I've done lots of searches but no results. Anyone know a source for the correct plating of the fender and chassis bolts. I saw a reference to the MacNiesh book but I can't find any info in it for the small stuff on these items. Most of mine look like black oxide/now black zinc.

Arno

You are correct that most of the bolts used for Body and Chassis assembly were Black Oxide Plated but, they also used Phosphate and Cadium processes for some of these fasteners.

Most of the repopers sell kits with plated bolts for your specific year car to replace many of the original fasteners.
You could also contact local or regional plating companys to see if they can handle small lots and have your fasteners cleaned and replated.
I have used http://www.gunblack.com for commercial plating in the past. They can do Oxide as well as Phosphates. You might want check with them and see if they will still handle small lots for you.

Hope this helps.

...and if you have thought about doing it yourself, gun blueing is what you can use to make them black again(after bead blasting), or another place you can send them to is www. detailplating.com

Re-phosphating is a snap. I bought the chemicals from Palmetto Enterprises 864-246-3836.
You just heat the phos acid to 180 F in a non-ferrous container (I used a stainless salad bowl) and stick them in until they stop fizzing. take 'em out and wd 40 them.

I also used Palmetto's stuff to do all my dark-colored bolts and phosphated parts. Recommended.

I used Eastwood's tin-zinc electroplating kit to do all the other "shiny" parts that I forgot to include with the pile of stuff I sent out to get silver cad plated.

BrakeBoosters at brakeboosters.com will coat the bolts in black zinc. This plating will be more durable that the phosphating but may not be exactly correct. I had all my front end bolts coated with black zinc.

This has been one of my pet projects.....Ever since seeing Jeff Betz's restored 77 Z-28 (One of the BEST Musclecar restos ever) I have really got in to this subject......I too contacted Palmetto Enterprises, but PLEASE NOTE, that they sell TWO different Phosphate Solutions. MANGANESE Phosphating is the correct finish for misc fasteners, and shift rods etc whereas ZINC Phosphating is for Hood Hinges, Hood catch , etc.
I'm also pushing BoeShield T-9 spray ...an anti corrosive as much superior than other "WD-40" types of products......Chuck Sharin