Engine bay nut/bolt sizes

[SiH]

Hey all,
As I\'m working through the car I plan on replacing all the tiny bolts I remove with stainless fasteners - cap heads where i can - does anyone know the thread and size that most of the (usually 10mm headed) bolts in the engine bay are?
I think they are m6, but not 100% - used to fix things like bodywork brackets, parts to the manifold, etc.
Cheers all  
Si

[Nik da Greek]

Yeah, mostly M6 size. Don\'t use stainless on stressed applications cause it\'s quite brittle, especially the cheaper stuff (brake calipers and stuff, bodywork and brackets and that is fine)

[SiH]

Coolio, ta
Not palnning on using it for too much, just things like the little brackets that hold things in place in the engine bay, bumpers on, etc etc, to stop things corroding too much - things without the risk of galvanic corrosion that is!

[D2BBA]

Any idea where to buy M6 bolts with the 10mm head from?

Im fancying some nice anodised red ones

Chris

[craigr]

I am busy speccing out replacements to everything in the engine bay. Have sourced a couple of suppliers that offer stainless, anodised and titanium bits and pieces. I have even bought a measuring gauge to get the thread specs correct.
 
Will post once I have figured it all out.
 
Cheers, Craig

[D2BBA]

Ta for that bud

[Nik da Greek]

One of my favourite suppliers; look like a bike supplier, but bolts is bolts! Stainless, titanium and anodised alloy plus all the braided steel hose and fittings you\'d ever need. Used them for year, very good firm!
http://www.bsr-aerotek.com/

Pro-bolt are another great firm I\'ve been using for bike stuff for years, very, very good quality stuff, but you pay for it! Higher-class products that Aerotek, but reeeeeally nice (is it wrong to feel that way about nuts lol)
http://www.tastynuts.com/site/frameset.htm

[D2BBA]

Cheers for the link Nik

What do you recon to this kit, or will be majority be useless on our cars:  http://www.bsr-aerotek.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1112

Chris

[Nik da Greek]

That\'s the sort of tub I\'ve bought a few of, and you do tend to end up with loads of leftover nuts and a few bolts that you just don\'t have anything in that size to replace. I\'m not sure there\'s anything much on a Rex that uses M5, though there are probably a few M8 bolts scattered about. If possible, it\'s best to order specifically for the size and length you\'re gonna need most of, otherwise you\'ll find you use all the M6 x 25mm bolts straight away and then spend days sawing the end off M6 x 80mm bolts and throwing 55mm of them away. Makes it a bit tedious, is all

[SiH]

I\'m getting all of mine from wwww.stagonset.co.uk or //www.a2a4.co.uk - friends have used both before and rate them both
Nik: I was going to go for a bunch of 25 and 50\'s, so that sounds about right!
Cheers all
Now to find a Halfords that\'s got the sodding chimney nuts in stock...

[allstaruk]

The thread pitch it slightly different on jap bolts to uk ones.

[craigr]

Yes, tastynuts is one of the places I was looking at. The trouble on this is quantity as these suppliers want to sell you a whole bunch at once, or charge you through the nose for individual ones. Maybe if we figure out the overall specs and quantities for dressing the FD engine bay, we can get together some form of group-buy and benefit from the lower charges.

[Nik da Greek]

A supplier I\'ve also used are an eBay shop, "boltmeup" They do kinda just unexiting bog standard type stainless bolts and stuff, so I use them for bolts that aren\'t immediately obvious, not ones at the top/front of the engine bay. Nothing wrong with them, but they tend to have the size stamped in the head and aren\'t necessarily of the highest grade materials, but perfectly serviceable, and above all, CHEAP! Very quick and professional service, too
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/stainlessbolts_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm
I agree places like pro-bolt (tastynuts) can be very expensive, but their products really do look the absolute, er, nuts (groan) so I tend to use them more selectively for the more obvious bolts. HTH

[craigr]

I was just going through costing up the initial replacements on Tastynuts. Nearly £6 EACH for Titanium replacements to the suspension nuts, £4 for Stainless..... I stoppped counting when my basket had breached £100.

Now for some other options I guess, but gawdamnit those Titanium beastys look awesome.

I hear Aluminium / anodised jobs are no good for stress applications, but I don\'t know what they class as stress.

[Nik da Greek]

Yeah, alloy is no good for anything that takes weight or strain. You can actually snap poor quality M6 aluminium bolts by hand if you use a long enough spanner to tighten them! They\'re fine for stuff like brackets, holding on the headlights, all that sorta thing. I\'m not sure I\'d use them to hold the battery in place, or anything heavy like that, though.

Titanium are the absolute acme, I\'ve got some (very) select ones on the bike, like the brake calipers, but they were something like fifteen quid each:2eek! They will take just about anything you throw at them, just about unbreakable, but you do need to use lots of copperslip on them because the thread galls quite easily, and you really do not want a titanium bolt to seize in, for example, a suspension arm, it\'d be easier to cut the arm off around it than to drill the bolt out!I have a mate with more money than sense, who\'s replaced just about every nut and bolt on his Honda SP2 with titanium, the rear axle nut alone is something like £100 ! Unfcknblvble!