Bolt/Fastener ID Suggestions for Restoration (1970)

[William H.]

I am now the third person to tackle an in progress restoration of a 1970 Corvette. Most of the bolts/fasteners were removed by the first restorer and not labeled. Many have been blasted and it is impossible to tell the original finish. I thought I would be able to ID most but I have reduced that to 'some.'

Are there any suggestions from those who have done this so that I can try to organize the identification and then plating process? Thanks.

[Edward J.]

Re: Bolt/Fastener ID Suggestions for Restoration (1970)

Bill, the 70.72 JM may help for some. and maybe a hunt through some of the venders websites. Paragon maybe be a good C3 source. I think you find most of the chassis Fasteners and bumper fasteners were Cad. or Zinc. black phosphate was also used in 70 in limited locations.

[Alan S.]

Re: Bolt/Fastener ID Suggestions for Restoration (1970)

Hi Bill,
Member Bill Lennox has spent a lot of time and effort on identifying the finishes for the fasteners on his 70.
If he doesn't see your post soon send him a PM…I'm sure he'd be willing to help you.
Regards,
Alan

Here're the front suspension fasteners/parts from my 71. Although very similar to your 70 I think you should see what info Bill L. can offer.

[Bill L.]

Re: Bolt/Fastener ID Suggestions for Restoration (1970)

Hi William,

Feel free to ask about any fastener in question. Happy to assist if I can. Since my 70 spent a lot of time in the desert, finishes were some what preserved in most cases.

You can either PM me or email me at bogp9@aol.com. May not have all the answers but hope I can help.

Bill

[Phil D.]

Re: Bolt/Fastener ID Suggestions for Restoration (1970)

I've been refinishing all the original fasteners on a 72, but we took them all off ourselves and carefully bagged and labeled them so I know where they go. Ours were for the most part so rusty that we couldn't tell what the original finishes were so I've spent a whole lot more hours here on the computer researching than I have actually refinishing. I found one great resource in "Corvette Chassis Restoration Guide" by Joseph A Tripoli Jr. It contains a chart with drawings of head markings and dimensions for much of the chassis bolts. Another member emailed to me a similar resource. Also, the Assembly Information Manual was the most valuable reference. I found that I could search this very forum by simply typing in just the GM part number and often find a lengthy discussion about that very bolt (its amazing how much can be said about one bolt). I could also quite often find good information by searching the GM part number in Google. Probably 80% of the fasteners in a Corvette are documented, but maybe 20% or so I wasn't able to find. In those cases, I refinished them according to how other similar fasteners were documented. Sometimes I found that my original headmarks weren't what the reference materials or the forum thought they ought to be, but someone once posted that GM had at least three suppliers so that they didn't have to hold up production for lack of a single bolt. That makes sense to me but if I had different headmarks or if there were conflicting information between sources, then I'd refinish according to the most respected opinions on the forum since that's probably what the judges expect to see. Good luck. I visited another member's shop and saw 5-gallon buckets full of bolts and wondered how he'd ever get them all back in the right places. That's why I chose to do home plating using Caswell products. I figured it was worth the effort to keep them sorted rather than to take them to a plater as a batch.

[William H.]

Re: Bolt/Fastener ID Suggestions for Restoration (1970)

Thanks for everyone's thoughts, ideas and offers for help. Definitely some worthwhile advise that can make the restoration a little bit 'less hard.'