Need Help Fast!!

jdpolzin

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2004
I ceramic coated my stock headers and would like to figure out what to do with the header bolts. I am waiting to put the car back together just because of these header bolts. Obviously the factory ones are rusty and i dont want to use those but I want an original style set of header bolts. Anybody have any ideas? I would like to go with stainless ones but I haven't found anybody who carries them. I thought about custom making them but I am sure if welding two bolts together to match the original ones would decrease the strength of the bolt. I wouldn't really mind gettng a set of aftermarket regular bolts but I would rather be stock appearing and I dont know if any kits have any way to fasten some of the things that need to fasten to the stud sticking out. Any ideas, I want to start putting everything back together ASAP. Thanks ---Jeremy
 
you could try musclecar salvage i think his name is mike mccoy.
he might have a farirly good set.i got my stock valve cover bolts from him. he might respond if you post in the parts wanted section.
 
I don't know if you will ever find a set of stainless ones that are still stock appearing. I'd go with some allen bolts if I ever needed some in 406 stainless. Anything below 406 will have too much iron in it and still will rust under high heat conditions, anything more than 406 will be too soft.
These are the type of bolts that come with the THDP.
You can find various kinds of bolts from here:
http://www.mcmaster.com/
 
I cant think of what all needs to mount to the studs off the top of my head. Where do you mount these parts if you go with a bolt kit that has no studs?
 
Originally posted by jdpolzin
I cant think of what all needs to mount to the studs off the top of my head. Where do you mount these parts if you go with a bolt kit that has no studs?
I'll go out and check in a moment, stainless bolts came with my headers, but I did have to reuse the originals for the bolts that had studs on them now that you mention it.
 
Sorry, that was a little longer than a moment. There's 3 bolts that the stud ones are needed for.
#1 top bolt has the alt brace on it.
#1 bottom bolt has the AC brace on it.
#3 top has the oil dip stick bolted to it.
 
So it seems like you guys are reusing some of the old bolts and replacing the others with stainless. I am going to fab up some original looking studs out two bolts and go that route because I really dont want to reuse the old ones. We'll have to see how they turn out!! Have you guys ever ceramic coated your header bolts?? Does it chip when you have the wrench on them?? What torque do you set them at?? For those who have used stainless header bolts, what did you use for a high temp anti-seize? Thanks again guys, I cant believe that the aftermarket hasn't come up with something for this!!?? --Jeremy
 
Originally posted by jdpolzin
So it seems like you guys are reusing some of the old bolts and replacing the others with stainless. I am going to fab up some original looking studs out two bolts and go that route because I really dont want to reuse the old ones. We'll have to see how they turn out!! Have you guys ever ceramic coated your header bolts?? Does it chip when you have the wrench on them?? What torque do you set them at?? For those who have used stainless header bolts, what did you use for a high temp anti-seize? Thanks again guys, I cant believe that the aftermarket hasn't come up with something for this!!?? --Jeremy
Ceramic coating would break off on bolts, use 406 stainless and they will stay aluminum colored/silver, plus you couldn't ceramic coat the threads or it would no longer fit. There is not enough room to get a socket wrech/torque wrench on the bolts usually, I had to use an open end/boxed end wrench, and tighten as tight as I could get them with a little short wrench, probably around 25-30 ft-lbs if I were to guess. I just used regular Permatex anti-seize, the silver stuff.
 
cool thanks, looks like I'll be fabbing up some stock apearring stainless header bolts!!! ----Jeremy
 
CORRECTION: It's 316 stainless that you want, not 406. I just ran across the package with a few spares in it. I think the next grade lower is 306 and my brother who's a machinist told me that the next grade below 316 (what I bought) would still rust under extreme heat, and anything higher would be too soft and get stuck in the threads.
 
Autozone and Oreilly autoparts offers the OEM replacement bolts in the "HELP" section. I will try and find the part numbers. They have the correct split bolt and washer config. They are exactly like the factory ones...
 
Actually, Im in the process of installing the stainless bolts right now. What are the threee letters on the top of the bolt? I have two different ones, THE and ABP. I think the THE are the ones I want???
 
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