What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2023]

[CopperNick]

What local hardware store? The few indies that did exist are all gone. Between competition from the big box suppliers and Covid killing in person shopping they died. Hardware, here and now, is an accessory item that people buy when they get their lumber order. Screws, nails, and lag bolts. Shower enclosures and sinks, porcelian thrones and appliances. Home Depot, oddly enough, is the best stocked when it comes to weird stuff but ittty-bitty screws don't much ittier-bittier than 8-32 which is a coarse thread machine screw. You might find 4-40 but that is brass and something the model railroaders mostly look for.



Nick

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

More research on that elusive machine screw led me to McMaster-Carr which does carry exactly what I described in a button head in small numbers for a decent price. Catch is they are in the You-Ess of Eh? and the S/H is typically hideous.


Nick

Have a picture of what you need?

Try a local fabrication shop, I work in one the amount of 8-32 screws we have are plenty..

 

[86LK]

googling ....trying to find alternative routes and suppliers....

Does Mcmaster Carr Ship to Canada? [2023](SOLUTION)

Are You Wondering Whether Is it possible to order from Mcmaster Carr American Store and deliver to Canada. We have the SOLUTION. You can deliver to Po Box, APO, even during COVID lock down. Read on...

scc41.org

https://craft.co/mcmaster-carr/competitors

 

[CopperNick]

Built6spdMCSS, ah, not 8-32, but 8-36. In machine screw speak, oddly enough even though the threads come in at 32 per inch, that is considered as being a coarse thread. Why? dunno, ask the SAE boffins, they set the standards around 3/4 of a century or so ago. 8-36 by description is termed "fine" thread.

The picture idea is a good one and something I can do as part of the next round of shots. Today is a write off for that as it just finally started to rain and is likely to keep on doing it for a while. Not an issue as there is plenty of room in the rain barrel for more water.

As for McMaster-Carr shipping north of the 49th, I already have a Stove Bolt order sitting on the books and may elect to add these machine screws to it before I pull the trigger. it all should fit in a USPS mailer carton but I hear that the US Postal Service is manpower hungry and it is hurting service. Heh.


Did use to be a Grainger outlet up here but it closed some time ago. Pickin's is getting purty thin on the ground, lads.



Nick

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Well, same as stated above, we have 8-36 also.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

On another note, is there material there to drill & tap for a common screw size you can find? Next size up is #10. I've done this before and it has worked.

 

[ck80]

Built6spdMCSS, ah, not 8-32, but 8-36. In machine screw speak, oddly enough even though the threads come in at 32 per inch, that is considered as being a coarse thread. Why? dunno, ask the SAE boffins, they set the standards around 3/4 of a century or so ago. 8-36 by description is termed "fine" thread.

The picture idea is a good one and something I can do as part of the next round of shots. Today is a write off for that as it just finally started to rain and is likely to keep on doing it for a while. Not an issue as there is plenty of room in the rain barrel for more water.

As for McMaster-Carr shipping north of the 49th, I already have a Stove Bolt order sitting on the books and may elect to add these machine screws to it before I pull the trigger. it all should fit in a USPS mailer carton but I hear that the US Postal Service is manpower hungry and it is hurting service. Heh.


Did use to be a Grainger outlet up here but it closed some time ago. Pickin's is getting purty thin on the ground, lads.



Nick

Nick, I'm relatively certain I've got some spare HEI dizzys around from cars I parted. If one shows it's ugly face without a lot of heavy lifting/digging and you think it's universal from a few years earlier of a mid-late 1980s unit, I'd be happy to rob them and mail them to you.

Alternative, we have an old school hardware section in the local feed store thats been around a good 60+ years now. Their hardware trays section on the wall is 100 feet long and 5 ft tall. No promises on those specs but I'm happy to pop in and look. They had identical hardware for stuff in my squarebody before, so, you never know. Same deal though, if it's there, I can mail you a couple so you've got spares. Stamps don't cost much.

 

[CopperNick]

Per request, a couple of shots of what an 8-36 T-15 Torx head machine screw looks like. The second shot, although blurry offers some sense of how short the little buggers actually are; .235 inch to be precise.

As to drilling out the holes in the distributor rotor mounting plate, yeah in theory it could be done but to accomplish the exercise the timer would have to come out as it is about as buried at the back of the motor as it is possible to be. My personal preference in this case is to leave the situation as stock as possible and as the mounting threads in the rotor plate are intact, work with them. It is a thought though.

A shot of some of the larger pieces that were cut away from the passenger side rocker panel on the Monte. Terminal cancer.

Just a couple of shots of the front bumper and what 20 years of road salt and brine can do to metal. Buried to the hilt in the bumper metal? is my Proto gasket scraper. Very little trouble in stabbing it into both of the curved returns of the bumper.

And here is the replacement bumper. I spent a few hours with a DA and 60 grit discs sanding it down to the bare metal. I did find one small slice where I will have to add some weld to close it up but otherwise, apart from two minor dents, not too bad at all. The dents might get to stay or receive some love from my 5# short maul and a section of 1/4 steel flat plate that is shaped for pushing, just to see if I can move them.

This was the reason that I dove into the front end in the first place. Not exactly visible but the top nut and bottom bolts for the shock are in the process of receiving regular applications of Deep Creep. Soaked them yesterday, once this morning and will again tonight, tomorrow after work, and then on Tuesday, see if they will cooperate. The shocks are both OEM original to the best of my knowledge and owe me nothing; I have a pair of KYB gas-adjusts sitting on the tonneau cover of the truck. Local indie actually had them in stock!!; mostly because someone once upon a time ordered them and then bailed on the purchase. Bonus for me.



Nick

 

[CopperNick]

Nick, I'm relatively certain I've got some spare HEI dizzys around from cars I parted. If one shows it's ugly face without a lot of heavy lifting/digging and you think it's universal from a few years earlier of a mid-late 1980s unit, I'd be happy to rob them and mail them to you.

Alternative, we have an old school hardware section in the local feed store thats been around a good 60+ years now. Their hardware trays section on the wall is 100 feet long and 5 ft tall. No promises on those specs but I'm happy to pop in and look. They had identical hardware for stuff in my squarebody before, so, you never know. Same deal though, if it's there, I can mail you a couple so you've got spares. Stamps don't cost much.

CK80, right now I wish I was living or passing through your town because I would be in that store faster than a dirty shirt can hit the laundry!! A bit lower down I've posted a pair of shots of that screw. FYI, it is not the same as a Large Cap HEI rotor screw.. Were that the case, I have a few candidates that I could vandalize for them. The big Q and sticking point is why GM elected to use Torx head screws??? The older ones were almost always Phillips and at least with them I had no problem in scrounging replacements. it is almost as if the factory is trying to make service work as hard as possible to force drivers into buying new as opposed to keeping and maintaining what they have. Gotta wonder.



CopperNick

 

[86LK]

View attachment 224594



Just a couple of shots of the front bumper and what 20 years of road salt and brine can do to metal. Buried to the hilt in the bumper metal? is my Proto gasket scraper. Very little trouble in stabbing it into both of the curved returns of the bumper.

Nick

you stabbed your bumper?