valve cover bolts for 472&500 engines - need help

[Kell Oskarsson]

All,

I´m trying to locate replacement valve cover bolts for a 1968 472 and a 1973 500 engine. According to the parts list, these should be 1/4", 20-thread and either 9/16" or 15/32" in length. These seem, however, to be very hard to come by. Have you had difficulty finding these bolts?

Best regards,

Kell.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Ken:

1/4 by 20 is a common bolt.  For a valve cover, they don't need to be a
grade 8 or anything exotic.

Take one to a good hardware store and they should be able to match it up.
If need be, buy it longer and cut it down to match the length you need.

Mike

[Kell Oskarsson]

Yes, I live in a ´metric´ country, so bolts for American cars can be a problem. I did look at a couple of online vendors, but none seemed to have the correct lengths available. It might be that I need to buy slightly longer bolts and shorten them.

Many thanks,

[TJ Hopland]

You can buy a complete stainless hardware kit for around $50 US.    I think they also have just the valve covers bolts.     www.500cid.com

[76eldo]

Just get a 1/4 20  half inch long bolt.  It's should work just fine.  I can't see  a 32nd of an inch making any difference.  Don't overtighten.

Brian

[Kell Oskarsson]

All,

many thanks for the tips - TJ, that 500cid.com site does have a lot of interesting items. We did manage to track down a local supplier that could supply 1/4" bolts of approximately the correct length. As we´ll be using thicker-than-stock gaskets (cork) I suppose the exact length won´t be so critical.

Best,

[TJ Hopland]

You can always use lock washers to gain some space if needed.    Measure the hole depth by threading in a bolt before you install the cover and gasket then compare the gap to the gasket and cover to be sure you will be able to fully compress the gasket before the bolt bottoms out.