Art & Inspiration Fascinating Fasteners

The funny thing about saving old nuts and bolts is that you need to save even the rusty, damaged or otherwise ****py ones that obviously should go in the s**** can.

This is because you will need to replace a muffler or some exhaust parts on a car and can't bear to use those nice original '60s OEM nuts and bolts on something that will just rust away eventually. Then you will be looking for some **** bolts that you are happy to use up.

 

I am a bit of a fastener nerd. Many of the ch***is and engine fasteners on my 5w are chromed original Ford pieces. I have bins upon bins of old fasteners.

Interesting that you mention the shouldered bolts that Ford used on the shift tower (these were also used for the distributor to timing cover).

I recently had a batch made from stainless


And since you brought up the torque ratings, I subjected a NOS Ford bolt and one of the new bolts to a torque test. I went up from starting at 15 Ft-Lbs in 5 lb increments. They both failed at 40 Ft-Lbs, twice the common torque spec for a 5/16-18 fastener (12-20 Ft-Lbs)

 

Joey, I started collecting in my teens. nothing better than old hardware,

 

I hope you don't have to move house often!