kicked up fasteners

[Bustedknuckles]

I am considering replacing the bolts and nuts forward of the firewall with stainless or having them chromed.....just to kick it up a notch. Anyone had experience with either approach? I have mocked everything up and now disassembled to send chassis out for powder coat.

[Tim Whittaker]

Not sure if it's what you are looking for but I plan to change all that I can to ARP stuff. They make allen and 12 pt. hardware that looks pretty good. I used one of their engine dress up kits on my last two Cobra builds and it looks good.

[Bustedknuckles]

Sorry, i was not very clear. Yes, I have used ARP bolts on the engine. I am talking about the upper and lower control arm bolts as well as engine mount and shock bolts.

[Tim Whittaker]

I believe ARP makes bolts for just about everything. I referenced their engine dress up kit but they make bolts of different sizes I believe.

[Tim Whittaker]

Looking at the web page, they have bolts from 1/2" length to 6" in sizes up to 1/2" in diameter. That should take care of the majority of what I plan to use. Their site suggests they are much stronger than a Gr 8 bolt and that fits the bill as well. And .... their purdy ....

[1fastsedan]

I used all socket cap stainless bolts on my motor, haven't tackled the chassis hardware yet. It might help if you could get the grade of the bolts from Factory Five, then you'll know you're still within the design specs.

[Bob Cowan]

I'm not a big fan of chrome fasteners. If you want a quality grade 5 fastener with a chrome plating you have to search for them, and they are expensive.

Chrome plating is very hard - part of it's charm. That also makes it somewhat brittle. During normal installation, the plating can crank. Water gets in there, and causes corrosion where you can't see it.

For good looks, a quality polished SS fastener is a better choice.

Then there's the whole argument of grade 5 vs. grade 8.......

[Tim Whittaker]

For reasons Bob points out, I plan to go with stainless for the chassis stuff but will probably go with the chrome on the engine again. ARP offers both stainless and chrome.

[Bustedknuckles]

Thanks everyone. For some reason, I did not understand how broad ARP's offerings were. I have always gone to their website focused on a specific engine application.....and didn't really look around that much. I get too focused sometimes......my wife says this is a fault.