Engine Bolts/Nuts Redo, Opinions?

[Vipuronr]

Well, as some of you know, my 98 RT/10 lived almost all its life in Boca and was driven little. With the very humid weather, all of the engine and compartment nuts/bolts have oxidized.

I spoke to Chuck yesterday, and he said the thing to do is clean them and paint them. Now, I know its mostly opinion, but the options are silver, red, black or clear paint. The only issue I have with clear is that it will only look as good as the clean comes out and that may not be consistent across bolts. Any opinions on what color I should paint them? Clearly, I can replace all of them, but that may be an unnecessary expense.

Lastly, and this may come from owning Harley's, another option is to change to chrome. While it doesn't feel right to me and would be a major pain trying to match Harley chrome bolts to that of the Viper's, it is another option.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Peter

[plumcrazy]

get over it and drive it

[01ACR/VIPER]

I changed most of the engine hardware out to ss allen head bolts.

[Vipuronr]

Certainly will drive it, but don't like the "rusted" look when I open the hood, very unimpressive and takes away from that great motor!

So, I thought of SS after I wrote the first post. There is nobody around here with those kind of auto-appropriate (strength) bolts in SS. Where can I get them? I know Roe tends to have similar stuff, wonder if he has.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Peter

[Dan Aseere]

I use Restoleum silver in a 1/2 pint can. Matches well and holds up. Bolts that are black I use restoleum satin not flat black. Looks original.

[eucharistos]

I changed most of the engine hardware out to ss allen head bolts.

Great idea, bet it looks killer

[dave6666]

I would resist stainless steel fasteners, or a least evaluate each use individually.

Some pros and cons of stainless steel fasteners.

Pros:

-> Stay shiny unless serious salt corrosion present. Yes, stainless steel is 70% iron and will rust! We make chlorine where I work and can rust S/S in minutes.

Cons:

-> Not as strong as steel unless you get a hardened S/S fastener. The selection of screws drops on that alloy.

-> Galling. Not a terrible concern with stainless to aluminum or steel, but stainless to stainless is a big problem on dry threads.

-> Thread class and thermal expansion. Most thread classes on engine components are such that they will stay tight when they get hot and then cold. Heat cycling. I would certainly be aware of this and your ability to re-check torques.

So things like valve covers and the injector retainers etc that are easy to get to I would say yes if you choose. They are easy to get to to re-check and not too much would happen if they get a little loose.

More structural fasteners like your accessory mounting (P/S pump, alternator, pulleys etc.) and also like the crossmember I would think about what you are doing there.

I personally would keep the steel fasteners, and either send them out for re-plating with zinc or chromate or black oxide or whatever, or chrome them if you want really shiny. The plating process will change them slightly, but not near the difference of changing to a completely different metal or alloy.

[Vipuronr]

Interesting perspective, thanks Dave.

My issue with paint, is that it would have a tendency to chip when tightening down. Re-plating with zinc is something I didn't think of, because at this point, not sure I want to do the chrome thing. Only reason I thought of it, is because I used to convert all the bolts on my Harleys, engine and bracket bolts, to chrome because it was pretty easy. Harley carries a whole stock replacement bolts in chrome. Figured, I would just take samples over and see if they can match. That way, I know I'm getting automotive strength bolts that are steel.

Only other route, is to order replacement stock bolts from Dodge. Since the car is always garaged in humidity controlled garage and I don't drive the car in the rain, the stock ones should also hold up well.

Thoughts?

Thanks again for everyone's comments.

Peter

[01ACR/VIPER]

Originally Posted by dave6666

I would resist stainless steel fasteners, or a least evaluate each use individually.

Some pros and cons of stainless steel fasteners.

Pros:

-> Stay shiny unless serious salt corrosion present. Yes, stainless steel is 70% iron and will rust! We make chlorine where I work and can rust S/S in minutes.

Cons:

-> Not as strong as steel unless you get a hardened S/S fastener. The selection of screws drops on that alloy.

-> Galling. Not a terrible concern with stainless to aluminum or steel, but stainless to stainless is a big problem on dry threads.

-> Thread class and thermal expansion. Most thread classes on engine components are such that they will stay tight when they get hot and then cold. Heat cycling. I would certainly be aware of this and your ability to re-check torques.

So things like valve covers and the injector retainers etc that are easy to get to I would say yes if you choose. They are easy to get to to re-check and not too much would happen if they get a little loose.

More structural fasteners like your accessory mounting (P/S pump, alternator, pulleys etc.) and also like the crossmember I would think about what you are doing there.

I personally would keep the steel fasteners, and either send them out for re-plating with zinc or chromate or black oxide or whatever, or chrome them if you want really shiny. The plating process will change them slightly, but not near the difference of changing to a completely different metal or alloy.

That is correct Dave.I just changed all the easy see bolts such as injector hold downs,valve covers,throttle cable hold down and such.I would not use these for any thing that requires a torque spec.All the hood hinge bolts and stuff like that could be changed as well to ss with no adverse affects.

[Vipuronr]

I forgot to mention that the bolts I want to change are "non-stress" as those mentioned above - injector, accelerator cable bracket, and possibly the headlight box wing nuts.

Peter

[ViperTony]

Be careful with the injectors...when you loosen the bolt they can pop up and spray you in the face. Don't ask me how I know.

[01ACR/VIPER]

I also used this style fasteners on the inner fender wells...looks much better.

Rogan Corporation - Plastic Knobs - Injection Molding/Custom Molding

[dave6666]

Originally Posted by ViperTony

Be careful with the injectors...when you loosen the bolt they can pop up and spray you in the face. Don't ask me how I know.

I'm going to start a fund for you Tony.

Meanwhile, keep applying the creme as needed.