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volkdent
February 18th 2011, 02:38
I found these, and though they are quite expensive, they are also quite light. Have you ever held all of your fender bolts in one hand? They add up!

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/776563.jpg

ProBolt USA (https://www.probolt-usa.com/)

Jason
al_kaholik
February 18th 2011, 05:23
Just like the aluminium wheel nuts, nice to have and very light. Although titanium is nice and makes people dribble, its unnecessary

I like the way they are flanged, but have a look on Ebay for much cheaper options in packs. Your local fastener company might have something similar. I wouldn't think that there will be much difference in weight once you shave the head and reduce the socket size, probably talking a few grams over the whole set of wing bolts
Wally
February 18th 2011, 06:59
Have you ever held all of your fender bolts in one hand? They add up!



I agree! Some years ago at EBI there was a booth with all stainless bolts for the fenders and bumper brackets. It was reall nice not to have rusty bolts anymore, but the sack of bolts and rings was really heavy. The plstic bag almost tore apart under its weight!
I wouldn't use them for the bumpers of course, but this is very interesting as my light-weight fiberglass fenders wouldn't even need the strong stainless bolts anyways. Alu ones like these would be quite enough and would save several kilos easily.
Thanks!
evilC
February 18th 2011, 09:13
I agree! Some years ago at EBI there was a booth with all stainless bolts for the fenders and bumper brackets. It was reall nice not to have rusty bolts anymore, but the sack of bolts and rings was really heavy. The plstic bag almost tore apart under its weight!
I wouldn't use them for the bumpers of course, but this is very interesting as my light-weight fiberglass fenders wouldn't even need the strong stainless bolts anyways. Alu ones like these would be quite enough and would save several kilos easily.
Thanks!

But Wally you're missing the point of these that I would have thought would have been considered first:
You can lock the bolts in position with lock wire..........;):D




:p

Clive
Wally
February 18th 2011, 09:59
LOL! :lmao:
volkdent
February 18th 2011, 14:49
I also bought some nylon bolts for I think $12, they are probably lighter yet, and as Wally mentioned for fiberglass it may b just fine. I want to get the alu bolts for the front fenders thought, even though they are fiberglass they are strong and may offer quite a bit of energy absorption if bolted correctly, and the alu ones are PLENTY strong.

As to Ebay, while u guys have awesome stuff in the UK and EU, the selection in NA sucks, couldnt find anything close to what I'm looking at, and similar types of stuff was priced similarly to Pro-Bolt.

Jason
DORIGTT
February 19th 2011, 00:09
You guys have issues...though they say 7lbs = 1 hp.:D

I'm going to make a new chassis for the Ghia from Unobtanium tubing my friend who was an extra in Avatar brought home for me. Damn near floats!

Anyone need any? My tires'll be filled with helium so help shave weight as well.
Wally
February 19th 2011, 06:38
You guys have issues....

Thats for sure! now tell me something I didn't know :lmao:
NO_H2O
February 19th 2011, 12:52
I love "Bolt Porn". Nice hardware makes the build.
gonebuggy
February 20th 2011, 12:54
bolt porn isn't the same without some nuts! :lmao:

http://www.dressupbolts.com/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/Nuts.jpg


Alex
Scotts73SB
February 20th 2011, 23:17
Carefull...dont "bust" those.
owdlvr
February 21st 2011, 03:08
Car forums are all fun and games until some guy posts his nuts on the internet...

-Dave
chug_A_bug
February 21st 2011, 20:15
Car forums are all fun and games until some guy posts his nuts on the internet...

-Dave

:eek: :lmao:

Chris.
volkdent
February 21st 2011, 22:55
Some may salivate and some may shake their heads, but they are now ordered up. Made in the UK.

Jason
evilC
February 23rd 2011, 12:15
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. Made in the UK.

Jason

Aren't all the best things? :D:rockon:
volkdent
February 23rd 2011, 13:44
Ever heard of British Leyland and Lucas Electric? ;):lmao:

JK, I think in the car world you guys have the best stuff around. It's all big muscle and noise in NA, I would love to have access to what you guys have. That being said, prices for stuff is awefully good here because of the volume I guess, so it's a matter of just being picky.

Jason
Steve C
February 23rd 2011, 18:14
Ever heard of British Leyland and Lucas Electric? ;):lmao:Jason

Does Lucas make refrigerators? That maybe why the English have a taste for warm beer:)
volkdent
February 23rd 2011, 21:40
Ouch!:D
al_kaholik
February 24th 2011, 05:16
'Proper' beer isn't meant to be super chilled. Besides its so cold and miserable here the beer makes us warm :p

Plus in England I'm informed Fosters is actually worth drinking in comparison to I Australia.

And lets not get started on American beer... Budweiser doesn't count :D
Steve C
February 24th 2011, 06:38
Hi

We send the dreadful beer overseas ie Fosters.

I'm having a taste of my favourite brew now, James Boag Premium Lager, I'm partial to Stella as well and Miller Chill occasionally.

Steve
evilC
February 24th 2011, 08:40
Does Lucas make refrigerators? That maybe why the English have a taste for warm beer:)

It's inescapable that you have to super chill any alcohol to kill the taste. Warm XXXX must taste like the Murray River whereas our Burton Ale tastes like the Trent. :p

I note we have no comments from our continental cousins?

Now where's the Leffe?
volkdent
March 25th 2011, 01:03
Some will roll their eyes, and some will drool, but the bolts finally arrived:

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/788503.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/788505.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/788504.jpg

It gets better/worse. I'm currently waiting for carbon fiber washers I had built. I needed bigger fender washers but not the weight, and it was a favor, so no $ out of my pocket.

Jason
petevw
March 25th 2011, 01:24
Sweet!
Wally
March 25th 2011, 04:02
Carbon fiber washers! Love it!

If you want to get even more anal: I think by looking at the pic, you can shorten the bolts some as you may not need all their length?
al_kaholik
March 25th 2011, 04:42
Don't forget to strip the nylon out of the nuts to save some more weight!

Kudos though, they look mint!
evilC
March 25th 2011, 06:23
A friend of mine used to rally a Lada and because he could afford the trickest blueprinting etc that the others had he resorted to the lightening route trimming all bolts so that they were the perfect length for example. He had the lightest Lada in the series that also made him competitive! The guy who bought it (another mate) put the standard doors back on amongst other things as he couldn't stand the way the original ones wobbled when you closed them.:lmao:
volkdent
March 25th 2011, 20:28
That's exactly why I did this for the fender bolts, totally doesn't make any difference to the driver what is there, makes a difference in weight though. I will keep my solid doors, as I want the sound they make when I close them, but back and side windows will be Lexan as besides a little more noise, it shouldn't make much of a difference to me, but a lot of difference on weight. Once she's all together I think I will continue the lightening route on non-essential stuff. It hurt to add the roll cage for weight, but that is a serious essential in my opinion. Alloy lug nuts, saves weight and especially unsprung weight.

As far as shortening these, I think that will the thicker FG fenders and then washers too, and that the nuts are welded from the back side, I'm not sure I've got a lot of length left to lose in most cases, plus it's nice just to grab a thread right away instead of trying to get a shorty to take.

Jason
spannermanager
March 26th 2011, 12:01
My Rallycross beetles had all the body/pan fixing plates and bolts ditched and the joins welded ,the wings used radiator self tapping screws, not pretty, but functional, they had 6" of mud under there most w/ends, but they were quick and of course had a short 'sacrificial' life expectancy of 3 or 4 years only, it was common to see rallycross beetles in combat with wings missing for that reason, with the mud attached we lost an instant 25lb per corner:lmao:.
evilC
March 28th 2011, 07:43
My Rallycross beetles had all the body/pan fixing plates and bolts ditched and the joins welded ,the wings used radiator self tapping screws, not pretty, but functional, they had 6" of mud under there most w/ends, but they were quick and of course had a short 'sacrificial' life expectancy of 3 or 4 years only, it was common to see rallycross beetles in combat with wings missing for that reason, with the mud attached we lost an instant 25lb per corner:lmao:.

..... and with around 6 corners per lap and 4 laps per race that was a lot of weight!:lmao::lmao::lmao::p
volkdent
March 29th 2011, 16:28
The off-road truck racers I swear use that to their advantage regularily. It's quite uncommon to see the trucks finish a race without major body panels missing. Makes sense to lose a lot of weight quickly!

Jason
volkdent
April 14th 2011, 23:19
Say what you will, but here's what I'll be bolting my fenders on with:

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/796013.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/796014.jpg

Jason
evilC
April 15th 2011, 07:36
Jason,
You have got to wire all those bolts together otherwise the little holes will be redundant!
Yours helpfully,
Clive
al_kaholik
April 15th 2011, 08:19
Overkill! but truly "function" minded.

I love it
Wally
April 15th 2011, 12:10
Sick, but I love it!
volkdent
April 15th 2011, 22:08
Jason,
You have got to wire all those bolts together otherwise the little holes will be redundant!
Yours helpfully,
Clive

Here you thought the holes were for safety wire, of course you're completely wrong, they are drilled just to save more weight!!!;):lmao::D

Jason
chug_A_bug
April 19th 2011, 00:46
looks kick ass Jason...
can you put them all on a scale to see the difference from stock.

Chris.
volkdent
April 19th 2011, 13:40
All I have is a digital bathroom scale, not sure if it will be to acurate at low numbers but I'll try.

Jason
Gerrelt
April 19th 2011, 15:28
Don't you have a kitchen scale? That would work.

Nice bolts, btw, I am curious as to how much weight you are saving.
volkdent
April 21st 2011, 13:27
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/799007.jpg

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/799006.jpg

The weights are +/- 1gram, as the scale only wieghs in 2 g increments, but it's close enough for what we are looking at here.

You guys have issues...though they say 7lbs = 1 hp.:D


Lightweight - 4(fenders) x 9(bolts/fender) x 6(grams/bolt) = 216g

Stock - 4(fenders) x 9(bolts/fender) x 16(grams/bolt) = 576g

576-216 = 360g = .794 lbs

.794 lb / (7lbs/hp) =

I've gainded 0.11hp!!!! ;)

I didn't really do it for the hp, but I'm glad there was a gain there too!

Jason
chug_A_bug
April 21st 2011, 16:41
Nice...

Chris.
SuperRSi
April 22nd 2011, 11:57
I immediately started checking out the bolts that I was changing to these in aluminum. Thanks for the link. Logical? Not one bit...

Thanks