55 Buick: What would be zinc plated and what would be black phos

[special55]

Hi everyone,

I may have an in to some inexpensive plating for my 55 Special parts. I am trying to make a determination for which parts would have been zinc plated from the factory and which may have been black phosphate.

I am thinking parts that appeared silver like the hood latch would be zinc and many of the fasteners would be phosphate coated.

I know many of you guys probably struggled with this during your restorations so I am hoping to benefit from your wisdom.

As always your help is greatly appreciated.

Rich

[imported_buick5563]

Rich,

Pretty much everything under the hood is zinc plated. No black fasteners that I can think of. Fender mounting bolts, hood insulation hold downs, latch, all of the bolts holding front sheet metal, back of the hood "latch" thingy, throttle linkage, all silver. The hood hinges are black, I suppose you could do those (with the springs) in black phosphate. Trying to think if anything else is black...

[special55]

Mike,

Thanks

That's great info.

Keep it coming guys. Any input on suspension components is also appreciated. I was kinda thinking some of the mounting bolts for control arms, steering components, etc. might be black phosphate.

Rich

[imported_buick5563]

Ken,

I do believe they were originally silver cad. I zinc plated mine. My plater couldn't do silver cad, just gold. Obviously, silver is better than gold, as far as color, and I didn't get docked for improper plating. Just make sure they (fender mounting bolts) aren't painted body color, and you'll be ok.