Galvanizing - What parts and what finish?

trondvo · Post by **trondvo** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 3:03 pm

I am in the process of sending away for galvanizing or plating many parts for a series 1 E-type.

Does anyone have information about what parts and what colors to go for?

What would be the most correct? Seems that many parts were CAD or zinc plated from factory.

The steel parts are quite obvious but what about aluminum parts like the wishbones, mounting block for swaybar etc, did anyone have these zink plated as well?

There is a company 25 km away from me that would do up to 35 kilos for around GBP 100 (hot galvanizing).

Anything "not originally" plated that you would recommend for the bath as well?

JagWaugh · Post by **JagWaugh** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 3:11 pm

Trond,
Stay away from hot galvanizing, it will distort the parts. Electrolytic galvanising is fine, but you Need to bake any highly stressed parts (including screws) to avoid hydrogen embrittlement issues. Talk with your plater.

Close tolerance fits (brake caliper bores) may Need honing. Black passivate has better salt spray resistance than blue or yellow.

Andrew

trondvo · Post by **trondvo** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:40 pm

Thanks, was not aware of the hot galvanize issue.

Was thinking about hot galvanizing steel brackets etc, but will ask them to use electrolyte. The aluminum they told me they could Chromate, I suppose that also is an electrolytic process.

Will reuse most of the bolts and was planning on the blackened look for these. Have seen some photos with yellow/goldish bolts and that is also quite nice. The "factory fit 3.8" thread is of good help, I do not need all bolts like they came from Coventry but want to have a tidy engine bay that will stand its time.

JagWaugh · Post by **JagWaugh** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 7:02 pm

Parkerizing is easy to do. see http://picasaweb.google.com/JagWaugh1968

Where the fasteners aren't under any high tensile strain I use stainless. Flatwashers I use stainless, and wherever a split or lockwasher was I use either loctite, or a nylock.

Brackets and such, I would go for black zinc... costs about the same as 2k prime and black if you give the plater a big enough Batch. Dip them in Owatrol and they will last forever.

Andrew

Post by **mgcjag** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 7:05 pm

Hi Trondvo.....the hot galvanising is whats used on farm gates and the like very rough surface with little blobs of zink left everywhere....

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 3:27 am

Cad looks better for longer but is hard to get and so most of us get the parts zinc electroplated. Use bright zinc. I always try to reuse the original GKN and Bees bolts; to me it's an important part of the car.

The wishbones are cast steel and can be plated. Some people like to paint them in clearcoat afterwards to protect the finish.

You will need to clean and degrease everything first. I soak in diesel for a week then use a high pressure water blaster. Some people like to wire wheel all the threads and bolt heads but I usually can't be bothered. I sometimes will soak badly rusted small parts for an hour in neat pool acid (HCl). Get the big parts (wishbones, hubs etc) grit blasted first; you will get a better finish.

35 kilo for GBP 100 is a reasonable price. It works out most efficient if you give them everything in one batch. Photograph it all before you give it to them so you know if they lose things. Small items can be strung together with copper wire if you want, but my platers don't seem to lose much.

trondvo · Post by **trondvo** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 5:24 am

Thanks everyone, I decided to get the chemical parts and try it out a little in the garage. It is only about $60 invested. Decided to follow this guy's instructions.

http://home.comcast.net/~rt66tbird/webs ... ating.html

Pending the workload I may still send the parts away but there is always that piece now and then that need attention. I have extra space in my storage and the electrolytic bath(s) can be reused.

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 5:31 am

trondvo wrote: http://home.comcast.net/~rt66tbird/webs ... ating.html

Pending the workload I may still send the parts away but there is always that piece now and then that need attention. I have extra space in my storage and the electrolytic bath(s) can be reused.

I have a zinc kit as well and it is excellent for doing single parts.

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:05 am

abowie wrote: The wishbones are cast steel and can be plated.

Forged, not cast, but otherwise agree. Same as foot pedals, con rods, halfshafts etc. Fairly simple shapes where toughness is the primary requirement.

Pete

JagWaugh · Post by **JagWaugh** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:55 am

abowie wrote:
trondvo wrote: http://home.comcast.net/~rt66tbird/webs ... ating.html

Pending the workload I may still send the parts away but there is always that piece now and then that need attention. I have extra space in my storage and the electrolytic bath(s) can be reused.
I have a zinc kit as well and it is excellent for doing single parts.

I am rigged to do Zinc, Parkerising, and I also have an electroless nickel bath. The Electroless nickel bath is great for screws and such. Product is called NIBOR, shipped as a salt, about 100$ to make a Gallon of solution. Use at 70 Deg C, just drop the (cleaned and polished) parts in, 15 min later they are done. Great for carb screws and such.

Andrew

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:49 am

JagWaugh wrote: electroless nickel bath. The Electroless nickel bath is great for screws and such. Product is called NIBOR,Andrew

I'm going to give that a try.

trondvo · Post by **trondvo** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:51 am

I have a 5-6 gallon ultrasonic washer I use for the bolts, they may need to go into a tumbler before they are done.

Was thinking about getting a metal blackening kit to finish them off.

JagWaugh · Post by **JagWaugh** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 5:57 am

Trondvo

I use a home made ball mill/tumbler for cleaning and polishing. I use ceramic media for cleaning, and corn cob (from the pet store: Reptile bedding) with Rouge etc for polishing. The process takes quite a while, but I just fill the machine and leave it to run, checking the Surface finish every 8 hours or so (after a while you will get a feel for how Long a Charge will take). Don't mix Al, Fe or brass/copper together, they clean/polish at different rates.

You can get gun blacking touch up fluid at a gunshop, good for touching up a scratch. Parkerizing is dead easy, dilute Phosphoric acid, Steel wool, Zinc, and Manganese (from a D cell battery). Put the solution in a stainless pot, Bring to a slow boil on the BBQ, hang your (prepped and cleaned) parts in the solution for 20 min, rinse, then seal in Owatrol or similar. Cost for 10l of solution.... about 10$

See my Picasa Albums mentioned above for pics.

Andrew

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Galvanizing - What parts and what finish?

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