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Perhaps you gents could educate me about bolt and screw specifications. The engine is out of the Clipper and I am working on cleaning up the add-ons (fan, pulley, water pump, starter, etc. etc.)
I would like to replace some of the rusty and worn mounting screws, washers and nuts. On the bolts and screws there are stampings on the heads. For example A over TP (front motor mount screws), C over TR (water pump to block) and E (fan to pulley). What do these codes mean?

A related question - could I just use high grade fasteners even if some are overkill? Any harm in that? What grade would that be?

Thanks,
Mark

Mark, I like stainless steel nuts, bolts, and washers as replacements for the originals.

(o{}o)

Hi Mark,

I am by no means a restoration expert, but I have to agree with JW...stainless steel may be a good alternative. One note of advice, use some sort of "anti-seize" if you are using stainless bolts in stainless nuts...there is a process referred to as "galling" where the stainless sticks to itself...and it is real. If you are looking for a great source of authentic bolts in stainless, I have found the quality of Tioga Stainless in Burlington Vermont to be exceptional.

John Wogec

Mark, I'm inclined to very often reuse the original fasteners when they are in a highly visible location and in good shape, in part just to preserve the head stamp markings. That said, there are some places that I routinely use stainless, either alone or sometimes with brass nuts; these include exhaust manifolds and header pipes, water jacket side plates (prewar Senior 8s), water pump bolts that go thru into the water jacket, and other similar places that are subject to possible corrosion.

There aren't all that many places of a Packard that require high strength (grade 8) fasteners and these can usually be easily identified by either the torque spec or by the head markings. Where required I'd rather use a good steel grade 8 bolt any day than a stainless one. Stainless is not the "perfect" metal, as pointed out previously it's propensity to galling is a shortcoming.

I fully agree with jwogec about Tioga Stainless, I've bought from them often over the years with complete satisfaction.