Bolts and Backyarders

I suspect that when DIY backyard guys give the dailydriver a freshen up with rings and bearings, nine times out of ten the old connecting rod bolts are refitted.

Depending on the application, high tensile bolts are often designed to ‘stretch’ when torqued up to factory spec. In many cases the neck of the bolt is ‘waisted’ so that the torque load is spread over the whole length of the bolt including the larger diameter threaded section. So once that component has been installed

it shouldn’t be re-used.

The average Joe gets away with it on his town hack, but fitted to a race engine it is like a time bomb waiting to explode.

As regards the material we know as stainless steel, there used to be 32 grades of ‘stainless’ and the one that shines up the best and has the most corrosion resistance is also the weakest, strength wise.

So those enterprising people making stainless steel ‘tow balls’ out of this grade in the back shed have a good chance of losing their box trailer or caravan out along the highway. There are also heat resistant grades, among others, for specific applications.

Regarding the steering assembly work on Ed Guido’s Kingswood, a shortcut that was far too common years ago with Dodgy Brothers mechanics was that, after a wheel alignment, if the steering wheel was not in the correct orientation when the road wheels were at the straight ahead position, they would pull the steering wheel off the shaft splines and rotate it around to suit, then reinstall it.

Engineering-wise that is an epic fail! Ten minutes spent on adjusting the tie-rods in unison is all that is required to obtain the correct steering wheel orientation.

Eric Waples