[enderw88]

I am really unhappy with the quality of the material used for the hard top clunk bolts. I am going to make a set from SS bolts. If there is any interest I can turn down a few extras. If there is a lot of interest I can develop some tooling to make it a more economic job. These will be M8 cap head allen rather than torx.

 

[sturgeongeneral]

I'm always up for stainless! Be sure to check quality though. There's cheap stainless out there that will rust! -eek-

 

[enderw88]

I'm always up for stainless! Be sure to check quality though. There's cheap stainless out there that will rust! -eek-

I am going with 18-8 from McMaster-Carr. They usually have pretty good quality. Of course I could go with ARP at about $4 per fastener...The only drawback with the ARP fasteners is that they are only available in flanged 10mm hex head rather than allen head. I prefer the esthetics of socket head rather than hex. What's your opinion?

 

[oldmansan]

I am going with 18-8 from McMaster-Carr. They usually have pretty good quality. Of course I could go with ARP at about $4 per fastener...The only drawback with the ARP fasteners is that they are only available in flanged 10mm hex head rather than allen head. I prefer the esthetics of socket head rather than hex. What's your opinion?

Button head cap screw would be my preference. Socket head cap screw would also suffice.

San

 

[enderw88]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I will switch out the fasteners on the headliner trim panel as well, but those don't require any machining. They are simply M8x20mm. The clunk bolts are normally hidden, but whatever material they used just looks atrocious. It is so ugly I don't even want it hidden. It is probably the same material used on the wheel lugs. I have never seen such an unattractive metal.

I suspect that as I get into this car more I am going to be replacing a lot of fasteners for no other reason than to satisfy my OCD. I built my Super Stalker with nearly all AN fasteners.

 

[Riceburner98]

I tried stainless as I typically hate black oxide (rust), but didn't like the contrast against the black fuzzy material. I ended up with the black oxide flange-head SHCS with black nylon washers and a nice ball-end hex driver that I keep with the top. Those rear flappy-clamp bracket things bother me (they always catch on something as I'm pulling or installing the top) so I didn't even bother turning grooves into the screws, I just take them all the way out and remove the brackets completely. Soo much easier. (Until of course you drop a screw under the passenger seat!)

Have you ever used the 'black oxide' stainless? McMaster doesn't have it in this size, but wondering if it has the benefits of not rusting while still being black..

I agree on the material / screw choice being terrible, along with Torx being a bad choice for those rear bolts. Mine were so stripped when I got the car it was nearly impossible to get them out. Nothing wrong with a little OCD!