I am about to bolt together the front of my Gran Sport and I have a bunch of funky looking bolts. What have you guys found to be the best way to treat these bolts? This is far from a frame off restoration, just a clean up/paint job and it will be a driver. I was thinking just to soak them in thinner and then wire brush them off and put some picklex or something like that and call it a day. I hate to paint them and deal with that, but maybe Seymour "Cast blast" would be the way to go......just wondering.

Brian

I spent a lot of time with my bench mounted grinder and the wire wheel. I restroed a lot of expensive bolts this way. Seatbelt bolts come to mind, as well as many others.

I generally just toss them in the glassbead cabinet, put the bolts in a can with 1/8" or so holes in the bottom and the sides cut down for closer blasting with the gun. alot less work to the gunk off, but if they have grease on them use the thinner method to eliminate that as it will contaminate the abrasive and actually get into the gun.
If you dont have a cabinet a small siphon blaster will do the same just makes you have to do it outdoors. Then just hit them with some bombcan spray.

I guess I am looking for some magic way. :) Sandblasting is so tedious on something like that but I guess it is the best way to go. I'll just do that and picklex them then cast blast. I figure I'll do the same with the hinges and possibly the hood latch.

I just want to get this thing done and I have a tendency to go over board. But I just can't see putting those funky bolts on the newly painted fenders.
The thing is, the underside of the car is not done at all and probably won't be. So where to do you stop? That is a rhetorical question we don't need a three hundred post thread discussing that! :)

Brian

i agree with blasting them. i used to wire wheel but it too too long. blasting them cut down the time tremendously. i have a cardboard punched out with a lot of holes to put the bolts through. i use phophate spray that i got from eastwood. i like the color. i tried to use the chemical dip from eastwood but IMO, it sucked.

where do you stop? thats a hard question. my engine compartment was not detailed and i think it looked like crap when it had a fresh paint job and restored interior. it felt like i was starting all over again. the pictures that i have on my webshoots was taken before i took it apart again. it was running and driving but it just didnt seem finished so everything came apart again.

angel

I usually toss all the loose bolts & etc. into a wire basket and soak in Carb. Cleaner bucket ( and older one I keep around after getting a new one just for this purpose) or a small bucket of "Oil Eater" (available at Costco locally) until all the misc. paint and gunk is softened or eatin off. I then rinse them with water, any loosened paint will rinse off or you can knock it off with a brush and then dry them some to remove excess water.
Then I soak them in Ospho overnight and dry on rags, newspaper or papertowels in the sun until they're dried and finish (darker oxide) is hardened.
They take paint real well after this treatment, or you can just leave them in oxide, but they will rust eventually if you don't overcoat. If the fender/whatever is going to be finished in place this works well for prepping the bolts for color - if painted seperately, I stick them in cardboard and shoot them while shooting color at the rest of the stuff. Slight care is required when installing them to prevent paint chipping, but they actually hold up pretty well and touch-up with a small brush is easy.

This an easy procedure that doesn't require much 'busy work' so you can work on other things while they're at the bolt-spa ...

John

Eastwood sells a cool little tumbler with abrasive in it that is as close to magic as you can get.

Head down to your local enginer reconditioner and pick up a jar of their chemical cleaner.....soak over night and hose off
And dont forget to run taps/dies down them to straighten out the threads.

Brian,
As cheap as a front end fastener kit is, its almost not wirth messing with them. My 71 has plastic inner fenders that use a different bolt than comes in the kit. I glass beaded those, otherwise the kit is the way to go.

Martin I used the wire wheel but I used BRASS wire not steel. Its softer and seems to leave a smoother surface. Then paint if desired :)

Brian,
As cheap as a front end fastener kit is, its almost not wirth messing with them. My 71 has plastic inner fenders that use a different bolt than comes in the kit. I glass beaded those, otherwise the kit is the way to go.

I dont know, i bought a fron end fastener kit from Ricks and was disappointed.The bolts were shorter than originals and seemed to be poor quality.They stripped very easily.
Heres the tumbler. I should have saved the money i wasted on the junk fasteners and bought one of these.
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=11345&itemType=PRODUCT

Solvent then ospho will clean them up with minimum effort if left soaking overnight or two. Blasting, tumblers and brushing will clean them quickly if you need them right away. The trouble is then the bolts don't have the original black oxide appearance. They can be painted for protection but then they look like they were painted. The kits have wrong parts, wrong threads or "close enough" appearance that is less than satisfying. I don't know about strength, I suppose kits could have issues there too. Has anyone gone the next steps after cleaning orignal parts to restore the oxide finish?

Sandblast them, paint with satin black Chassis-Saver...no runs, chips, or errors :thumbsup:

I just clamp em in a vise and wire brush em with my die griner and a cup wheel, only takes a few seconds per bolt, and they stay good pretty long.

I would never paint a bolt, the first time you put a wrench on it, what was the poiint of painting it?

Optionally, ACE carries a pretty good supply of "pointy" washer head black oxide bolts. Cheap and decent quality.

I buy all new stuff from AMK. Some of it isnt close enough to "correct", and in that case I will restore the originals. I use the Palmetto Ph system. It can be a bit tedious, but very good results. Then coat them with Boeshield T-9. Ive tried flat clearing after the Palmetto, but doesnt hold up to a wrench very well.

I blast the hardware. Very tedious, especially when rephosphating because they have to be perfectly clean. Used to wire wheel, but wont get it clean enough for plating. Had a tumbler. Let's just say I dont have it anymore.

I was thinking about getting all new ones, I even made a list of how many of each. Then I said what the heck, I'll just clean them. I think I'll give ACE a try (I was there today, darn it!) for them. I almost lived in that darn store and I don't remember seeing bolts like these but I'll give it a try.

I don't know where to stop. I did the inner fenders, firewall, rad support off the car. But the frame and control arms look pretty crappy. The engine is "ok" as it was rebuilt a few years prior to parking it. The frame is mostly greasy. I think I'll paint the car, then a while later I'll take it back to the shop and pressure wash the frame.

I was thinking about getting one of those rock tumblers..wait a darn minute here, I have a paint shaker in the garage! Put those bolts in a gallon can with some thinner and put it on the shaker for a while. That's the trick! That is if I don't get new ones. I'll check into that tomorrow.

Brian

Hey guys. I posted last Spring on how to clean a rusted radiator tag. This will work on rusted bolts also. Soak them in a highly concenetrated glass of GRAPE KOOL-AID. And I mean concentrated. Buy the cheap unsweetened stuff and put 5 to 10 bags in a container of water. Throw in the rusted parts, agitate every once and again and in a few days they will look great. Do a search on my user name to read the posts. I just did this again to a rusted front dash speaker bracket and it dissolved all of the rust. It will not harm the metal.

Try it on a scrap part that is not important if you want to try it out. It really does work and you cannot ask for a cheaper or more friendly cleaner. Just do not put your fingers in the mix unless you want purple fingers for a few days. Don't ask me how I know.

Does it matter if it has ice or not? :clonk:
Sorry, I couldnt resist lol.

I'm just picturing that big Cool aid maskot guy trying to get around in my little garage. :)

Yeah, that Cool aid is acidic, not much but it is probably a five or so on the scale. It should clean just as vinagar would, the difference being it won't stink like crap.

Brian

How about some sand in a can on a paint shaker? Or even just get the compund they sell for the tumbler and throw it in the can.

That is exactly what I came up with this morning lying in bed, sand and some thinner. I'll give it a try and see. I do worry about hammering the threads all to hell but I figured that the sand would cushion it. I'll know in a few hours when I get out there and make some noise after the neighbors wake up. :)

Brian

I hate to paint them and deal with that, but maybe Seymour "Cast blast" would be the way to go......just wondering.

Brian

I LOVE Seymour cast blast! Paint goes a looong way in making stuff look good! I also like Plastikote's Bumper Chrome on bolts too.

John

I cleaned mine with a wire wheel on a bench grinder, then used Palmetto on them. A little WD40 on them every year and they stay fresh. Haven't tried BoShield--where can you get it?

I just clamp em in a vise and wire brush em with my die griner and a cup wheel, only takes a few seconds per bolt, and they stay good pretty long.

I would never paint a bolt, the first time you put a wrench on it, what was the poiint of painting it?

Optionally, ACE carries a pretty good supply of "pointy" washer head black oxide bolts. Cheap and decent quality.

Bingo! I have most all of mine this way. If you have other things to plate (like zinc plating) get the bolts done in black zinc.

I cleaned mine with a wire wheel on a bench grinder, then used Palmetto on them. A little WD40 on them every year and they stay fresh. Haven't tried BoShield--where can you get it?
T9 - Boeshield - marine places, Sears.

I'm getting into this late but you can always use your parts wash and a brush to get the grease and crud off them. Then soak them in full strength CLR for a few hrs to over night. Unless they are not worth using the will come out very nice...

CLR?

Well guys, I tried the paint shaker with the bolts in a gallon paint can with some sand and lacquer thinner. They came out pretty nice. Super clean, but still had a light rust. I am not after show as I mentioned so I just appied Picklex to paint. But I put a little too much Picklex and so I had to put them back on the shaker in the sand and thinner. This time when I pulled them out they look MUCH better. The Picklex ate a lot of the rust off. I then re-applied the Picklex and let it dry, then painted them with Seymour "Cast Blast". The look darn good. I am going to paint this car together and then pull the fenders and hood back off to install chrome and the wheel wells. So I'll let you all know how this paint holds up to installing and removing them.

Remember guys I know this isn't the "Best" way, but it is the "Bestest" for me. At this time, on this car I think it will work fine.

Brian

CLR? Calcium, Lime and Rust remover... It's a household product that you dilute before using typically. The stuff loves rust on nuts and bolts when used full strength...

I used an over sized 6 point socket which I lined with masking tape (2-3 layers). I was surprised on how tight it turned them while not ruining the paint. There were a few I had to brush touch (touch-up). The masking tape takes a beating and I had to redo it often.

John

I bought one of those tumblers from Eastwood and they're not worth the money. I tried many different ways of using the tumbler including mixing phosphoric acid with the media and leaving bolts go for days. Brian probably got just as good a result with his paint shaker.

I bought the Caswell home plating kit and after many hours of effort, finally got it working. I found it to be way too slow, too hard to get consistent results, and the finishes were mediocre in quality.

Ultimately I degreased mine, bead blasted them and took the whole lot to a local plater who charges about $50-60 per batch.

John

BTW, phosphoric acid for tile grout cleaning works better than CLR IMO. Just don't use either on grade 8, spring steel or any other high carbon steels or you could embrittle them to the point that they break. Ask me how I learned this.

I use the www.safestrustremover.com (http://www.safestrustremover.com) after removing the paint using lacquer thinner or paint stripper.
It is simply unbeleivable... there is also a product available at auto zone called Evaporust that appears to be the same product... both work GREAT!!!

...anyone else try 'soaking' the bolts in "metal conditioner"? ...after you clean the bolts (whether it be wirewheel, glassbead, etc.), ...let the bolts sit in a jar of metal conditioner overnight. Take them out, ...rinse 'em off, ...and a thin coat of clear, ...look great.

You could also try electrloytic rust removal.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/rust/electrolytic_derusting.htm

Below comments from Jeff Betz..........known Camaro restorer, Carlisle judge, former GM and current Chysler engineer at eng mfg plant in metro Detroit..............

I am certain that Zinc Phosphate is not correct for the bolts. I'm
also certain that the manganese phos is correct! I looked up the plating
spec on bolts and believe me there are only 3 major suppliers of bolts:
Ring Screw (Textron), Cold Heading, and I can't remember the other one. We
still deal with them all here and nothing has changed. To each their
own...so I won't tell someone how to restore their car. I will always give
my opinion if asked, and will always reveal my restoration method or a
better one if I know one. Good luck to your friend with the zinc plating
on the fasteners. Just another side note, I believe it would be okay to
dock points off a diamond car for having painted fasteners, a practice that
I told you some of the "top" restorers do use.

Actually zinc phosphate is an excellent plating to use on something before
you paint it. It is a recommended plating to be used under painted parts.
I did my door hinges in the zinc phos before I put them on the car and
painted them of course. It is an excellent "primer".

As far as your bolts coming out too dark? Not sure. I know some of mine
are pretty dark. Your bellcrank...remember, different amounts of iron and
densities of metal will plate different. The bellcrank is a tube (drawn or
stamped and welded) with two stamped brackets. Notice the tube has less
pores than the brackets welded on each end. That all factors in to how
well they will plate. If you send me your address I will send 5 bolts or
so that I have laying around that I manganese phos'd a few years ago.

I just use one of those camping type cooktops with two propane burners.
Coleman makes it. Works great. Fasteners and items that are to be
somewhat "black" get the manganese phos and the latches and such get the
"grey" zinc phosphate. Nice thing is different metals plate different
shades of the stuff, so it doesn't all look the exact same.


PALMETTO Enterprises
2311 A Old Parker Road
Greenville,SC 29609
864 246 3836

just dont use a real aggressive media to blast things that have threads like aluminum oxide. it will pit the threads and they will forever have that "crunchy" feeling when you screw them back in.

just dont use a real aggressive media to blast things that have threads like aluminum oxide. it will pit the threads and they will forever have that "crunchy" feeling when you screw them back in.

Wow... nearly 3 year old thread :D

You must be using an industrial pressure blaster :confused:

You won't pit metal in a siphon cabinet, nor with a DIY pressure blaster. A good idea is to run a tap/die through all hardware prior to cleaning/resto. :thumbsup:

3 years! I was thinking the same thing! I glassbead all my bolts (tedious, I know), but I have the bead cabinet and I can't stand dirty bolts. Then some stainless steel as primer and cast-blast or semiflat black as required. My latest find is krylon ultra-flat camo black paint. It looks very close to the dark phosphate coating. But it is weak paint, so you have to touch up the bolts after tightening them. Whats that??, did someone say anal? :D

3 years! I was thinking the same thing! :D

OH MY GOD, did someone have to bring this up to show me how long this car has been apart? I am STILL putting it together!!!! :(

Man, kids, work, it sure gets in the way of garage time doesn't it?

Brian

Out of all the choices mentioned here no one mentioned POTATOES. A way tube off of a Shopsmith saw in a PVC pipe with a couple of cut up potatoes and filled with water comes out a week later with NO rust (if you can get past the smell of rotten potatoes). I'm liken the grape Kool aid idea better.

Jeff

I soak in CLR and most of the bolts come out great. Just get the grease and crud off first.

Dont want to threadjack, but with any of these cleaning methods, what are the corrosion protection methods different guys are using? Because even if the bolt didnt rust, after a wire wheel or blasting the original coating is gone.
So far people mentioned: Painting, consistent oiling, clear coating, and seemingly the best but not feasable if you only need to do a couple bolts is taking to a metal plater.
Just curious if anyone liked anything special.

Lots of good ideas on this post. I use the cheap way, wire wheel on a bench grinder. Then put the bolts in a piece of cardboard with the heads showing a 1/4". Clean with wax/grease remover. Then quick primer coat, let dry, quick finish color, let dry. Install. If using thin coats of paint, it will not noticeably chip. So far, bolts I've done like this have lasted for years.

I bead blasted mine and used the Krylon camo black too, one thing I did do was from an old magazine article was place them in an oven at low temp 150 and baked them, finish was very durable.

Tom, interesting! I will have try that! How long did you bake them?

I only put them in for an four or so shut the oven off and let them cool in the oven. I have an old oven in the garage, you may not want to do this in the house.

Thanks. I have a little toaster oven I can try these out on.