[Indy Z11]

Is there a way to replate nuts and bolts with a zinc phosphate coating? I was looking at some of my parts catalogs and there is an OEM Zinc Phosphate paint but at $45 a can, forget it.

[Everett#2390]

You might contact a local plater and see what he would charge for a "bucket" as in one lot, of bolts to plate.

Or, replace non-suspension hardware with Stainless steel hardware, maybe from www.McMaster-Carr.com.

Or, wire brush existing hardware and coat with anti-seize before using.

But, I kind of figure you want to re-use original hardware to keep originality.

others here might have ideas.

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Everett "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR APPEAR QUICKLY UPON RAPID DECELERATION"

[This message has been edited by Everett#2390 (edited 01-03-2003).]

[Unreal]

I phosphated lots of bolts and nuts as well as hood hinges, latch, etc. I bought the chemicals from palmetto enterprises 864-246-3836. About 20 bucks each for the grey and black phosphating concentrates. You dilute the acid, and heat to 200 F. i used an old stainless pot on the kitchen stove. Follow the directions to the letter, and your results will be great.

[ragtopman]

If your into the black oxide look, I was told all it is is gun blueing???

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Jim
67 Camaro SS Conv.
70 Challenger R/T Conv.

[67RSSS Rag]

Eastwood has a kit. Cat # 10113Z $39.99.
I was thinking of trying this. Has anyone else used it and how were the results?

[clill]

I second what Unreal said... Contact Palmetto.

[Indy Z11]

Thanks unreal. For those of you who are interested, here is their website.

http://www.palmetto-omnitek.com/Palmetto/index.htm

[gheatly]

I got OK results with the Eastwood kit. However, the bolts I did were not completely clean. You really need to sand blast whatever you want to coat or use one of the Eastwood tumblers to clean bolts. I think a perfectly clean bolt would come out looking pretty good.

[deejaygee]

The Eastwood tumbler system sucks, don't waste your money. The thing runs for hours and hours, walks all over the place, loses your little parts, and doesn't do as good a job as a wire wheel does in 2 min.

I bead blast all my hardware and I might once in a while do a pass with a wire wheel to smooth out small pits and imperfections. Works great.

I tried Eastwood's blackening system and I wasn't impressed. It's okay if you only have a couple of small pieces to do and don't want to bother with real phosphating. It really does look like gun blue, it's not very corrosion resistant and tends to fade. Also, coverage is spotty. One nice thing about it is that it's a "cold" system, no hot fluids or electroplating to deal with.

I ended up using the Palmetto stuff for all my hardware. I did a whole car worth of phosphating (eg hinges, bolts, washers, nuts, screws, etc) from a single container. I love it. Watch out for the fumes though, you can catch a real buzz offa that.

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Denis dba deejaygee@hotmail.com
Deepwater Blue 67 Z28 "project car"
Marina Blue 67 Z28 "survivor car"

[CamarosRus]

The above Palmetto web site is WRONG....same spelling different plating company that doesnt sell the chemicals.....Correct PALMETTO company is in Greenville, S.C. at 864 246 3836....mans name is Owen Johnson..he has no web site, no Email... does business the "old fashioned way"
Remember the fasteners and most linkage arms and small brkts are done with MANGANESE phosphate whereas the hood hinges, hood catch, smog pully etc etc are done with ZINC phosphate.....Chuck Sharin

[RW68RSConv]

I second DeeJayGee - Eastwood has everal good products - but the blacking system isn't one of them - don't waste your money. Tried many times with typically fair to poor results. Side Note: their Tin-Zinc plating works well.

[camarobird]

Grey Phosphate is the natural color of zinc phosphating process. Black phosphate is normally from a pre-dip, this used to be antimony salts which are now considered hazardous. Calcium modified will yield light to dark grey depending on the platers whim. Treated parts are then normally oil coated making them darker.A good phosphate with oil will not be permanent eg; will last about 100 hours in a 5% salt spray before rusting.

Arno

[Unreal]

The Palmetto instructions include coating with gun oil as the final step. If you periodically re-coat the parts with gun oil, can you extend the rust resistance permanently?

[camarobird]

The problem with oiling is that it attracts dust and dirt and gets spread around but if the car doesn't get used much and is stored in a low humidity area, it should work.

If you want factory original it could be a way to go. MacNiesh says paint it with cast blast but the high temp stuff will not set unless heated. There is a low temp version Eastwoods make this may be easier or a high zinc paint to get a close approximation. For hood hinges, latch, zbar, linkage etc. Let me know your experience with Palmetto, I'm not sure he will/can ship this stuff to Canada.

BTW; On bolts I use B&G which is a rust neutralizer and leaves a black iron phosphate covering which looks like black oxide more or less.

Look at the MacNeish book or the Camaro Nationals webpage to decide what to black oxide and what to gray phosphate.

[CamarosRus]

I'm in the camp for MANGANESE phosphating for fasteners. I have had bolts Black Oxided and it is wrong, as well does not have near the corosion protection as phosphating. I have also ordered a quart each of Manganese (Darker Gray) and Zinc (Lighter Gray) Phosphate Chemicals from Palmetto (SEE ABOVE). I intend on using either ZECOL plus 4 Spray Lubricant to coat the fasteners after plating OR the BOEING(aircraft) developed "BOESHEILD" T-9 Premium Metal Protection and Waterproof Lubrication. I figure anybody that cares enough to plate the bolts correctly will take toothbrush occasionally and go over bolts with one of the above.....Thanks, Chuck