Carroll Smith's Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop) [Paperback]

Carroll Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 1990 | Series: Motorbooks Workshop

This complete guide analyzes the thousands of options available and shows you how to choose the correct fastener for any application, whether it be racing, street performance or restoration. Plus important information on thread cutting, torque, material selection, inserts, panel fasteners and much more. Pub. 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; First edition (August 5, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879384069
• ISBN-13: 978-0879384067
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Approachable Reference, May 31, 2003

By 

Mike Blaszczak (Mercer Island, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carroll Smith's Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop) (Paperback)

...This book is indispensible. It's written for the race car driver who does at least a little bit of their own fabrication. And that's almost any club driver, and many entry-level pro drivers. Making sure additions to the car stay put, supsension bits adequately bear their loads and stresses, and repairing these things in a pinch, is no small part of winning races.

This book doesn't explain everything ther is to know about fasteners. And it isn't dripping with technical detail; ...

But this book does provide something more valuable: explanations. It looks at a couple dozen of the most popular fasteners in each category and explains why a fabricator or mechanic would or would not want to use them. Carroll uses his incredible experience and approachable, conversational writing type to discusses their strengths and weaknesses, applications, and design.

I think the book isn't limited to racing applications; it's useful for anyone who works metal, and will offer something of value to anyone who's ever tried to replace a fastener in an emergency. Were you overwhelmed when you went through the fastener aisles in your local hardware store or home supply center? This book can help.

The book is a little weak in two areas. First, there's few pages devoted to plumbing. Of course, this is about real plumbing: laying lines and connecting them with pressure-tight fasteners. It explains Army-Navy fasteners and their applications, and discusses all the subtleties of pipe flange fitting. The book isn't about stopping a leak behind your toilet.

Next, the book is showinng its age. It doesn't treat some of the materials that were not exactly commonplace ten or more years ago, but are quite common now. For instance, I can buy titanium lug bolts for my car. (Well, I could, if I had a spare $500 lying around.) Carroll doesn't make much mention of the more interesting alloys being used more commonly in fasteners these days. He also doesn't spend much time discussing the material to be fastened: holding down a carbon fiber body panel is different than getting the same bit fabricated from fiberglass to hold. Some of the illustrations look like they were drawn by a plotter 20 years ago: terrible resolution, confusing lines, poor perspective. Freshening some of the illustrations would be a real shot in the arm for the book.

Those shortcomings withstanding, I can't give this book less than five stars. Mr. Smith's incredible reputation and outstanding experience hold up a dry subject, and give the reader more background than a broader (or deeper) technical reference ever could.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you build/repair machines - read this book, January 13, 2000

By 

Richard (Palo Alto, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carroll Smith's Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop) (Paperback)

Fabulous book on fasteners. Up front it sounds really dull, but C.Smith makes it painless. You will find out things here that simply are not available elsewhere. Must reading for people into cars, airplanes or machinery in general

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is very very good, October 26, 2007

By 

GoClick - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carroll Smith's Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop) (Paperback)

This book is VERY good, it's informative, comprehensive, fun to read and goes a long way to improving your understanding of the "whys" rather than just the "hows". It's an excelent resource for someone looking to build their own race car. Anyone looking to attach something to something else or move a fluid from one place to another will get something out of this book. As an added bonus in the years since it was first written most of the fasteners that the author found hard to find have become available easily online.