Toby! If you ask me, there is no need to apologize. I was very pleased by the scientific way you approached and solved this problem. You did not rely on hearsay or opinions, but worked out a solution based on hard facts. Your solution is one which I can rely on. I read your founded explanations with great interest. To me this was the best contribution to this list since long! As soon as these bolts will be available, I will take a pair, that is for sure. It is an important part of the car, so one must be very careful not to impair the security of the car. I don't want to bash anyone, but simply replacing this bolt with a standard stainless steel (grade 316) bolt without having a look at the (inferior) material properties is thougtless. Toby did the right thing: He gathered all available facts and worked out a solution you can rely on. bye, Ralf. > 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.