MICK’S WORKSHOP

BOLTS AND BUSH FIXES

Okay, I t hought t his time around I’d rev isit one of my pet hates, which is seeing a caref ully rebuilt engine held together with old and sad look ing bolts. To me, it’s a huge wasted opportunit y to make a rea l v isua l impact wit h ver y litt le extra expense and trouble. Particularly t hese days, when t here are hordes of suppliers out t here of fering a lternatives.

Now the more experienced among you may well be aware t here are many different t y pes and st yles of fasteners out t here, including t he usual metric, SAE, Whitworth and so-on. The world was meant to go completely metric 30 or more years ago, but it never rea lly happened. What we got was what they ca ll a sof t conversion – some areas ‘took’, ot hers didn’t.

You can still get tools and components for a ll t hose t y pes of bolts (though Whitworth has got tougher over t he years), and you may need specia list adv ice, as t his will often be beyond your corner auto store. A dedicated tool shop and/or bolt shop is often t he go.

You might have heard it before, but t he right tool makes a ll t he difference. So, use a metric spanner on a metric head, or an imperial/SAE on t hat sort of bolt. Mixing and matching never rea lly works, particularly when t here’s a bit of force required. Use t he wrong one and you end up with rounded bolts and skinned k nuck les.

Speaking of rounded bolts, I’m a fan of some socket k its sold by Wurth, which have a spira l-machined inner and are designed specif ica lly for removing nuts or bolts with damaged heads.

The maker describes them as t wist sockets and t hey are incredibly tenacious. In fact, t he k it is supplied wit h a litt le punch to remove t he offending item from t he socket, once you have it of f. They’re not cheap – I reca ll around $250 for a set of 14, but I reckon it pays for itself t he f irst t ime you use it.

When it comes to doing up an engine, I like to do a few t hings. For a sta rt it pays to ta ke t he trouble to clean out t he t hreads, so any new bolt isn’t pick ing up swarf or debris t hat does damage. Secondly, I like to send of f t he orig inal bolts (if t hey’re st i l l okay) to be cleaned and nickel-plated. They’re often kept as a stand-by. Sometimes there might be just one case where you have to have t he original.

I’l l a lso order in a f resh set of sta inless bolts, particula rly for areas t hat are on show. It’s only a litt le t hing, but makes a huge dif ference to t he overa ll f inish. You can get sets for a lot of engines and t hey don’t necessarily cost a fortune. It’s money wellinvested.