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Well Tom, I've always thought the AN bolts were fairly reasonable, at least where I get them from, not that much different from a Gr8 at HomeD. But I've never done an exact comparison.

In the open wheel crowd, no one will use a Gr8. I've seen cars for sale that the seller stated all the bolts were changed to Gr8 and no one would buy the car without a price reduction so they could change out all the bolts.
They are generally smaller bolts though.
I've also seen Gr8s on suspensions fail when I've done the post crash inspections.

Corvettes are kinda "over bolted" size wise anyway, so there shouldn't be a problem with 8s.

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That 0.4mm (.0157 in) extra clearance would account for much more slop than the 0.125 mm (.005 in) difference between a 16 mm and 5/8 in bolt. I'm unclear as to why the original design being a bushing would matter? Bushings and rod ends both use the bolt as an anchor point. If the hole is 16.4mm diameter, any bolt that is 16 mm or 5/8 in is going to rattle around in that hole causing slop.

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The only way they'll act like a saw is if the nut is not properly torqued and the bolt is allowed to move back and forth axially.[/quote]

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That's not entirely true. Let's take the example of the camber rod bolts in the knuckle. I supply a bolt that is 5/8 in diameter x 4" long. If you look up a McMaster Carr Grade 8 bolt that is zinc plated in that size (pretty typical application) you'll find p/n 91257A810, the drawing of which is shown here: [IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/turban65/91257A810L.gif[/IMG] As you'll see the thread length can vary up to a 1/2" in length. If the flange thickness of the knuckle is 0.5" per side and the width of the spacers and rod end is 1.7 in (the approximate length of the liners used in stock bushings and most urethane replacement bushings) that requires a minimum unthreaded length of 2.7". Now add in the thickness of two 5/8 wahsers. If we use McMaster 90126A035 (a 5/8" washer whose thickness can range from 0.074" to 0.121", [B]and that's a thin washer[/B]) the required unthreaded length is approximately 2.942 in. To satisfy that condition you would have to use a 5/8 bolt that is 5" in length (we'll use McMaster 91257A814 as an example), which is shown below. [IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/turban65/91257A814L.gif[/IMG] You can see that you'd have to use a bolt that is at least 1" longer than the 4" bolt I supply. Now let's take another look at the 4" bolt condition. From what I've seen on the components I supply the threaded length is typically 1" to 1-1/4" long. Some are 1-3/8" but I haven't seen one yet that was the full 1-1/2" thread length. If we use use an average threaded length of 1-1/4", that makes the unthreaded shoulder 2-3/4" long. Subtract from that the 1.7" width of the spacers and rod ends, the two 1/2" flange thicknesses and one of the 5/8" washer thicknesses and you are left with 0.071". This should mean that at an 11 pitch thread, there is less than one thread pitch in shear. [IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/turban65/untitled.jpg[/IMG] Now admittedly I'm making an assumption that the flange thicknesses on the knuckle are 1/2" at the camber rod. Since my car is currently in storage I don't have access to it to measure it. However, if the flange thicknesses are greater than 1/2" you could end up with no threads in shear. I'd be interested to hear from the C4 guys what their knuckle flange thicknesses measure at the camber rod? If you wish to measure that and post them back here we could figure out if there are any threads in shear, even @ worst case.

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I'm confident they will be given the analysis I've shown in previous posts.

Tom,
I've already changed out the bolts the way I want them.

Do what you want on your car, I'm not doing it that way.

If I can spend an extra $100 and be happy and not worry about it, that's what I'm going to do

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It's not that simple Brian. You questioned why I had used SAE bolts in a metric hole and why I had threads in shear in an email. You then also posted those same comments on a public forum before I had a chance to respond to you privately.
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Given that I have to show that there is a valid reason for the kit being the way it is and that I've done an analysis of the structural componenets.

I have picked up a lot of business from some great corvette guru members lately and I need to assure them that the kit I sell will not in any way compromise their saftety or competitiveness. You've brought up valid questions and I need to show that I have valid answers. The only way to do that is by the discussion points I posted earlier.

It's hard to argue with "that's the way I want it..." but my other customers need to know that I didn't put this product together willy nilly.

Fine you've answered why you did it your way.

I'm saying I'm NOT doing that on MY car.

I'm NOT putting threads in shear on my car, period.

I'm not satisflied with the way the bolts fit in my car, so I'm drilling them out and putting liners in.

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FWIW Tom, if I hadn't already installed the VBP kit before you brought yours out I'd be running the Banski kit right now.

My VBP kit is not as robust as the latest kit you're offering and it's held up to 4 years of real racing, not bench racing.

Bolts in shear and all :thumbright:

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Just out of curiosity, what did VPB supply for spacers? Or more generally: how did they account for the difference in width between the dogbone and a rod end?

It's unclear what is supplied from the website and I'm curious what they do.

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There are inserts in the rod ends. But I don't remember there being a difference in width.

I can take photos if you are interested.

Here's the setup

bolt so the threads are sitting on the flange

Notice the the flange is so thin that the engagement does not go all the way around the hole in the flange


Bolt sitting so it's up on the shoulder, not there's a full 360degree engagement.

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Thanks but no need, the fact that there are inserts answers my question.