Honda Parts $$$$

[12oclocker]

cool, thanks for the info everyone!

[12oclocker]

Steel bolts in aluminum engines get corroded and stuck, whoda thunk.

what about using stainless steel replacement bolts? I found some that will fit.

[ReconRat]

Ok, one thing I found out the hard way, is that stainless steel corrodes when touching aluminum, way worse than steel and aluminum. It will light it up and leave a smoking hole in your part. It's basically creating a battery, that produces current. Add water, acid rain, or salt, and it speeds the corrosion up. The only thing worse that I can think of is titanium and aluminum mixed together. Big no-no. When in doubt, put some paint between them.

(just looked it up, magnesium and titanium combo is worse.)

Note: cadmium is seriously toxic when vaporized, like with an acetylene torch.

Here's a chart, courtesy of the Naval Surface Warfare Center:

[12oclocker]

ok, so what are these honda bolts made out of then? it does not feel like aluminum to me

[ReconRat]

No, they are not aluminum, that would be way too weak. Most bolts are usually a high grade steel. There's no other choice for strength, unless it's titanium (way too expensive). Steel is ok hooked up to aluminum. It will corrode from contact, but not as bad as other combinations. The corrosion contact needs exposure to air and water to get going. Inside the engine and oil, or a side case, it's not too bad. Steel is stronger than Stainless, generally. Stainless (or CRES) has a bad habit of lowering it's strengths, it's specs, when it gets either hot or cold.

Worthless note: Stainless steel is a type of high nickel steel, while corrosion resistant steel (CRES) is what we are actually looking for when making parts and hardware. Stainless is for kitchen countertops. Most engineers don't even know that.

People switch to stainless hardware kits all the time. Just be careful where you use it. Inside an engine is most likely fine. But it's not a strength substitute for regular steel, usually. They are best used in low torque applications.

The side case kits that are stainless, get more exposure to air and water, and will tend to corrode and get stuck. If you used stainless nuts and bolts to hold a license plate on your aluminum bracket, it would eat a hole in the aluminum bracket, because it's very exposed to the elements.

In other words, I would use the factory steel head bolts for holding the head on the engine. It's the right stuff.

There are tricks, such as assembling with oil, grease, or wet primer paint on the threads. Loctite works too. But many of the critical torque settings will say clean dry thread and they mean it. It is too easy to over torque or under torque if there is something on the threads.