Metric fan studs

[79blazer]

I want to put in an electric fan but when I remove the fan clutch, I cant reuse the 4 studs to keep the pully bolted in. I rather get 4 regular bolts, but I can't find them, and there metric. Where can I get? thanks!!!!!!

[79BIG10]

Are you sure there metric? I thought they were SAE? If anything you can get the right ones at any local Home Depot or Lowe's.

[87 STEPPER]

When i installed my Ele. fan i ran into the same problem so i just whiped out the ol' handy dandy tap and die set tnd tapped that sucker to an SAE thread and used some nice 12 pt. APR bolts to hold on the pulley.

Or you can go to pep boys or where ever and get the metric version in a bolt form instead of the stud just make shure it's a grade 8 you don't want the bolt's to brake and send this stuff into the rad i dont think a home improvement store is a good sorce for automotive hardware they don't sell stuff thats grade 8 in fact there stuff is more like grade crap!

And if you really want a good grade of auto hardware you can go to your local junk yard and find some bolts that will work.

Good luck.

[krue]

I'd try the local hardware store (ace or true value, maybe even Lowe's or Home Depot). Grade 8 is probably way overkill on this, imo

[piecesparts]

I went to the local auto parts store and got metric allen head bolts and bolted them right in. and YES they are metric and just about any quality hardware store or auto parts store, that has bolts in bulk, will sell the metric stuff. I took my stock fan off and mounted a dual electric fan set about six months ago. I gained about a mile per gallon.

[79blazer]

Actualy they are NOT metric, they are 5/16 Fine thread (24). I think grade 5 would be fine, but I got grade 8 black allen heads with grade 8 washers for Less that $4 dollars!!! Its not overkill for that price. They look great! I almost got chrome ones, but they didn't know what grade they were, and they were very expensive. Home depot had a small bolt section, while Ace had a vast selection, and thats where I got it. My mistake was because the studs fit into the metric size tester.

[Eyegore]

79blazer, where in az are you located?

[79blazer]

Mesa, why? My truck is not for sale! here's my bolts

[Eyegore]

I like to know where fellow zonies are at in the valley

[79blazer]

oh cool. I thought you may have seen me on the road or something.

[piecesparts]

I disagree, the bolts in the 88 and later are a metric thread, and the replacement pumps from Edelbrock and other aftermarket suppliers are also metric. Been there and tried everything. The older pumps are a standard thread, but the Metric morons have caught up with the later pumps. I agree with the discussion about the Hardware lines that cary the chrome bolt kits---I even checked, they are of a grade 5 or 8 quality, also.

[magnethead]

if you want grade 8, hit up tractor supply. I don't think they have anythign that small thought. I just bought a 5/8x9 grade 8 bolt from there (i've broken 3, this is the 4th i think)

[79blazer]

Thank you for the correction, piecesparts. I was assuming all sbc water pumps were the same. I asked the older gentleman working in that section of the hardware store to unlock the chrome bolt section, they keep them locked up. Then he started to ask questions.

Me: Do you know what grade these are?
Him: what do you need them for?
Me: For a car
Him: what on a car?
Me: the water pump. Sir, I know what size I need. I just want these bolts and washers.
Him: Why the hel! do you need chrome bolts on a water pump?
Me: I want to. Its custom and its for a pulley.
(mild arguing from both of us…some fowl language…)
Me: All I want to know is what grade these are.
Him: they are cr@p. They’re just for looks.

All I had to do was check the Bags of bolts behind the little boxes for individual pieces. I didn’t think of that. It is real hard to get along with people sometimes.

[piecesparts]

Don't relate to them, just tell them that you are buying chrome bolts for your water pump and let him wonder. I have numerous supply houses around me that carry grade 5 and grade eight bolts---will never buy a bolt of a lower grade than a 5, ever again. If I am going to install something, then it is going on without any chance of me breaking it or it breaking from vibration. I have only one that has the chrome plated bolt supply, they get a lot of Harley owners in there. I even have a "Fastenal" company store here that has stainless steel bolts, they are just about the same tensile strength as a grade 5, but not quite. If you want a quality stainless steel bolt, then you have to purchase bolts through ARP and they are expensive.

[krue]

I am pretty sure that the stainless bolts have more tensile strength than a grade 5. They may bend but it's very difficult to break a stainless bolt (we use a lot of them at work due to the necessity of keeping rust out of our product).

[piecesparts]

If you go to the suppliers of stainless bolts, South Coast Stainless for instance, they give a large input on their bolts and the items to look for. Fastenal is also big on a description of their stainless bolts and they center on the fact that the bolts have a number related to their tensile strength. The best I can get out of their representativess is that the bolts are relative to a Grade 5. There is nothing wrong with using stainless steel, as long as the install is done with a lubricating dope of some sort. I have a lot of stainless that I have used in one of the motors that I put together, but if you want a hardened bolt, ARP is the source.

We use a lot of stainless at the power plant that I work at and to get a bolt that is nuclear grade, we have to pay five times what the bolt is worth over the counter. All of our coolant systems are stainless steel.

[krue]

I spent 8 yrs on nuclear submarines in the Navy, there's stainless....then there's STAINLESS . The stainless used in power plants isn't really steel at all.

[piecesparts]

Yeah, to bad that you can't get the same quality on the open market. However who in their right mind would pay $10.00 a bolt, besides the government.

[Eyegore]

79 try copperstate nut and bolt, 35th Avenue I believe between thomas & Mcdowell roads, or better yet look up in the directory, they carry about everything.

[krue]

The government is paying more for the traceability of the parts than anything else. Every part on a nuclear power plant can be traced back to the mine the metal was mined from originally.