Hi Dean
I found a great source for bolts locally (to me), they are (as was mentioned
recently) agricultural agents, they are dealers for several manufacturers,
can't remember which ones though, they have racks of different sizes of
bolts and the corresponding nuts. If you are unsure of the size of the bolt
you want, take the old one with you and they can either identify by eye if
they are experienced or they will take a guesstimate and try a nut to
identify the thread.
Graham.
| This whole subject I think is something that needs more exploring. I
| generally tend to order all nuts, bolts, etc. from the big suppliers,
| simply because I know I'll get something which fits, and is the
appropriate
| strength/grade for the task. But I realise that I pay over the odds for
| this, and I also feel stupid phoning Kippings to mail-order a few pence
| worth of nuts - the postage sometimes costs more than the parts! (I
| usually try to order at the same time as something else, but sometimes it
| just doesn't work out.....)
|
| I know that many listers have vast amounts of experience in engineering,
| automotive or otherwise, and can confidently go into a hardware store and
| buy exactly what they need, but my attempts to do this in the past have
| usually fallen flat. Often this is because I can't find a part that fits.
| Do many stores stock only metric bolts now?
|
| I did once manage to find a nut for the exhaust manifold-downpipe, only to
| have it fall off a couple of weeks later - apparently I'd bought one in
the
| wrong material (can't remember what) and it expanded due to the heat. Ok,
| stupid I know, but I'm not an engineer (well, I'm a computer engineer, but
| this isn't very relevant). Of course I know that exhaust manifolds get
| hot, but I *don't* know which materials expand more than others.
|
| What would be really cool is a list of all the nuts, bolts and other
common
| parts that go into our cars, and a spec for each one - something that I
can
| take into a hardware shop, show them, and without any more questions be
| given the correct thing. Does anyone know of a resource like this? If
| not, would anyone with a website be willing to host it - I'm sure that if
| the list all got together we'd be able to get a sizeable list of bolts
| without too much effort.
|
| I'd also appreciate some pointers from UK listers on where to go to get
| these parts. I tend to try places like B&Q, but as I said, I often don't
| have too much joy.
|
| Dean
|