Stainless Bolts etc.

Howardspu,



First off, I'm no Hudson expert, still in the fledgling stages as far as that, but for what it's worth...on my non-stock, amateur restored '49 I've pretty much been through the entire car now, over the last three winters. Replacing, rebuilding, repainting, etc. While re-assembling, I would always try to use new hardware whenever possible, and found that for the most part stainless hardware looks great and works good for anything that doesn't require a grade 5 or stronger. All of the inner fenders, grills, trim and other ancillary mechanical bits are fine for stainless, but they aren't that strong for anything more demanding.



Things like suspension hardware, engine hardware, etc. I've replaced with grade 5 or grade 8, depending on what was necessary. I'd always err on the strong side, if I wasn't sure, and just go with grade 8. Unfortunately these stronger fasteners are made of steel, and zinc or yellow chromate plating will only look good for a while. I did find at McMaster-Carr they have a silver colored plating called 'Ultra Coat' or 'Armor Coat' that really looks nice. It looks like they've been painted silver, not quite as nice as stainless. Of course, I don't really know how well they'll hold up to weathering, but they're supposed to be a better rust resistant coating than the zinc or cadmium plating. Hope this helps.



Hudsonly,

Doug

Now that I have found a bulk stainless store, I am slowly changing all my harware drawers over to stainless. Still more expensive than bulk standard plating, but I am getting tired of after a couple of years, the fasteners looking like crap on my rebuilds. Cheaper to go stainless where you can and not have to do it again. Of course only where they can handle the load.