I have a habbit of cleaning everything that I take off my Z before putting it back on. The problem is that on some parts and nuts if you wire wheel them you loose the gold protective coating. Does anyone know of a spray like cold galvenizing spray that you can use to restore these parts to their original gold glazed appearance? If you paint them solid gold or silver they look lame! At the same time if you do nothing then they start to rust in just a few days. I was thinking of buying a powder coating machine but I don't think that my wife will let me cook the parts.

Powder coating wouldn't work as it will scratch and flake off just like paint would, and it can't be touched up like paint can.

Eastwoods has a kit called Golden Cad you could try. It's a 3 parts aerosol paint kit that sells for 37 bucks. It's part number 10331Z in their catalog. I tried to open their webs-site and post the link to the kit, but for some reason I can't get their site to open...

www.eastwood.com

I also clean all my bolts. What I use is a Scotch-Brite wheel on my bench grinder. It is a medium grade so it doesn't remove material.

I don't believe that you can completely remove the cadmium plateing this way. Yes, the color changes from "gold" to a "chrome" color, but unless you remove .0005" worth of plating it's still plated.

Cadmium is a "chrome" colored material by itself, the "gold cadmium" plating is a coloration for asthethics.

Regardless of how much Cad is still on the bolt, the finish is so much smoother that there is little for rust to start it's attack from. I also clear coat the bolts to protect the luster and it's easy to re-touch after your wrench slips!

I have reconditioned rusted bolts to shining beauties this way. See my gallery, the big bolts to the inner rear a-arm pivots were restored this way.

Here's a method for cleaning up nuts, bolts & small parts:

http://www.geocities.com/gramage2000/links.htm

Basically, it involves using a rock tumbler. Toss in the parts to be cleaned with a bit of abrasive and a mixture of water & anti-freeze. After reading this I went to the nearest Harbor Freight & bought a rock tumbler for about $20. I tell ya, it does the trick!

Kenny P.

For reapairing or replacing the "goldish" finish on Z hardware, use this kit: http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/zinc.htm , and the yellow chromate at the bottom of the page. You will not be able to tell the properly done pieces from NOS.

Will

BTW this site is a candy store!

Here’s a link to a site that advertises gold cadmium (a.k.a. zinc dichromate) plating services. I plan to this outfit out once I start work on the engine. I was thinking of getting a D.I.Y. kit, but wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to store all those chemicals. Also, I would like to re-plate some larger, odd shaped parts like the air gallery (if I can manage to coax it off the exhaust manifold), and I don’t think those home kits will be able to accommodate this.

CLICK HERE

Thanks everyone for the advice. It seems like whatever the option they are all pretty pricy. In the past 2 or 3 months since I started this restoration I think that I have created an ecological hotspot in Homestead Florida. Screw the five legged frogs, whats a few more chemicals in the back yard at this point? I think I'm going with the plating kits available from Caswell and that way I can coat what ever the hell I want! There's a Nuclear plant about two mile from my house ..... let them take the blame.

Thanks again.

Here is the item that 2 many was trying to let you know about.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=722&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=10331Z

They also have a tin-zinc electroplating system which doesn't use heat, but a low voltage battery plating system that is fine for small items like bolts.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=134&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=10049Z