Morris Minor Owners Club

I was over at ESM yesterday and they had a van in for some work which had stainless steel nuts and bolts holding the rear door hinges on.

I admired them (the fittings, not the ESM guys ) and they said that stainless steel bolts etc come only in metric sizes, so some of them can fit the imperial holes in bodywork etc but some can't.

This is v interesting to me as when I put my van back together after restoring it I want to use all new nuts, bolts etc. and obviously stainless ones would be a good choice as regards their rust-proofing qualities. I'm after a very very long-lasting result!

But I have some questions:

1. Where do I get the imperial steel nuts n bolts from? Do I have to pay specialist MM garage prices for 'em or can I get them cheaper from ordinary motor factors? If the answer to the latter is "yes" then will they be best quality? Is there anywhere btw which sells a "full set of replacement nuts n bolts for a MM van", or do I have to make a 28-page list of every single nut and bolt I need?

2. How many of the nuts n bolts in a MM van can be replaced with stainless steel ones, and are they terribly expensive? and where do I get them from? and are they really worth the extra money?

Anyone know any of the answers to any of these questions?

Sorry for the bombardment!!!!!

juliet xxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Julliet,

You will find that imperial stainless nut/bolts are v.expensive compared to metric ones.If you can list the ones you require, I have good contacts with a fastner company.
So far we can only do traveller wood fixings in stainless, but if the question is asked I'm sure that something can be arranged.

thank you for that jonathan!

can you give me an example of the comparitive price of one stainless steel vs standard steel fixing, so that I can get an idea of the madness I am considering?

Hi Juliet

Try these links for nuts & bots inc stainless:-

www.wrightsautosupplies.co.uk

www.namrick.co.uk

Rog

I'll do some research on monday

huge thanks to both of yous

I'm sure there was another thread on this somewhere. Maybe a search is worthwhile. One thing you have to watch is using SS in high stress applications. Although the material doesn't rust, it's tensile strength is lower, so you don't want to be using it on chassis parts.
I've been to autojumbles and seen many suppliers doing a selection of UNC and UNF stainless, and I think even some BSW/BSF.

Another problem with Stainless ( I use them all the time at work) is they COLD weld together.

If you do them up to tight they will stick and you will have to break them to get them apart. Now the problem we have is 'Too tight' can be anything from- nipped up with only your fingers- to -spanner snappingly swung on.

We've been told the answer is to get different grades of stainless nuts and bolts. Standard seems to be A2 and A4 seems to be the slightly more expensive grade.

" One thing you have to watch is using SS in high stress applications. Although the material doesn't rust, it's tensile strength is lower, so you don't want to be using it on chassis parts. "

We've found it not to hard to break the 10mm bolts (3/8" ish) and possible with help to snap 12mm (1/2" ish) so I'd watch what you use them on.

If I were you, Juliet, I'd use 'normal' mild steel nuts and bolts. I have never felt really happy with stainless ones as they don't 'feel' right when nipping up. They feel too 'hard' which gives me the impression that they are likely to snap/shear under stress. In view of the comments above from lowedb and paulk I would definately go with 'normal' ones... after all, your van came out of the factory with them, so they must be OK.

I agree with CAM, put some grease on the threads when you are putting them in and they will be much easier to get out in the future

Aye, to give you an idea about stainless nuts and bolts, the bolts on the ETZ 125 clutch are stainless steel, and the first time I did them up I snapped all three; they need to be done up to something like .5lb ft; these 1/4" bolts, and taking them anywhere past 'just tight' just sheared them.

In the end I had to use a spring balance on the end of a spanner to do them up...

you are all most excellent people . thank you so much for heading me off from what would clearly have been a futile and possibly damaging course of action!!! Ordinary steel it is then, *wipes sweat from spreadsheet*



juliet xxxxxxxxxx

i agree with all the above points and would just like to add that stainless steel is more cathodic on the galvanic series than the mild steel plates inside your body to which the bolts thread into.

The end result is the mild steel or nut will rust instead of the bolt.