Parts & Materials Library / Hard to Find Parts

[The Dark Side of Will]

Dorman saves the day:
PN 700-251 (Pack of 25 on RockAuto)

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 37&jsn=923

[ericjon262]

while I'm not sure this fits the description of "hard to find", I will say they seem kinda difficult to find as a not garbage product.

This is a fuse panel from Blue sea systems, meant for marine applications. while I've used their products in the past with good results, I noticed the covers were usually pretty rattly, this one, and it's smaller four circuit companion are much tighter, and more compact(the real important part). Because they're built for marine environments, the components are corrosion resistant, more than fine for use on a car. I would highly recommend these, part number are 5045 for four circuit, and 5046 for eight circuit.







I'm planning on picking up one of their "safety hubs" for the wiring coming off of the battery in my car, as they provide a weather-tight connection point, with megafuses for power distribution. I'll post a review of it when it gets here.

as a sort of follow up, the Blue Sea Systems parts seem to be holding up well, however, this was recently posted on Facebalk and seemed pretty intriguing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B094Z5KD ... sSUmiNPrRo

it looks like an OEM equivalent for what I made for my car, but with a tighter form factor, and an overall cleaner look.

[Series8217]

as a sort of follow up, the Blue Sea Systems parts seem to be holding up well, however, this was recently posted on Facebalk and seemed pretty intriguing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B094Z5KD ... sSUmiNPrRo

it looks like an OEM equivalent for what I made for my car, but with a tighter form factor, and an overall cleaner look.

Nice find! Do you have a source for the connectors and terminals that plug into the bottom receptacles?

[ericjon262]

Apparently they're 5mm spade connectors, the guy posting it on Facebook was looking for a source, I'll follow up if I find something different.

[The Dark Side of Will]

as a sort of follow up, the Blue Sea Systems parts seem to be holding up well, however, this was recently posted on Facebalk and seemed pretty intriguing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B094Z5KD ... sSUmiNPrRo

it looks like an OEM equivalent for what I made for my car, but with a tighter form factor, and an overall cleaner look.

Not that particular part, but we used a bunch of BlueSea stuff on the buoy I built for work... bus bars, fuse blocks and breaker panels

[ericjon262]

as a sort of follow up, the Blue Sea Systems parts seem to be holding up well, however, this was recently posted on Facebalk and seemed pretty intriguing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B094Z5KD ... sSUmiNPrRo

it looks like an OEM equivalent for what I made for my car, but with a tighter form factor, and an overall cleaner look.

Not that particular part, but we used a bunch of BlueSea stuff on the buoy I built for work... bus bars, fuse blocks and breaker panels

I've used them a few times, both in automotive and marine applications, they seem to work well. I'm happy.

[Series8217]

Apparently they're 5mm spade connectors, the guy posting it on Facebook was looking for a source, I'll follow up if I find something different.

5mm spade terminals may work, but there is definitely a latching housing that goes into those receptacles..

[ericjon262]

Apparently they're 5mm spade connectors, the guy posting it on Facebook was looking for a source, I'll follow up if I find something different.

5mm spade terminals may work, but there is definitely a latching housing that goes into those receptacles..

I hadn't looked at the underside of the terminal locations yet. next time I'm at the junkyard I'll try and snag parts to see if I can find some kind of part number.

[Series8217]

This is the battery fuse holder I have been using. I couldn't find a cover for it so I 3D printed one.

I like that has replaceable fuses, unlike the Nissan one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144794026436?m ... media=COPY

[pmbrunelle]

The combination of parking brake cables I bought for my Ford Ranger aren't working together (wrong length), so I need customized cable lengths + some adjustment.

I found this:
DODGE > 2010 > RAM 1500 PICKUP > 5.7L V8 > Brake & Wheel Hub > Parking Brake Cable Equalizer

(many other years work; the example I provided is one of many that work)

Pic from Rockauto:

Parking Brake Equalizer.png (146.06 KiB) Viewed 20315 times

Could be useful for custom parking brake setups.

Looks like it can be used with the balance beam to pull on two cables simultaneously, or with the elongated stamped adapter to pull on a single cable.

[pmbrunelle]

Weld In NPT Flange Fittings
From Tanks, Inc.

prod_zm_2226.jpg (32.62 KiB) Viewed 14108 times

https://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page ... prd787.htm

I think that the large flange diameter is good for strength when welded to a thin-walled tank.

I just used the 1/2" NPT version to redo my turbo oil return on my thin stamped steel oil pan.

[Series8217]

Weld In NPT Flange Fittings
From Tanks, Inc.

Great find!! I need to add an oil temp sensor bung to my new oil pan. Perfect!

[The Dark Side of Will]

Stainless Steel ALL THE THINGS!

https://shop.marshfasteners.com/mobile/

[pmbrunelle]

This is a stud bolt, similar to some stock Fiero transaxle-to-engine double-ended studs, but with longer threads.

I thought the stock GM studs were lacking in thread engagement, so I ordered two of these.

Stud Bolt Pic.png (47.94 KiB) Viewed 10551 times

Caterpillar 379-0067

Edited to replace the incorrect description from the Caterpillar website with my own measurements:

Material: zinc-plated steel, unknown class
Big end thread: M12 x 1.75 x 54.2
Small end thread: M10 x 1.5 x 24.7
Hexagon section: 18 mm across flats, 7.7 mm height

[The Dark Side of Will]

I have on multiple occasions wanted to find a selection of jam nuts or lock nuts with "large" thread diameters, but fine threads (e.g M48x1.5 )
A gland nut would fit the bill, but I never found a source for gland nuts that has any kind of "density" in available sizes. The nuts seemed to be designed for specific applications (e.g. Koni or Bilstein dampers) and produced in volume only for those applications.

I happened to stumble on what McSmasher calls "bearing nuts": https://www.mcmaster.com/products/shaft ... g-nuts-1~/

They have good density of sizes offered in both metric and Freedom Units.

An example application would be a spherical bearing shell that installs with a slip fit, and is then secured in the control arm with a large diameter thin nut like one of these. (Clearly that wouldn't work for Fiero control arms, but real cars have forged control arms... )

A pair of nuts, one on each side, could even be used to provide fine adjustment of the position of one or both shells in a monolithic control arm to achieve a perfect fit in the body or subframe mounting points.

[The Dark Side of Will]

This is a stud bolt, similar to some stock Fiero transaxle-to-engine double-ended studs, but with longer threads.

I thought the stock GM studs were lacking in thread engagement, so I ordered two of these.

Stud Bolt Pic.png

Caterpillar 379-0067

Edited to replace the incorrect description from the Caterpillar website with my own measurements:

Material: zinc-plated steel, unknown class
Big end thread: M12 x 1.75 x 54.2
Small end thread: M10 x 1.5 x 24.7
Hexagon section: 18 mm across flats, 7.7 mm height

McSmasher calls those "Male to male thread adapters"