lukeyboy Posted December 9, 2007 Posted December 9, 2007 Can some one confirm my suspicions? Bloke at work is looking to buy himself a seven type car and has found a very good spec cosworth turbo westy with a lot of nice custom built gear on it. I had a quick look at the spec and noticed it said "high tensile A2 stainless steel bolts fitted thoughout" (including suspension). Am I right in thinking that stainless steel bolts are not high enough in the tensile strength department and he should swap them out for the usual 8.8 BZP bolts? Quote
Marty Posted December 9, 2007 Posted December 9, 2007 I would not do it. They are likely to break rather than bend. However if the accident is big enough for the bolts to shear, then you may have other things to worry about! Stainless should not be used in any significant areas of load - inc rollbars etc. Use hi tensile 10.2 if poss. 8.8 should be OK. Quote
Norman Verona Posted December 9, 2007 Posted December 9, 2007 Listen to Marty, he knows what he's talking about. Quote
perksy Posted December 9, 2007 Posted December 9, 2007 Agreed Stainless might add some 'Bling' under the bonnet but shouldn't be used for suspension etc Quote
DanB Posted December 9, 2007 Posted December 9, 2007 The material used in A2 bolts has about 15% less tensile strength than that used in 8.8 high tensile bolts. The chances are in practice it'll be fine - the suspension bolts on se7ens are generally massively over-rated. However, the question is whether you want to take that chance. Personally, I wouldn't. If they were A4 that'd be different - A4 bolts are only very slightly less strong than a 8.8 bolt. A more serious problem is that stainless bolts are sometimes turned from solid rather than having the threads rolled as they are on HT bolts. That results in a *much* weaker thread as the grains of the metal aren't aligned with the threads. Given that a decent BZP bolt is going to resist corrosion better than most kit cars' powder-coating, there's no real good reason to use stainless on areas like suspension. Quote
lukeyboy Posted December 10, 2007 Author Posted December 10, 2007 I suspected this! The fella probably thought he was doing good at the time. Thanks. Hopefully he makes a purchase over christmas and doesn't end up with a robin hood Quote
Matt Seabrook Posted December 10, 2007 Posted December 10, 2007 If the rest of the car is well put together dont rule it out just because of the bolts. That should be easy to fix Quote
Martin Keene Posted December 10, 2007 Posted December 10, 2007 Second what Matt says... Cheap, easy fix for a good car. Quote
lukeyboy Posted December 10, 2007 Author Posted December 10, 2007 Believe me, if you saw this car you would not rule it out...... 300hp cosworth turbo engine, it has an expensive gearbox, quaife this and that, all custom ali tanks and rads, nicely fab'ed exhaust and turbo bits, AP / high spec brakes, RAC roll bar, westfield padded race seats / harness - the guy has spent some serious coin on it and some time putting it all together. Only thing that I'm not too fond of is that it's a narrow, with an axle and clamshell wings, but it still looks the part and I bet it goes like stink. I noticed it had a timng plate on the front so I presume it's done a bit of sprinting. I'd just advised hime to swap all the structural bolts out to proper high tensile. Knowing what I know now about westfields I would have probably bought it myself, instead of laying out all the cash for my module build from the factory Quote
Martin Keene Posted December 11, 2007 Posted December 11, 2007 300bhp Cossie Turbo + Live axle = Lots of broken axle bits... Seriously, providing it is properly built with an uprated diff, drive shafts (possibly semi floating for that power, and most importantly, beefed up trailing arm mounts, it should be fine. BTW, it's not green and up for about £12k is it? Quote
Blatman Posted December 12, 2007 Posted December 12, 2007 300bhp Cossie Turbo + Live axle = Lots of broken axle bits... Seriously, providing it is properly built with an uprated diff, drive shafts (possibly semi floating for that power, and most importantly, beefed up trailing arm mounts, it should be fine. BTW, it's not green and up for about £12k is it? I am rather hoping we are going to be told it's got an Atlas axle, otherwise I suspect you'll be right Martin... Quote
Matt Seabrook Posted December 12, 2007 Posted December 12, 2007 Believe me, if you saw this car you would not rule it out...... 300hp cosworth turbo engine, it has an expensive gearbox, quaife this and that, all custom ali tanks and rads, nicely fab'ed exhaust and turbo bits, AP / high spec brakes, RAC roll bar, westfield padded race seats / harness - the guy has spent some serious coin on it and some time putting it all together.Only thing that I'm not too fond of is that it's a narrow, with an axle and clamshell wings, but it still looks the part and I bet it goes like stink. I noticed it had a timng plate on the front so I presume it's done a bit of sprinting. I'd just advised hime to swap all the structural bolts out to proper high tensile. Knowing what I know now about westfields I would have probably bought it myself, instead of laying out all the cash for my module build from the factory If its the same car as I am thinking of I have raced against that one at Chivenor in 2006. I would not think there are to many Cossy turbo engines in narrow bodied cars. I think the car was owned by James Grant 48 Phil Montgomery-Smith Fisher Fury 1299CC 1st in class Practice 2.41 12.50 r/flag 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.51 12.61 77.87 Practice 2.50 12.53 79.22 Event 2.71 12.81 78.84 Event 2.75 13.03 89.11 49 Andy Cawsey Westfield SE 1993CC 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.55 13.36 88.06 Practice 2.63 13.25 107 86.47 Event 2.68 13.29 108 90.22 Event 2.71 13.95 106 86.05 50 John Burnside Westfield Megabird 1137CC 3rd in class Practice 2.52 13.78 87.07 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.52 13.47 102 82.39 Event 2.63 13.52 96 82.46 Event 2.83 13.79 102 81.53 51 John Wade Westfield SEIW 1998CC 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.82 17.03 103.26 Practice 2.62 14.09 96.93 Event 2.84 14.39 90.56 Event 2.86 14.37 88.16 52 James Grant Westfield SE 2000CC 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.74 16.17 afw Practice 2.99 15.33 92.58 Event 3.22 15.28 96.42 Event 3.29 15.38 91.91 53 Matt Seabrook Westfield SE 2000CC 2nd in class 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.54 12.82 87.20 Practice 2.51 12.73 83.21 Event 2.65 12.67 80.31 Event 2.58 12.37 79.95 54 Jason Stirzaker Westfield SEIW 2600CC 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.63 15.27 95.78 Practice 2.57 15.06 91.78 Event 2.73 15.02 100.70 Event 2.72 15.83 91.91 55 Darrell O'Neill Westfield SEIW 2000CC 64foot 1/4mile run time Practice 2.60 14.91 186.95 Practice 2.58 14.65 93.90 Event 2.68 15.22 91.24 Event 2.78 14.70 90.30 Quote
Blatman Posted December 12, 2007 Posted December 12, 2007 Looks like he has trouble getting it off the line... It would be interesting find out what the problem was. Quote
Matt Seabrook Posted December 12, 2007 Posted December 12, 2007 Yep with all that torque it did not get away to swift. On saying that though his speed through the 1/4 speed trap was well down too 93-94mph IIRC some of the quicker times are getting 110-113mph Quote
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