What type of bolts is everyone using as replacements for the old rusty, dirty ones?

Just regular bolts?

 

Brand spankin new steel ones. You can get the bolts and nuts at the dealership, just don't count on them getting you the right ones


Anyone know how much powdercoating costs, while we're on the subject?


Another tip that I plan on doing is replacing all the bolts (if I can) with hex nut bolts! You know the bolts that you find on miscellanious things that have an allen socket instead of a regular hex head.
I also plan on taking my intake with all the vacuum plugs that I am currently NOT using, and tap them, then add really small allen bolts to plug em.
I think it'll look neat.

 

i just clean the old ones as good as i can, they are fairly resilient to rusting at least out here they are... nothing looks as good as the gold tinted OEM bolts imo, you can go rice and put on some anodized bolts but you can overdo it very easily dressing up an engine, especially with bolts.. i stuck with black vacuum lines because even colored ones usually overpower the engine bay, SS lines are the only replacement i would consider.

 

Thing is, paying 5 dollars a bolt for relay's and brackets is gonna get expensive fast lol.

 

i didn't mean run out to your local dealer and pay them list price, lol.


my engine has 160k+ on it and it still cleans up fairly nice, just takes a little work to get the road film off the surface, not that i expect all FCs to come clean but who knows...

 

I have heard of people putting nuts and bolts in a tumbler with metal media and coming out blinging!

 

i have mine custom made, by an old dude. he makes them from solid titanium mixed with plutonium coated in platinum with a diamond finish.

actually i usually just go to ace hardware for small bolts that arent really important.

if you really want to bling, summit has anodized aluminum bolts. very lightweight actually. theyre hollowed out.

 

Lots of hobby/motorcycle shops sell SS/chrome bolts and things.

 

lol you know your running out of projects when your worrying about the look of your bolts. Well either that or you have one sweet running FC.

 

Nah actually i need a new motor, but i figure while i pull this one, i'll make the bay spotless and nice for when time comes for new motor

 

When doing my complete restoration I took a 10 pounds of bolts off the car, cleaned them with the wire wheel on the bench grinder, threw out those that failed my own inspection or looked weak, and had the rest professionally re-plated with zinc which provides the rust-resistant gold finish.

 

If you look around, you can find companies selling "asian / foreign" auto fasteners that have the correct "undersized heads." Nothing worse than putting a 17mm head in place of a broken 14mm head bolt.

Also, swing by your local mazda salvage yard. They usually have a bucket of bolts handy.

Finally there are companies that sell new fasteners for engines. You can probably have them make or recommend a place that sells custom fasteners.