Discovered one of my belly pans was missing a screw, looked at the price from Ford ($6.48 ea, HB1 fordparts.com) and figured I could do better, especially since these screws are used all over the car.
I've solicited a few quotes from machine screw manufacturers (US companies only, US steel), of those I found a med-small screw manufacturer in Illinois was the best match for quality/price.
There is a 1000 piece minimum with the price starting at $1.60 per screw, decreasing to $0.25 per for 10,000 screws with intermediate $/qty amounts as needed (eg $0.70 per for 2500). Does not include shipping/packaging so the final price will be a few cents more. Lead time is 6 - 8 weeks.
I'll suggest a 50 screw minimum (in increments of 50 thereafter) for anyone that is interested - I'm not making a profit and don't want to send a handfull of screws to a bunch of folks. Please respond to this post if interested.
Details of the screw:
6M x 1.0 x 25mm
Torx T-27
button head 10.3mm OD, 3.3mm thk
SEMS flat washer 16.5mm OD, 1mm thk
black oxide finish
class 9.8 hardening - I don't know the specs of the Ford screw, but this is likely much harder as the typical application is mild steel, or class 4.6. I specified this hardness so that the Torx head will withstand several R&Rs without wear.
UPDATE – 22 June, 10:40am:
Thanks for all of the input, we have met the minimum qty. I’m sending the company (in Glendale Heights, IL) an example screw today to follow the specs/photos I previously sent to verify that they can reproduce an exact match. I’ll let this post run through this weekend, depending on increasing/decreasing interest, before I finalize the order for the OE size screws. Obviously the more we order the less it will cost.
When I get the final cost (shipped to me), I’ll divide by the number of screws for a per screw price, then add $8 for me to ship to you. So an example price might be:
($1.60/screw x 1300 screws + $50 (my guess for them to ship to me))/1300 x 50 or 100 +$8
= $89.93 for an order of 50
= $171.85 for an order of 100
If we make it to 2500 screws, the cost would be around:
$43.50 for an order of 50
$79.00 for an order of 100
When I receive confirmation from the company, with shipped price, I’ll request on this post for each of you to send me an e-mail (not PM) with your mailing address and to request payment. My email address can be found in my profile, which is also my paypal email. Just indicate in the email if you don’t paypal and I’ll respond with my mailing address so you can send a check or money order.
So far I have:
FENZO 100
Fubar 100
06fordgt 50
2112 50
jaxgt 50
Midnite Blu 50
GTJack 50
Craig 50
fjpikul 100
DRIVEBY 50
DWR46 50
tmctguer 50
Magic 50
John B 100
standj 50
Yukonranger 50
dbackg 50
ChipBeck 100
ViperJoe 50
TrackDay 100
GTED 50
zrchris 50
tpraceman 50
TallCarGuy 50
TOTAL: 1500