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How does one go about mounting aftermarket shocks with 1/2 inch rod bearings on a Vee using the stock metric hardware?

Matt:

Will assume you mean the front.

The top is easy- drill out the shock tower hole to 1/2"

Bottom- you will have to make ( have made) a sleeve. Only going to be about .015" thick. Some people just mount the shock on the 12mm stud.

Hope this helps
Dietmar

You can make a spacer to the required wall thickness out of pop can aluminum to wrap (a couple wraps or so) around the bolt or stud, top or bottom. I did this for a number of years and it worked fine.

I have since tapped the upper shock tower mount to 1/2-20 which works with my upper offset shock mount. So as Dietmar says this is a good option for the top mount. You will still need a 1/2" ID spacer to space the shock away from the tower.

Thanks. I did mean the front, and that's pretty much what I figured would be the method, just wanted to confirm before I started drilling! It's going to be much easier and cheaper to run SAE than metric anyway. I priced some metric 12.9 bolts at the hardware store at over $3 each!

Matt King wrote:I priced some metric 12.9 bolts at the hardware store at over $3 each!

Not to hijack the thread, but an alternative to paying high prices for metric hardware is a company called Fastenal. I am slightly biased since I work there, but I'd be willing to bet that they're cheaper than where you're going now. There's 2300 locations so there's probably one close to you. I'm not sure what size you priced, but for a 12x75 12.9 SHCS (just a random one out of my head), list price is $1.80. Just my 2 cents...

I use Fastenal occasionally, but I'll bet your price on a Grade 8 1/2-20 bolt is even better!

I'm sure it is--I just hate having to figure out the next fraction size up... so much easier to just count!