Facts Only wrote:Cheers Vyssion,
It will be in a low adverse pressure gradient area (the shallow angle under the rear axle), nothing like an M12, maybe some M5 button head bolts or rivets.
The whole thing is an exercise in Cost & Convenience vs Performance, how much can costs and time be reduced without notably affecting performance..
Rivets should be fine then mate... Button (? you mean allen-cap) heads for M5 should be small enough to not do much in a low APG region. Alternatively, you can use the countersunk allen heads that the bloke above me posted - however, they do not hold their preload as good as hex-bolts because of the 45° angle allowing for more slip coupled with the fact that because of that angle, there is just less "stuff/metal" to react the forces going through it and so will elongate a little easier than normal. In regions of high vibration (like on a race car) you may find that they undo themselves if not done up correctly. Bolts are kind of a black art really... It depends on the application and tradeoffs weighed you know? If you are using them with carbon, it may be useful to pre-crush the carbon before tightening them up so you dont find youself losing preload as the vibrations cause the carbon to fragment further under the bolt contact region.