Hello List - I guess that I had better start with an apology to all of you. I had wanted to make my ealier comments "value added" to the DeLorean community, but I obviously missed the mark. I am sorry for diving head first into the pool without asking you if you wanted to go for a swim. With that said, I will offer my conclusions on my studies of the TAB situation, without a lot of lecturing on my part. All of the following are "in my humble opinion", and I invite discussion on any or all of it. The key issue in the trailing arm installation is that the TAB's are bending under the loads applied while driving. I don't believe that the issue is that the nuts are backing off, and allowing the joint to become loose. The numbers suggest that the bolts are stretching and relaxing due to tensile yielding, because the numbers for that are somewhat lower than compressive yielding. The bolts are getting stretched slightly everytime they are loaded up to the point of bending, and the little stretches, over time, will cause the bolt to get slightly longer (This is actually called 'creep'). This causes the bolt/nut to appear to come loose. As the bolt stretches, the other components in the joint (washers, sleeves, etc) begin to move around as the bolt bends, resulting in wear at each point where the parts are pressed together. This actually adds to the loosening of the joint. All of you have either seen or heard of the wear and fretting on the washers, etc. I better stop this ... I'm beginning to "go there again". Bottom line - Yes, I have used science and engineering principles to design a bolt that will not bend or yield, at all, under the loads that I believe that we are seeing in this critical joint. I have installed them first in my car, and then in several others. I am absolutely convinced that I will never have any joint loosening or any more wear of any of the noted components in these cars. I will never have to think about bolt rust or corrosion again. I talked at length with the manufacturer, and he is willing to forego profit for these custom bolts. He just needs to cover his costs of making them, so that the accounting department doesn't have a fit. However, this level of quality is not cheap. If you want the best, you have to pay for it. But, you only pay once. For a moderate-sized batch of bolts (200 pieces), with very good aerospace-quality NAS1805-7 self-locking nuts and hardened washers (for grip length adjusment when 2 or less alignment shims are installed), and including repacking and shipping to you, it's going to cost about $66 per car (2 bolts, 2 nuts, and 6 washers). I am talking with Darryl Tinnerstet as the potential distributor for these. My goal is not to profit from these personally. My goal is to get rid of TAB's as a concern from a safety and reliability standpoint. I need to get a good feel for whether there is a demand for these at that price point, so that Darryl and I can feel good about investing the money up-front in the first batch. I've already "got mine", as do a handful of PNDC members. The question is ... what do you want? Peace of mind? Or ... not. Please give me some feedback on this. Toby Peterson, VIN 2248 Winged1 --- In dmcnews@xxxx, Les Huckins <jhuckins@xxxx> wrote: > I think he's trying to say that he's developed a better bolt is that right Toby? Reminds > me of some of my college Physics classes, I was never too sure what was going on there > either.