Bolt Restoration

Anyone involved in a restoration project knows its progress is almost always behind schedule. The proper restoration of even the simplest vehicle can take well over a year. Now don't get us wrong; the work is half the fun. But let's be serious—the real reason to restore that classic is to be able to drive and enjoy, not scrape grease.

Plan and Prep
A good way to speed things up is to plan ahead, and identify those tasks that are real time consumers or even time wasters. One of the first and foremost of these tasks is cleaning and preparing bolts and hardware. Not exactly exciting stuff, but you really should try to use the original factory bolts and hardware, whenever possible. They were designed by the engineers who developed your vehicle, and just typically just fit better than some aftermarket part.


It would be great to just buy all new hardware, but this approach has its own problems. Even if you can find new hardware, it is usually outrageously expensive. Not only that, original fasteners often have a certain look to them. Even if you find a bolt at the hardware store that works perfectly on your vehicle, it still has a different appearance from the factory stuff. Most resto aficionados can spot the non-factory fastener from a mile away.

Clean and Restore
So the better choice to do the job right means reusing old bolts, nuts and other hardware. However, here is the difficulty: If the car needs restoration work, then certainly the fasteners do, too. They are usually coated with grease, paint and rust, quite often all three at once. Cleaning these parts or restoring them to their original condition can be very time consuming. Paid professionals who restore cars do use the old bolts over again. If it is possible for them, then it is possible for you. The following tips can help you to decide what you should do for your own vehicle and some of the tricks and tools of the trade.

Trade Secrets
Job one is to get anything "soft" off of the bolts. This would include grease, oil or some kinds of gasket sealers, like silicone. Usually you can soak the bolts in a good degreaser, carburetor cleaner or some other type of solvent. They can then be rinsed off and you are ready for the real work. Once a bolt has been degreased, all that's left is rust.