Gen E VASA, screws queries

[lew]

I've read that a Minicocker VASA will work on a Matrix. Is this so? If not, I have a Matrix VASA, but I'll need to source a bolt to attach it. Anyone know where to find one?

Next, what are the screw dimensions for the frame-to-body screws and the circuit board screws?

[Tracker]

it depends on the body, its either going to be a 1/8th's NPT thread, where a minicocker ASA will work, or its gonna be the "other threading" where it wont

i dont know at what point they switched, i assume when dye revised the body, but i have heard that some of the earlier bodies have that thread as well

[lew]

Good to know. This a 21xxx serial Gen E, so that's not long before DYE took over. It looks like a straight thread. If I could find the thread dimensions, I'm sure I could get a bolt that would work. If I need to drill it, big deal.

[gabe]

it depends on the body, its either going to be a 1/8th's NPT thread, where a minicocker ASA will work, or its gonna be the "other threading" where it wont

i dont know at what point they switched, i assume when dye revised the body, but i have heard that some of the earlier bodies have that thread as well

Of the 3 I've had, I've had 1 Gen-E that had the later "fully supported" ASA (the wide based one with banjo bolt), one Gen-E with the skinny top screw in ASA, and a Dye DM3 with the fully supported ASA.

I think the only one where a minicocker ASA would work is the early ones with the skinny top ASA that threads straight in. The weird part is I don't think the one I had was 1/8" NPT, it seemed to be a straight sided thread and there was a tiny shoulder and plastic sealing washer on the ASA so it would seal when bottomed out.

[lew]

All right, mine are all separate ASAs with the banjo bolt.

Now, to track a bolt down...

[Tracker]

if it had a beehive regulator stock, it had 1/8ths NPT

[lew]

This is a parts box build, but I'd assume it had the later, one-piece Centerflag that came on the other Gen E that is a thousand or so later in the serial number.

[gabe]

Not necessarily. The beehive did for sure have a single threaded hole (not sure about 1/8 NPT) but later/early Gen-E's had a vertical ASA that threaded in the same way into a single hole and came with a Centerflag reg. My second Gen-E had that arrangement.

Again, I didn't check with a thread gauge but it seemed to me that the hole in the body was not 1/8" NPT as the vertical asa would thread all the way into the shoulder and had a plastic sealing washer. A 1/8" NPT would have been tapered and stopped and sealed on the threads. The hole size was about 3/16" which would jive with it being 1/8" NPT

[Jordan]

It's probably 3/8-24 or 3/8-27... they're close to 1/8"-npt. I think Bushmasters and/or Impulses use a similar vertical ASA bolt.

[lew]

Awesome material, guys. St least I have a starting point. Thanks!

[lew]

Just checked the body: definitely not a 1/8" NPT thread.

[Tracker]

Not necessarily. The beehive did for sure have a single threaded hole (not sure about 1/8 NPT) but later/early Gen-E's had a vertical ASA that threaded in the same way into a single hole and came with a Centerflag reg. My second Gen-E had that arrangement.

Again, I didn't check with a thread gauge but it seemed to me that the hole in the body was not 1/8" NPT as the vertical asa would thread all the way into the shoulder and had a plastic sealing washer. A 1/8" NPT would have been tapered and stopped and sealed on the threads. The hole size was about 3/16" which would jive with it being 1/8" NPT

i had a beehive, i used a minicocker ASA with one side filed down because of the grip frame, until the LCD asa became available to buy separate, i never had a threading issue..

the oring to seal the vert ASA between the top and body was more about the "ounce of prevention" argument

i can further support that argument for 1/8ths because at one point in time i thought i could use a sideline stab (only 1/8ths npt)connected vertically to replace the behive, the exprirment was short lived though, as that flow is backwards, and i put 850 into the noid. (i used to use Co2 originally) it made a loud bang and ended up blowing out one of the gaskets on the noid out through the seam between the pieces , yes it was tightened together, took the noid apart, and put the seal back in place, and it shot fine.. the sideline rattled around in my gearbox for years until i finally was able to sell it.

i still ordered a replacement noid, just in case

timeline on all of this was when they FIRST came out, before aardvark.

[gabe]

Good info, thanks for filling in the details. I wasn't sure about the threading, figured it could be 1/8NPT but just not ever getting tight enough before the shoulder hit the body.

It's always still mind blowing how many little variants there was on the Matrix that go unnoticed. Seems like all anyone knows about are the LED with beehive, LCD, and DM series. There were TONS of little variants with different factory barrels (OTP, CP), different air supplies, boards/switches, bolts, and LPR's.

[lew]

That's something I've learned quickly. Even in my 2.5 Gen E Matrices, all three of which are within two thousand on the serial number (anyone have any production stats on these?), and there are plenty of minor differences- boards, eyes, HPR, seals used in the bolt, etc...