Where to find replacement bolts/nuts/screws

[Hen]

I'm not divided. I have a series of ice-cream containers for M5, M6, M8, M10 bolts and funny screws. Collected through years of stripping things and wrecker runs. If you can use your eyes and a little good judgement you can decide what you should re-use where.

In general I'd trust 20 year old Toyota OEM over eBay stuff too (yes, I know some eBay stuff is good, but it's hit and miss).

[bLaCkFoXsA]

Well at this point i've got everything from stripping mine in separate labelled bags.. I highly doubt i'll be replacing the lot (some of the bolts for window winder assemblies and stuff like that where they're covered up are like new) so i might just go through and find out what I actually need/whether they're visible and need to look pretty/how rusty they are... I finally stumbled across a very similar thread to this one where they actually went through and made a full itemised list of what screws/bolts/nuts go where, that should be pretty handy (link - http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/tec...all-stuff.html)

[shelldrake]

I looked around for new oem style bolts with little luck. I wanted a decent range to keep on the shelves at home to save searching through boxes of old bolts all the time. I'm actually looking into getting a mix of metric bolts with captive spring and flat washers (like oem) manufactured and then selling as kits. They'd be reasonably priced, good quality zinc plated grade 5.5 and 8.8. Unfortunately I need to buy about 8000 of each type with the whole order weighing almost two tonne! But I still may do it soon if I can find a few solutions and get enough interest...

[SilverRA23]

2 tonne is a lotta bolts!

I bought a Landcruiser bolt kit from ebay when I put my Celica back together. It was worth the spend.

[shelldrake]

2 tonne is a lotta bolts!

I bought a Landcruiser bolt kit from ebay when I put my Celica back together. It was worth the spend.

Yeah, I know. I may have found a couple of other solutions that require a lower minimum order with a bigger range possibility too. Will let the people know in the next few weeks when I have the bolt kits ready to go.

[ta22fan]

Goes without saying I guess, but starting point is that everying should be metric - makes the job of matching threads much easier. Super-Cheap, Auto-One and other similar places generally have a display with sample nuts and threads of all sizes to check against. They also stock a reasonable variety of nuts/bolts/screws/fasteners - helped my out a few times on my '22. I've also used these guys for a few harder to find bits: http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/default.asp. I've got a heap of TA22 spares - more than I'll ever need, so if you get really stuck on something particular, drop me a note and I'll see whether I can help out.

[thechuckster]

problem with buying a 'kit' is that all the bolts will be the same grade. If you're just hanging panels off the chassis then the M6 blister packs or the old bag-o'-bolts off eBay may make your life easier and look neat - but I'd rather go to the wreckers and get/use bolts like-for-like. It doesn't take much to clean stuff.

I rarely pay for bolts at the wreckers - if I remove something, the bolts either stay with the wreck in the same place they were removed from (for the next guy/girl who comes along and actually needs them) or into the toolbox for cleaning and sorting at home.

Like Hen, I have a whole bunch of containers for M5,6,8,10,12 and some are further split up based on length or grade - and before I use anything M8 or larger, I look a the bolt head for the grade so a soft bolt isn't going to end up joining up a tailshaft. I also grab any trim-related bolts as particularly on the outside of any car, you'll find odd sized screws with socket heads or with stainless/plastic washers.

[wilbo666]

I'm with everything that says to go to the wreckers and go nuts (and bolts! ) getting what you need.

As said try and get the ones look good, I usually find that these are the ones that are inside the car doing jobs like holding on the dash

I can suggest some reasons that I like this approach / oem bolts...
1) The bolts will match the existing bolts in the car
2) The bolts usually have captive flat and spring washers
3) The bolts are of high quality
4) The bolts are usually plated to protect them from the elements

That said you can also buy bolts from Toyota, sometimes you will see the part numbers on the EPC (www.toyodiy.com), or you could try going to your local place

Also proper bolt places like bolts & industrial, etc are much better than Bunnings if you ask me!

If you want really shiny new bolts, an option to look at it getting a whole lot of wrecker / existing bolts re-plated also...


gmonkey:
I think there are many applications where second hand bolts are more than acceptable... sure you can gold plate stuff if you want - it just doesn't seem valid to me!

Cheers
Wilbo

[ddeane]

Gidday When I rebuilt the Celica some time ago I made contact with my local panel shop (my son was in his 4th year apprenticeship there at the time) and asked them. You will find that they have a rep that calls monthly or so and sells a whole range of bolts, clips and other fitting. The packs were around 100 or so and I managed to match up all of the main panel bolts for the TA23. I am in the process of redoing the car - a new body - and still have most of the bolts that I need. Maybe you should give them a try. My sone has now moved on from the panel beating game and I have inherited his box of bits and pieces which is most useful. Give them a try.

Craig