CraigH

3/8"-16 is what is needed

I went with 4" Grade 5

3/8"-16—Neck: Wd. 0.39"

4" Full 25 93604A685 11.15
4 1/2" Full 25 93604A687 13.15
5" Full 25 93604A689 14.44
5 1/2" Full 10 93604A691 6.31
6" Full 10 93604A693 7.01
6 1/2" Partial to Full 10 93604A695 7.33

Yes the US online vendors like

http://www.mcmaster.com/# and http://www.boltdepot.com

certainly have a great selection, something we don't always have access to locally here.

CraigH

So finally got back to working on the Vette.

I got both grade 5 and 8 carriage end bolts while in the US recently



Decided to use the grade 8 bolts and fitted the replacement Borgeson box. No chance of tires catching on these.





All bolted up and both tierods even and wheels pointing forward now :-)

Took it for a drive , with a very rough toe setting, and it was great.

Nice feel on center that i did not have before.

Cant wait to get it aligned properly.

Again a big thanks to Borgeson and AussieJohn for swapping out my box that was so far out of warranty. Great after sales support guys.

CraigH

While i was at it I replaced the valve cover cork gaskets with better rubber ones. Had a pesky leak in rear corner.

Metalhead140

Excellent! Looks like those bolts are just barely long enough?

CraigH

Thanks, the bolts at 4" have just under 2 mm thread extension past the nut once fully torqued.

I would have thought that as long as the nut is fully engaged to the thread it should be ok.

Hope so anyway :-)

CraigH

If your adding the strengthening plate to yours you will need at least 4 1/2" dependant on plate thickness.

Metalhead140

Sounds like they fit perfect, but yeh, I'll need a little longer I suppose. Thanks!

Andy Tuttle

Where did you get your carriage bolts? I need 4 1/2 inch bolts of 3/8 preferably with fine thread of either grade 8 or grade 5. Several places have told me that what I want doesn't exist!

Andy Tuttle

Just saw the post above. Don't know how I missed that. I will check them out!

BLUE1972

Stress travels at a 45 degree angle so you should be fine. Normally you want 50 % of the bolt thickness (core diameter, not thread O.D.) past the nut.

CraigH

Put the Vette on the aligner after all the work and was fairly close. Toe was marginal but after adjusting it I have about 3.2mm at front. Was after lots of caster and i only have stock a-arms so happy with what I have...but a little too much camber and caster on the left front compared to right so will remove 1 thin shim from both front and back bolts on left. Toe at back was good on Right but when I got home i swapped a small shim from inner to outer on the rear left to add more toe in and even it up. Other than that drives very nicely now. Good to have a shop that will let me put it up on the aligner and check it out after i do mods .... Lets me go away and adjust and bring back later to check again. Means i learn heaps and costs me nothing other than time... :-)

CraigH

Was reading some threads re the radiator support and rust and I had already replaced mine earlier but decided to revisit it and add a couple of drain homes on the bottom to let any trapped water out.

Was amazed how easy it is to get water into into it through all the seams etc when washing the car etc.

After drilling the holes I sprayed it with a mix of fish oil and tar through the various gaps top and bottom to protect it as much as I can.





Mix is still dripping out the holes when i took these.

Metalhead140

Good idea. My rad support is the only rusty part on the car.

BLUE1972

Same here on my 72 only issue was 3" of rust on the center , bottom of the core support - no other rust on the car.

I agree, should have drilled drain holes and sent it out to be dipped.

But it did last 44 years and 1 month. So I guess I change it again when I'm 108....

mysticpete

Hey Craig, do you have any shots of refitting the chrome T-Bar, basically I'm trying to decide whether I need to add a cult strip to the front edge when i refit it, the manual does not show any cult and I cannot remember it being sticky to remove, what did you do?

Have already replaced the rubber on the end mouldings.

Thanks in advance
Pete

CraigH

Hi Pete

I removed the pillar stainless but not the top stainless so dont have any pictures to show of that.

I had a link to a great site where it covered windscreen removal and all trim but just checked and site is not there any more.

mysticpete

Thanks for the response Craig, I thought as much as there was no reference in your build list, having my windscreen replaced this weekend as I cracked it while putting the ends back in

BLUE1972

Looks great.. I'm impressed with the outcome... thanks

CraigH

Still working to remove any tramline effect in the Vette so I did some testing with the 15" wheel set rather than 18"s.

Latest suspension and alignment settings are a huge improvement but i want to try and get it with no tramline at all.

The 15's do not exhibit the problem.

Next steps I will

• add Global West upper control arms so i can push the caster beyond 4-5 degrees while keeping camber in reasonable bounds
• try swapping the front tyres down to 235/45/18 from 245/45/18

CraigH

Cleaned up the stock rims and fitted new rings etc.

Nice stock look for a while till I put the 18's back on again.