How should bolts be restored?

[John Frank]

I am restoring a 1964 LeSabre and of course all the bolts, screws and nuts that came out were one color, rust. How do I tell what items were plain steel, plated, black oxide or painted?<P>Right now I am working in the front suspension and don't know what the A arm attach bolts looked like new, the stabilizer bar attach bolts, etc.<P>Or do I just say to hell with it and cad plate all the hardware>

[Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel]

I am having a 65 WIldcat done. The hardware is being zinc coated. It looks great. Not sure if thats how it looked from the factory. Decisions!

[NTX5467]

As with current production stuff, there would be no plain, plated, or painted bolts/nuts in those locations. I highly suspect they should all be the black oxide coating (which has some military spec name with "hours" and "salt spray" in the spec name). Anything down there that was painted or coated was done prior to assembly.<P>A member of a car club showed us once how to duplicate the black oxide coating on regular hardware store bolts using gun bluing. It was neat, but there are particular hardness bolts and such that need to be in suspension applications.<P>I suspect if you dissolve the rust, you'll find the black oxide coating somewhere underneath it all.<P>Enjoy!<BR>NTX5467

[Guest]

Almost all of the suspension bolts and nuts are black oxide with the exception of the large washers for the body mounts, front strut rods, etc. These were always cad plated. I am restoring a 64 Wildcat, and I have found out that most of the bolts, nuts, fasteners, and so on are black oxide, but rarely are washers and shims. I have managed to spend SEVERAL hours documenting every single piece of hardware on this car, so if you have any specific piece you are curious about, such as plating or correct markings (my car is a Sept. 63 Flint porduction car, so some bolts will differ with when and where the car was made), let me know and I can tell you. My car was bought new in Arizona and lived its whole life there, so it was easy to tell how they were supposed to be plated. Email me directly kansasbodyworks@sbcglobal.net or give me a call - 316-263-5506. Have fun, Matt.

[Guest]

John: I forgot to ask you, were you interested in placement and colors of body, frame, suspension component, etc. markings? These would include paint markings on the frame area around rear shocks, rear end, front and rear springs, tailpipes, firewall, upper control arms, parking brake cables, driveshaft yoke, driveshaft, etc. If you are, I will include this info along with the bolt and fastner info. Thanks, Matt