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September 24, 2003
Okay, ED -
Here's the story: Grades 5, 8, etc are American designations which
were never used in England. I don't know, and you don't either, what
strength bolts and in which applications were used in cars of long
ago. Maybe some of them were not very strong, but I can assure you
that some were very strong. They were often not marked since their
use was controlled by part number, and one would have to refer to the
parts drawings and the old British Standards to find out exactly what
they were. That said, bolts in critical safety-related applications
like steering, suspension and brakes cannot be replaced with whatever
happens to be handy. I don't know who it was that told you grade 8
are not proper to use because they are brittle, because they are
not. Either you misunderstood, or he was incompetent. You won't
find any grade 5 on race cars, in fact you'll find very few grade 8.
High performance race cars use mugh higher (and, according to you,
more brittle) fasteners. Ferrari doesn't buy their bolts at Wal-Mart.
But here's the real problem, Ed: Let's suppose that someone who
reads this list is rebuilding the suspension on his Spridget. He's
misplaced the steering arm bolts, but he reads and believes what you
have posted about grade 5 being better, so he uses them to attach the
steering arms. Next day he's trying out his new car, flat out,
swerves to miss a dog and bangs a curb a mighty blow. That might be
the sort of lick which happens to stress the steering arm bolts just
to the point where the gr 5 fails, but the correct bolts would have
not failed. He dies because of misinformation you posted. The fact
you haven't had a failure yet is immaterial. If you want to post
opinions about the best brand of motor oil or paint, fine, but please
do not post about safety related concerns until you have some basic
understanding of engineering, or strength of materials or something.
NO, Ed. The foregoing is not BS. Do some internet research. Ask
someone who is qualified.
"Jeffrey Holmes" < tloutrec@... > 25530
Posted on September 24, 2003 01:25 AM
Posted to category(s) Body | Braking System | Engine (external) | Gauges | International | Lubrication System | Miscellaneous | Racing | Restoration | Suspension & Steering | Technical Info | Tuning
