All you want to know about bolts...Grade 5 or 8 or aircraft or whatever....

[jerryweichers]

Potholes on race tracks ? Have you ever driven at sebring?And rumble strips don't cause extra stress on suspension?perhaps you could share that with a friend of mine whose lola T70 's wheel literally blew off 12 inches of wheel bead at sears due in part to rumble strips!the results were not pretty.History of early can am and fia endurance cars is full of suspension failures ,especcialy on the lola T70 Mk 3's one of the lolas i used to own chassis 73/131 of james garners AIR racing team had such a huge failure that they had to cut the corner of another T70's rear bulk head off and weld on the 131 car to finish at daytona after all that the car still finished 6th over all. now add that to the fact that current tire technology is producing tires that grip way better than the tires available in the''era'' and tend to have stiffer side walls, do it wrong and your asking for disaster.
As to 289 comp cars... # 1 the 289 cobra is a'' flexie flier'' I have owned a few . When you drive one even on the street you can watch the door gaps change by over 1/4 inch !Why ? because the chassis was in a word flexible , both longetudily and torisionaly . if you examine an original 289 chassis that has not been sleeved you will find at least a 1/2 inch ''droop'' from front to back partially due to welding most of the sub structures above the center line of the main tubes and also the effects of age and gravity. perhaps putting aircraft quality hardware in these chassis was overkill due to the weakness of the platform but I think you will find by 1964 that is how it was done on factory /team comp cars .
the comp. cars were completely rebuilt at shelby american by the race shop. they threw most of what came from A.C. away and prepped the cars for competition in southern california with the expertise of some brilliant guys.
locktite red is great for street cars that you bolt together and drive i.e. ignore . a .. race car needs to be nut and bolted after every on track session , constantly retorqued, and looked after. My understanding is that locktites strength is achieved apon hardining its strength is not based on simply being a filler . so if you retorque after hardining are you not defeating its purpose?
I HAVE NEVER MET A COBRA OWNER ,REAL OR KIT THAT DIDN'T FEEL THEY WERE IN POSSESION OF A RACE CAR ( BUT FRANKLY I HAVE FOUND BMW owners ten times more arrogant, and i won't even dignify the average late model ferrari owner by comparing them.let me in summation apologize for you having to endure my failings in grammer( and gramper for that matter) spelling and punctuation but '' if all i ever larned were from books perhaps i wood be a better spellar'' regards and be safe , jerry

[What'saCobra?]

Mr. J
i would not suggest using red loctite regularly on a race car, except in non-suspension assemblies, that are not subject to drift, as you point out and will not be removed for the season. It does harden and torque testing will be non-sensical, unless you break it loose and it must be re-applied. Other loctites might be OK. i don't use it, never have and never (yet, Lord) had a bolt come adrift or sheer either. i am a fan of washers and lockwashers. i don't like oval nuts or insert nuts, either. For instance, on steel aircraft exhaust manifolds installed on air-cooled aly engines, i have often used double nuts (jammed nuts), which is the only thing i have found that safely retains the parts of some exhaust manifold after the gasket fails. But, i would be willing to listen to another opinion here.

Yes, you are correct that regular re-torquing of all suspension and gearbox and steering assemblies is an absolute necessity before the next race. As your experience will verify, most bits either don't drift or always drift in the same predictable way and after a while you can learn what is changing or not quite the same as usual, a hint to a problem.

Some folks don't have a regular schedule for their torque testing, though, because their bits are not really stressed that bad.

i haven't yet seem much here on bolt-stretch vs torque measurement as a proper definition of proper tightness. While i realize that bolt stretch is mostly an engine rod-bolt issue for most of us, isn't it helpful in other places? Clutches? Caps? Head bolts?

Here is an article on Torquing for Tightness:
http://www.assemblymag.com/CDA/Artic...124164,00.html

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But, anything driving around Sebring will need major repairs, as well as re-torquing. It is indeed awful and always has been awful. The humps and heaves in the last turn tests everyones skills and bolts.

Your spelling is indeed in need of some modest improvement. It reads like you are growling or something. While that may be true, it deflects from your content and reduces your effectiveness.

You might try lifting your post before submitting, paste to a temporary page and use your spell checker. Then copy that back to replace your original and toggle 'submit reply.' With practice and patience, in less than 30 days you will see a remarkable improvement.

And so will we, she hoped.