refinishing fasteners

I am in the process of tearing down a car for restoration. I am amassing a pile of rusty fasteners that could use some refinishing.

I am thinking either zinc phosphate or hot dip galvanizing. Any recommendations and where to find someone who can refinish a pile of rusty bolts?

In reply to shuttlepilot: Do you have access to a small rock polisher? I've used one with some ground corn husk as a polishing media and it worked great.

I always struggle with the decision whether or not to reuse fasteners. Part of me says that bolts are bolts, but on the other hand, they're designed to deform as torque is applied. This is an extreme example, but it still makes me wonder.

triumphcorvair wrote: In reply to shuttlepilot: Do you have access to a small rock polisher? I've used one with some ground corn husk as a polishing media and it worked great.

I don't have a tumbler. Rust Dissolver from Autozone works real well in removing any rust. I just need protectant to be added to the hardware. None of the hardware is stretched. Any bolt that is significantly eroded or damaged will get replaced. I've been searching since my posting. It looks like either hot dip galvanize or mechanical galvanize with a chromate plate would be tops. I am looking for ultimate protection so I am leaning towards hot dip galvanizing, but I am worried about the heat affecting strength of the hardware.

On my '62 Sprite I cleaned up the odd fasteners that weren't single use or critical and reused. Most were under the car so they were painted along with suspension components. Everything else was replaced with new zinc or cad plated hardware. For a motorcycle I just finished restoring I bought a "copy cad plating kit" from Caswell. They come well recommended, but ultimately everything cleaned up with a stainless steel detail brush w/ lacquer thinner + a bit of 0000 steel wool. I am going to set of the plating kit and do a bunch of the brackets and such from the Sprite soon though - I'll report back.

I'd avoid hot-dip galvanizing. Looks OK on a chain-link fence, not so much on cars :-p

FWIW, there's a fellow on a Jaguar board that used the Caswell copy-cad kit to good effect on fasteners, brackets and brake calipers. He seems to be quite happy with it.

Have you considered powdercoating? Comes in many colours including clear, can be done i the privacy of your own garage and cheaper than farming it out.

Quite resistant to the weather also.

Dan

Tom Heath is right. And Carroll Smith says if it's structural or suspension or steering, replace the fastener regardless of how it might look. Good advice, but maybe not practical or absolutely necessary for a road car that's not being overstressed. Although I'd think twice about using a bolt like the one in Tom's picture anywhere. I like to use new cad plated fasteners for cosmetics where they can be seen. They're cheap and they look great in my opinion ... that clean, well-engineered industrial look thart I happen to like. Here in RI there are plenty of nautical supply stores that have just about anything in fasteners, even in stainless. If the fastener is hidden I clean up the old one with a wire wheel on the bench grinder and shoot rustoleum on it and dab a bit of anti-seize on the threads, unless it's being torqued.

Vinegar..white vinegar. great for removing rust and restoring brass parts, The part will need to soke for a day or two. Degreased first, soke, allow to dry, Biodegradable too. Use right from the bottle, do not delute.