Home Depot parts on a Model A

[dan]

Just venting

It seems that every time I work on my car I find something... interesting First it was the manifold "studs" which were hardware-store bolts instead of studs, washers, and nuts.

Last night I was working on my radiator and found some more Home Depot specials.

These are the radiator shell screws

And these are the bolts that were holding the radiator to the frame (with those lovely giant washers)

When I was a kid, my dad used have two sayings. One was "use the right tool for the job" and the other was "make do with what you've got." The contradictory nature of those two things (and the way he would use them) used to drive me crazy. Of course, like a lot of us, the older I got the smarter dad got

All that to say, I understand that when you're trying to get your car running you might use whatever's on hand. And I understand that some folks don't want to spend the big bucks for a restored original part where it's something like a radiator shell that runs in the hundreds of dollars. But is it really that hard to get the correct screws, nuts, and bolts? I mean, I picked up replacements for all three of the above, locally, for under $10.

Anyone else out there have a similar, mystifying experience with non-standard parts?

 

[pat in Santa Cruz]

we are restoring a 39 Lincoln Town Car that someone wired with household romex and with interior "mood" lighting bought at West Marine. It would be bothersome enough to me to find that sort of hack job on any car, but imagine having paid big bucks for a big car like a Lincoln and having your mechanic break that news to you. You can imagine how well the mechanicals were done. The Tijuana interior should have tipped the buyer off, but he was in love...

 

[gilitos]

Remember that there was a 'valley of death' for the Model A hobby not so many years ago when parts and information were harder to find. When I was putting my car together for the first time as a 15 yr old in 1972, we didn't have the internet for information, and the only parts source I could find was JC Whitney (gag). When I found Snyder's back in the late '70's I though I was in heaven. In later years, re-building assemblies that I hadn't touched in a long time, I found plenty of hardware store fasteners, etc that I had used simply because the information and parts sources weren't available the first time. Looks like you may be running into a similar history!

 

[Tacoma Bob]

Well, something I was taught : sometimes you gotta dance with what brungya. LOL. All kidden aside, As I went through my car you can't believe what I went through and the car had been restored by a "professional" restoration shop.

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Just venting

It seems that every time I work on my car I find something... interesting First it was the manifold "studs" which were hardware-store bolts instead of studs, washers, and nuts.

Last night I was working on my radiator and found some more Home Depot specials.

These are the radiator shell screws

And these are the bolts that were holding the radiator to the frame (with those lovely giant washers)

When I was a kid, my dad used have two sayings. One was "use the right tool for the job" and the other was "make do with what you've got." The contradictory nature of those two things (and the way he would use them) used to drive me crazy. Of course, like a lot of us, the older I got the smarter dad got

All that to say, I understand that when you're trying to get your car running you might use whatever's on hand. And I understand that some folks don't want to spend the big bucks for a restored original part where it's something like a radiator shell that runs in the hundreds of dollars. But is it really that hard to get the correct screws, nuts, and bolts? I mean, I picked up replacements for all three of the above, locally, for under $10.

Anyone else out there have a similar, mystifying experience with non-standard parts?

So, are you saying that this spring might not be correct for my brake rod? And I should probably change it? And I suppose the cut off section of a Model T running board isn't the correct battery tray on my car either? LOL

BTW, why does the first bolt you have pictured look like it has a left hand thread?

 

[Doug in NJ]

HD has been useful to me. They were the only place in town that carried slotted flat-head wood screws. All the hardware stored had switched to philips.

On the other hand, the local Ace hardware store carried #12 flat-head machine screws. Those are sort of hard to find. I never knew they existed until I got an A...

Doug

 

[Tinker]

Ace can really be helpful. I was blown away with the one here.

fordbolts.com when I can.

 

[dan]

BTW, why does the first bolt you have pictured look like it has a left hand thread?

Photoshop When I resized and rotated it, I must have flipped it too. If someone had tapped the block for left-handed threads, that would have really taken the cake

 

[denis4x4]

I have a confession! Eight years ago, I purchased the entire stock of hardware from a Coast to Coast store going out of business. From time to time, I've been known to use metric hardware while repairing something or other. I do buy Gardner-Wescott stuff for my model A's.

 

[Wick]

Just the reverse for me,My 68 bug has leftover Model a Screws on it. My 01 pickup broke a helper spring u-bolt...ez fix,grabed a rear spring u-bolt and plate form a Model A and fixed it! Whenever I work on something I just have to Model A Something on it.
Wick

 

[Sparky]

Photoshop When I resized and rotated it, I must have flipped it too. If someone had tapped the block for left-handed threads, that would have really taken the cake

Oh, I assumed it was from a right-hand-drive car

 

[30ccpickup]

My grandfather lived through the Depression. His favorite saying was “if it ain’t in the barn (meaning the part), it ain’t gonna get fixed.” Everything was repaired with whatever. The cars weren’t to bad but you should of seen the plumbing in the house.

 

[Farrell In Vancouver]

My coupe was first tackled by my dad in the early 60's, he was in his 20's and had just got his plumbing ticket. I was not too surprised to discover copper pipe, cut and then flattened and soldered to the sheet metal to fill in some big holes.
What really blew my mind was that it stayed undetected on the car for almost forty years. When I asked dad about this style of repair his proud reply was "I was a plumber! Not a tin basher!"

 

[Colorado Greg]

When I removed the gas tank to clean and seal it, I had to use 5 different size wrenches to get all of the nuts and bolts out. Seems that any bolt and nut that would go through the hole was used.

Where the steering column mounts to the tank, I had normal bolts in there. I replaced them with the correct bolts that fit into the recess. Well, I was looking things over and found the original steering column bolts holding the fenders together.

Front radius rod mount on bell housing; I pulled the transmission out to replace the clutch and was following Les's book and it said to get a 7/8" wrench to remove the radius rod nuts, well, mine used a 1/2" wrench, so I knew I had a problem. Turns out that instead of the two 1/2" bolts holding the radius rod cap, I had a 1/4" muffler clamp stuffed in the bell housing to hold the radius rod cap.

I've had my hands full on this car and keep discovering bad things all the time. I'll keep making her right but it does get very frustrating.

 

[pat in Santa Cruz]

another story... my 30 pickup cracked the drivers side glass. When I opened the door panel to access it, I discovered the felt channel was not in the missing metal channel, but it was bailing wired to a stick that had been hacked to fit with a knife or hatchet and bailing wired to the door.

I once repaired the locking foot stand on my car hauler trailer by bolting it to the frame with a front spring lower plate and two U bolts from the front spring. Its still working.

 

[Bruce of MN]

In the catalogs I couldn't find the springs that work with the headlight bulb focus and bought a long spring at Ace and cut it in half. Trimming the adjuster bolt took several cuts.

 

[Tim Armstrong]

Just finished my Model A and started a 46 Ford convert, it was an old resto from years ago. It came from an Iowa farm. Almost all the the assembly bolts were square nuts, hard to get em off after they rusted up.

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

I guess my question is: What's wrong with getting the correct nut at Home Depot or Lowes? Many times when I'm in need of a fastener I have to resort to the hardware store or these stores.

 

[1930artdeco]

Actually, I think we should be happy that these cars can and were going down the road with just bailing wire. It probably kept a lot of them on the road and out of the wrecking yard.

When my dad started the restoration of the sedan he was working for the Air Force at the time so almost all the nuts and bolts are aircraft grade which is at least Ford grade. When I go to replace them I am going to put aircraft grade back in as then I KNOW that the grades and measurements will be correct and they are made in the USA. They will be a bit more expensive but they will outlast me.

Mike

 

[dan]

I guess my question is: What's wrong with getting the correct nut at Home Depot or Lowes? Many times when I'm in need of a fastener I have to resort to the hardware store or these stores.

I'm not (necessarily) denigrating Home Depot or Lowes, but generally I haven't found many parts there that are the correct nut, bolt, or washer. And those that are the right thread/length/etc. generally aren't the right grade. But there are apparently quite a few Model A owners who will buy a wildly incorrect part (metric bolts) and throw something together instead of trying to find the correct part.

Again, I understand if you're just trying to get back on the road or if you're changing something for a particular reason. But it's amusing to me to see something like the bolts used to hold on my manifold... why would you do that when manifold studs are a buck a piece? Plus, you're a lot more likely to screw something up by bottoming out a bolt than you are working with a stud and nut. It just makes me shake my head