philosophy.

 

If your goal is to re-make the factory-manufactured car more perfect than when it left the factory — and I believe that most owners want that, subject, of course, to cost and resource constraints — new bolts to replace 50-year-old bolts probably makes the most sense.

 

If, however, you cherish the old and the possibly-inferior — because they speak of another era — re-plating and re-using original fasteners is very satisfying. For the ordinary fasteners that are not subject to extreme stresses — I don’t re-use critical brake, steering, or drivetrain fasteners — re-plated fasteners retain original-manufacturers’ markings and original sizes.

 

While I’ll use BelMetric when I need to, the original fasteners were far more specialized. BelMetric fasteners tend to come in 5 mm. length increments. BMW had no such constraints: you’ll find 21 mm., 22 mm, 32 mm, etc. Some OEM bolt heads are low profile. Extra-long bolt shoulders or fluting are just not found on the replacements.

 

Re-plating is a bit of a pain. You’ve generally got to remove paint and excess grease. I chase the threads on many fasteners before I send them to the platers. No media blasting: it produces a duller finish, A “batch” — I never knew how to define a batch, but I never dropped off more than a batch — was $150 at a good Atlanta-area plater, but I understand their batch price is now over $200. And the stuff came back looking gorgeous. Clear zinc. Yellow zinc. Gorgeous!

Besides the fasteners, for which close replacements might be available, cars have lots of plated brackets, seat rails, latches, etc. Many (most?) of these are no longer available. You can’t order them from BelMetric. But, you can throw these into your batch of re-plating with your fasteners. And they, too, come out gorgeous.

 

Below: before and after headlight buckets and original keys for my ‘73.

 

It’s not just re-plating. It’s friggin’ magic! ?

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Conserv

[TobyB]

Just be careful with critical fasteners.

 

(caliper bolts, suspension pivot bolts, etc)

 

McMaster and  BelMetric work hard to NOT give you an inferior fastener.

 

Fastenal, less so.

 

Home Depot, not s0 much.

 

The original fasteners, unless damaged, are very good.  And proven.

 

t

[Mike A]

When Home Depot first came out with nuts and bolts they were pure .Chinese garbage ..I actually torqued the heads off of larger bolts and it looked they were cast...never been back

 

Barret....when you replace a bolt with a "10.9" marking on its head , be sure to replace it with one marked the same. That number refers to its higher yield strength … in this case about 130,000 psi