Cleaning or replacing old Fastners

Couple Vital members here have done their own plating with kits and supplies from Caswell and also from misc. sources as seen in this Youtube video. Both had excellent results.

I buy some spare hardware lots from similar bikes off Ebay and send it all out to a shop for replating. I think the last time I had some done a 5 gallon bucket was $75.

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I did quite a bit of research on zinc plating, and Newmann just happened to post the exact video I used to come up with my own system (with a few of my own modifications). As you can see in my pic, I use a thicker copper wire to sit across the container, where the video guy talks about some aircraft grade rod of some kind. And the biggest difference is my power source - two D batteries from the dollar store! I'm sure that being able to adjust the amperage to the number of parts is the bees knees, but having the 3 volts supplied by the batteries seemed the perfect source for 4-5 small pieces at a time. Rather than cut two pieces of zinc only to mend them back together seems strange - I just run a strip of zinc down one side, across the bottom, and back up the other side; easy peasy.

I was able to get a roll of zinc from amazon for $23 bucks (enough to do 20-30 bikes at least, or one room of Newmann's garage). The rest of the materials are very cheap - from Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree. Though not totally "necessary", I also bought yellow chromate from Caswell for $30 bucks, enough to last years.

I soak any rusted parts in Evapo-rust and hit them with a copper wire wheel on a bench grinder to prep them, along with a dip in the diluted muriatic acid.

Below are before/after pics of some of the parts, my super simple set-up (I used spray bottles over a 5 gallon bucket to clean/rinse between steps), and a pic of my YZ to show some of the yellow chromated parts - see the foot peg bolts and carb clamps. It also makes the fork and handlebar bolts look really sharp/OEM factory.

By the way, the gorgeous frame, engine, hubs, swingarm on the YZ was done by none other than the maestro Newmann himself!

Back when I restoring cars, I used similar setup from Eastwood.

Kidkawi that is a great price for a lot of pieces. No one can touch that in my area.

I paid about 100 from a place in NC. It was a large flat rate USPS box full of fasteners. Worth every cent
My axles had to be sanded to fit through the wheel bearings after plating

Nice job Since 73

To clean steel hardware, just soak them in apple cider vinegar for a couple of days. Do not use this method to clean aluminum and especially, magnesium, as the vinegar will corrode them.

Thank you all for the tips, pics and videos. I am on to my project.
BTW, that YZ looks really nice, from what I can see of that pic.
Thanks again,
Mario

Since73 wrote:

I did quite a bit of research on zinc plating, and Newmann just happened to post the exact video I used to come up with my own system (with a few of my own modifications). As you can see in my pic, I use a thicker copper wire to sit across the container, where the video guy talks about some aircraft grade rod of some kind. And the biggest difference is my power source - two D batteries from the dollar store! I'm sure that being able to adjust the amperage to the number of parts is the bees knees, but having the 3 volts supplied by the batteries seemed the perfect source for 4-5 small pieces at a time. Rather than cut two pieces of zinc only to mend them back together seems strange - I just run a strip of zinc down one side, across the bottom, and back up the other side; easy peasy.

I was able to get a roll of zinc from amazon for $23 bucks (enough to do 20-30 bikes at least, or one room of Newmann's garage). The rest of the materials are very cheap - from Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree. Though not totally "necessary", I also bought yellow chromate from Caswell for $30 bucks, enough to last years.

I soak any rusted parts in Evapo-rust and hit them with a copper wire wheel on a bench grinder to prep them, along with a dip in the diluted muriatic acid.

Below are before/after pics of some of the parts, my super simple set-up (I used spray bottles over a 5 gallon bucket to clean/rinse between steps), and a pic of my YZ to show some of the yellow chromated parts - see the foot peg bolts and carb clamps. It also makes the fork and handlebar bolts look really sharp/OEM factory.

I may have to give this a try. Can you explain a little more about the prep of the parts? Was there any scaly or rough spots on the parts prior to start of the process? Obviously grease and dirt need to be removed, but I wonder how much rust needs removed? I've also got a tumbler with walnut shells in it....I wonder if that would do anything.

Anything that keeps prep down would be a plus!

As far as prep goes, the better it looks before plating, the better it will look after. Any rust scale or pitting that exists will be magnified by the shiny new finish. Tumbling them until they have a near polished appearance will result in some really nice finished products. Get a jug of evap-o-rust to soak them in after cleaning all the grease and funk off of them. Rinse that clean and tumble in the walnut shells.

Very good! Thank you both!

+1 on the Evapo-rust; that stuff really works and can be found at Wal-Mart and/or Home Depot. I have a home-made tumbler using walnut shells, but the results are less than I expected. A little "harder" media might work better. Evapo-rust, a high speed soft-wire wheel, followed by a spritz of cleaner, then water, and a dunk in the muriatic acid seems to do the trick.

Not a lot you can do if you can't get rid of the pits - you'll just have shinier pits. Bottom line - if you were restoring to showroom/museum quality, get a professional to finish out your parts. But to simply make your racer look sharp as hell, it's a pretty easy process, just time consuming. Good luck!