Screw this!

I’m curious to hear from other builders/racers about your experience finding the screws needed to hold a T-jet together. I have found them to be quite difficult to obtain. Ace Hardware, which has rarely failed me on fasteners of any kind, has failed here: I’ve been to 3 locations in my area and all have said they do not stock and cannot get screws of the length, diameter and thread pitch needed. As a result, I have had to buy them all on ebay; that’s an acceptable solution for now, but I’ve only found one supplier who has them in stock regularly. All the other purchases I’ve made were “one-of” types of sales from people who seemed to be selling spares. My concern here is that if that one vendor goes away, what’s left?

As for types of screws: I’ve seen 3. The most common are those essentially identical to the ones Aurora used back in the day, which are slotted. Although I like the traditionalism of this, I personally prefer a phillips head, which I think is just a little easier to use. The phillips head screws that I buy are infinitesimally smaller in diameter than the flat head screws (possibly one is metric while the other is SAE?) which is also useful, in that newer bodies with tight posts can accept the thinner screws while older ones that have seen some service and may be more opened up can use the slightly thicker ones (you know how this works, guys!)

A comparison of the 3 kinds of screws I have used on my cars; on the left, the original type slot head screw of the type used by Aurora; center: the new philips head version, which is allegedly self-taping; I personally prefer these to the originals, but they may be slightly too narrow for older cars that have been around the track a few times. On the right: the beautifully made Auto World screws that come with complete cars; these have a finer thread than the others, and also have a washer, or “collar”, built into the head.

The best screws I’ve seen are the ones that come on new Auto World cars on those rare occasions when I buy a complete car; these are beautifully machined phillips head screws with a washer/collar built in to the head. I would love to find a supplier for these, but have been unable to do so.

If anyone who may be reading this knows where I can get a set of these in bulk, please share; I would love to hear from you!

The 3 types, “in situ”

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