Zcar Creations Stainless Steel fastener kits

[hls30.com]

I just recieved the stainless steel fastener kits from Z-car Creations, and I have got to say WOW!

I ordered six of the fastener kits-all that are available and required for my 240Z Restmod, 14lbs worth, and they are excellent! Every collections of fasteners is clearly labeled as to what assembly it is for, and hermeticly sealed in a baggie-the baggie is heavy duty enough to take some abuse with out dumping its contents.

If you take things apart and toss the fasteners in a bucket, as a few unnamed members here have admitted to doing, these fastener kits could be your salvation.

While the fasteners are not dead-ringers for oem parts, they are better than the rust prone pieces used in many places-the fender bottoms, exhaust studs, the under the cowl fender attatchments, the cowl screws, the wiper pivot screws, the hatch hardware, the grill fasteners, the headlight bolts, to name a few.

There is a note to use anti sieze on the hardware, and I would hope every threaded hole is chased then bolted.

Will

[speedyblue]

Sure beats my method: Rocking up to the bolt shop with a handfull of rusty bolts and asking for 6 of that, 10 of those and 8 of this one, all in stainless. They love me there.

Sounds like a good package to get your hands on. Stainless is definately the way to go IMO.

[dkd021]

I bought one of everything he had for my 240 & I thought his prices were reasonable too. It's faster, less stressful, & probably ends up being close to the same price after making repeated trips to the store to buy more bolts.

[jmark]

Used some of his kits on the 280Z. Turned out well.

[EScanlon]

...There is a note to use anti sieze on the hardware, and I would hope every threaded hole is chased then bolted.

Will

This bears repeating, and emphasizing.

Even if you re-use your original hardware after you cleaned it up, the never-seize is an excellent idea. Granted, you need to be careful with the silver paste stuff as that stuff will get on your hands and every single panel you touch thereafter.

One important note, make sure that you do use lock washers and or nylon lock nuts when necessary. Otherwise you're asking for something that needs to be fimrly bolted eventually working itself loose.

On areas where you've used POR, this can't be emphasized enough.

CHASE THE THREADS!!!

If you try to cut through the POR, even with stainless screws, you are almost ensuring that you will strip or cross-thread into the carbon steel nut you're threading into. POR is tough and extremely strong. Even when you cut the thread through it you'll be surprised at how tough it is, it just doesn't cut like paint does.

And don't forget that some screws and bolts should be locked tight WITHOUT never-seize. These should be locked in place with Loc-Tite or some similar product.

Enrique

[Go240Zags]

This bears repeating, and emphasizing.

One important note, make sure that you do use lock washers and or nylon lock nuts when necessary. Otherwise you're asking for something that needs to be fimrly bolted eventually working itself loose.

On areas where you've used POR, this can't be emphasized enough.

CHASE THE THREADS!!!

If you try to cut through the POR, even with stainless screws, you are almost ensuring that you will strip or cross-thread into the carbon steel nut you're threading into. POR is tough and extremely strong. Even when you cut the thread through it you'll be surprised at how tough it is, it just doesn't cut like paint does.

And don't forget that some screws and bolts should be locked tight WITHOUT never-seize. These should be locked in place with Loc-Tite or some similar product.

Enrique

Great suggestions, but call be uninformed, but what does "chase the threads mean?" Thread screw or bolt in first before painting with Por 15 and back out afterwords or? Excuse my ignorance.

[NCLarry]

Great suggestions, but call be uninformed, but what does "chase the threads mean?" Thread screw or bolt in first before painting with Por 15 and back out afterwords or? Excuse my ignorance.

I believe he means to run a tap through to clear out the threads...

For clearing threads, I purchased a full kit of metric tap/dies off ebay for like $5. Plus s/h.

[MikeW]

Great suggestions, but call be uninformed, but what does "chase the threads mean?" Thread screw or bolt in first before painting with Por 15 and back out afterwords or?

It means using the proper tap to make sure the threads are clean. A tap is a tool that allows you to make your own threads in metal. You first drill a hole and then use the appropriate tap to cut new threads into the hole. The tap can also be used to clean out the threads in an existing threaded hole. You can buy a tap and die set with all the appropriate metric sizes. A die is the opposite of a tap. You use it to make or clean threads on the bolt part.

[Go240Zags]

It means using the proper tap to make sure the threads are clean. A tap is a tool that allows you to make your own threads in metal. You first drill a hole and then use the appropriate tap to cut new threads into the hole. The tap can also be used to clean out the threads in an existing threaded hole. You can buy a tap and die set with all the appropriate metric sizes. A die is the opposite of a tap. You use it to make or clean threads on the bolt part.

Thanks everyone for the answers. Have heard of taps and dies and knew what they were used for, but have never done so myself. Sounds like something I need to pick up. Gary ;D

[mdbrandy]

I bought most of his kits a while back, and I've been slowly going through them as I work on my 280Z. Good stuff, and the labeling is generally right on.

[EScanlon]

Chasing Thread means, as MikeW and Larry said, to run your tap through the hole to ensure that the thread has no deformity in it (such as POR), or a bent thread.

By running your tap carefully into the hole that's already threaded you remove anything that would interfere with a proper load on the bolt.

Cutting new thread is where you MAKE the thread on the rod.

The position where you begin cutting new thread isn't normally important (meaning in radian degrees of the rod), but chasing thread on an old bolt or nut you need to be careful that you are in fact chasing the old thread and not beginning to cut new.

Sorry for the confusion.

E

[BadDog]

... but I only ended up using about 1/2 to 2/3 of what came in the kit that was applicable to my car. I bagged and tagged everything upon disassembly, and I found that sometimes the stainless kit just plain had the wrong bolt/screw. Sometimes I could substitute something from the 280Z pieces to work on my 240, but many times I had to use the original bolts or screws. I also had problems with the washers and/or lock washers being too small in diamater or too thick. For example, the washers for the front fenders were had a smaller diameter than the original washers, and tended to end up halfway in the fender's cutouts when I went to tighten them. I did the best I could with them, but sometimes I just had to swap in the old nasty washers. Another example: the screws and washers that attach the side valences to the sides of the front bumper. The pieces just wouldn't work for me, I used the original screw (slightly longer) and original washers (thinner, wider diameter).

All in all, its definitely better than schlepping back and forth to the bolt/hardware supplier (for example nobody in my town has 9mm bolts!!!!) but I'm not sure if it was worth the price paid considering how often I *couldn't* use the fasters in the kit... not to mention the fact that it contained *none* of the nuts/nutserts you might need if your old ones were rusted out or had other issues!

-Ken P.