Source for light weight bolts?

[Ron Earp]

I'm interested in acquiring some lightweight suspension bolts for my race car. I've got a target amount of weight I want to eliminate from the car an this is one of the steps in the plan, as well as getting weight out of me and other nooks and crannies in the car.

Ideally I'd like to take a sample bolt of each I need replaced and send it to someone for a quote. I've probably got close to thirty large OEM suspension bolts that I've targeted for substitution, maybe six or eight different sizes.

So what is the best option - titanium bolts? Gun drilled bolts? Most all of them are in double shear, you know, a typically bolt through a lower control arm that fits into a K member, that sort of thing. All bolts will need to be of the same dimensions as the original, which are quite large and what makes them attractive to the rule "bolts may be replaced with bolts that perform the same function".

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

Ron, There is a guy here in Tucson that sells titanium bolts. He has lightened up his ZO6 quite a bit with titanium. I don't know if he has the sizes you're looking for, I can email his phone number if you're interested.

 

[Jim Cowden]

Surplus air craft supplier maybe worth a try.
I might be wrong but I was told a/craft bolts are imp, enough a/craft boys on this site to comfirm that.

Jim

 

[Phil]

Ron:
Why not take all the bolts you intend to use to a local machine shop, a little lathe time and you will have what you need.
Generally most stuff can be drilled quite far without the use of a gun drill, and even a small lathe will do the job. I don't know how long the bolts you have are, but I regularly drill 4 and 5" GR8 bolts with no problem, 6" or 7" should be doable with a longer drill.
I have seen some drilled bolts available, but generally the not the sizes I was looking for, so we just drill them.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Jac Mac]

Some of the larger bolts can be 'waisted' as per blue areas of dwg for a greater weight loss than gun drilling.

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Ron,

How much weight do you want to lose? Would there be a cheaper alternative to the the bolts? I mean that Mustang is no lightweight to start with!

Like Don, the old guy that was my bodyshop manager, he weighed about 90 Lbs soaking wet. He raced vintage motorcycles and Harley "stock" class. Told us once about one of his competitiors bragging about the titanium sprocket and bolts he bought for big dollars. "Saved 9 ounces!" the guy bragged. Don's reply? "Well, if you cut down on the cheeseburgers and took a good dump, you could accomplish the same thing for a lot less!"

 

[andys]

Ron,
Try APC Fasteners for hollow bolts. Mostly sprint car stuff, but perhaps they have something you coud use.
Andy

 

[Cliff Beer]

Ron, I'd give speedwaymotors.com a call. They have a lot of titanium fasteners, and I've bought some from them with some very specific dimensional requirements. Reasonably priced too (for titanium). They even have kits so that you don't have to call/order for each/every bolt.

I bought a kit like this kit: Garage Sale - Maxim Titanium Shock/D-Link/Tie Bolt Kit - Speedway Motors, America's Oldest Speed Shop

 

[Ron Earp]

Some of the larger bolts can be 'waisted' as per blue areas of dwg for a greater weight loss than gun drilling.

That is a good idea there and something I'd seen but forgotten. Thanks!

Ron,

How much weight do you want to lose? Would there be a cheaper alternative to the the bolts? I mean that Mustang is no lightweight to start with!

About 300 lbs would be nice. But, that can't be done legally. I do think we can loose around 80-100 lbs legally and this would be a small part of that weight. By itself, saving a few lbs with fasteners like this doesn't mean much, but it all adds up. We kept a pretty good spreadsheet with weight we'd legally deleted and it is amazing - 8 lbs sound deadening, 13 lbs of extraneous wiring, ~15 lbs in fasteners that were no longer needed to fasten stuff that was gone, and so on.

Thanks for the ideas and links guys.

 

[Randy V]

I think I would do some rust repair on the roof, doors, floors, firewall, tunnel.. Aluminum does not rust. (wink)...

If your cage was made of .125 wall tubing, may want to switch to moly tubing the next size larger in diameter but .090 wall..

Unobtainium bolts are nice, but very pricey..

Acid dipping is another option to remove all the body sealer and maybe a few thou of material off all surfaces..

 

[Ron Earp]

I got most of the sealer off but there is still a bit left. The car is built and racing now, so acid dipping is right on out of the box.

I think that chromemoly tubing rule is now gone overall, or isn't in effect for IT cars. I'm pretty sure we checked when we did the cage and we made it out of the lightest legal tubing we could which was based on the classed weight, not the actual weight mind you. That is a bit stupid IMHO.