Morris Minor Owners Club

As im repalcing most of the fixings i thought stainless nuts and bolts might prove usefull. I was wondering if anyone does a kit of nuts bolts and washers so that i dont have to work out sizes. (or if any of u guys know which threads to get i can get a large mixed bag!

Cheers

Edd

Most threads on minors, if not all, are bsf( british standard fine) not a popular thread today. If the application requires a nut and bolt, and you don't mind non-original, I suppose any thread will do, but bear in mind that a fine thread tends to be more resistant to vibration. If you are screwing into or onto an original fitting the correct thread will be needed of course.

Smear some copper grease on the thread before assembly this will also help stop corrosion.

Try http://www.namrick.co.uk they have all sorts of ba, bsf and unf bolts and nuts of the sizes most used on a Minor. They also supply selection packs.

Copper grease is v. good as Kevin says but when there is no heat involved I've always found a smear of bog standard grease is o.k. (cheaper too). Always remember that it will probably be you that has to release the fixing the next time.

I use Modern screws in Dartford/Bexley, Kent

Hi edd,being as you are in Hornchurch.try superior stainless at Corringham.They stock all thread pitches,and are easy to deal with!Johnno

Stainless fasneres are one of the best corrosion resistant fastners, agreed. However when used on a car body and not a yatch, your fastner will become the cathode, and your mild steel car body will become anodic ( the body of the car or captive mild steel nut will rust away from around your fastner). As fasnters are far easy to replace than body work I would reccomend against it.

I think that good quality zinc or cad coated fastners will provide the best solution. Mechanical/organic zinc coating is fine too, and becoming more popular. Try to get ones that will withstand 1000 hour salt spray, and still have some sacrificial zinc left. I would suggest that the zinc ones are easier to paint than the cad plated ones.

Steer away from the plain black organic coatings, these provide very poor protection.

For holding on your hockey sticks and grill suround try using nylon nuts, they wont have galvanic or corrosion problems, nor will they break the studs out of your chrome work.

Unfortunately I can't reccomened were you might be able to find these in the UK.

Birmingham Minor centre sell a bag of mixed fasteners in the common sizes - looked like zinc coated but I onbly had a quick look. It might be worth asking them.

Hi,

As far I know Stainless fasteners shouldn't be used in high strength/ highly stressed applications as they do work harden and can fracture. This was just a small point I remebered from studying engineering at college. Can anybody else elaborate.


All the best,

Rich

No can't elaborate, but at the back of my mind I feel that I have heard similar. I think it may have been in relation to the substitution of original fixings on motorcycles.

i had to drill out all the bottom nut/bolts on front grille panel yesterday , im thinking of using brass ones as replacements ,unless anyones got a reason not too,sterve

I think the front grille nuts & bolts are notorious for seizing, much like those which bolt on the sill covers/finishers. Can't see much harm using s/steel components on either.

I always free them up and use copper grease when re-assembling them. Much better next time you come to take them off.

As far I know Stainless fasteners shouldn't be used in high strength/ highly stressed applications as they do work harden and can fracture. This was just a small point I remebered from studying engineering at college. Can anybody else elaborate.

You always have to be careful when replacing fixings. Even on ordinary steel bolts there is more than one strength or grade available. I don't know how BS or UN parts are marked but metric have figures such as 8.8 on them. This refers to two characteristics of the bolt/screw. One is the tensile strength, but I'm not sure about the other. In stressed areas such as suspension fixings, you need to make sure the replacement is of at least the same grade, and as stainless fixings are graded in a different way (a single letter) I can't see you can.

I don't know how BS or UN parts are marked but metric have figures such as 8.8 on them.

The first figure "8" refers to the ultimate tensile strength of the bolt in hundreds of MPa, here 800 MPa. The second number ".8" refers to the propotion of ultimate tensile strength that is the yields strenght, here 640MPa. Though stronger these bolts may be less tough than the originals. So they are probably not ideal for things experiencing impact loading, such as suspension. though they are certainly a better proposition than some of the cheap things that come from hardware stores.

Great,

now what's a MPa in real units?

(like cwt & lbs)

Colin

MPa is real units....
MPa are very user friendly units as 1 MPa also equals 1 Newton per square mm so if you know the strength of the material, you then just need to work out the cross section of the material in square mm and hey presto - you know whether you are close to the yield point or not.

if you want old english units then
1 MPa = 145.04 pounds per square inch