Topic: Zinc Plating - Bolts, Spokes, and Fasterners

[RRRToolSolutions]

I am in the early stages of restoring a 1974 Suzuki GT750. Since my question and the hopeful answers that will follow are relative to all bikes, I'll feel good about posting here in the middle of this Honda board.

I want to find a good zinc plater that can restore my bolts, spokes, and fasteners to their original shine, but not-chrome finish. What has brought this to light moreso than ever is that the old, dull, dingy, and in some cases - rusty originals have a big "S" on them. I just received a large order of new bolts in from Suzuki which are the correct part number and are OEM replacements which I thought were going to be exact and brand-new - they aren't The S is gone and the heads are different. Due to mass-production and superceding of parts - these new ones have lost much of their character and certainly that "S".

Do some of you have suggestions on where I can get the original Zinc finish re-applied? I don't want these chromed.

Help is appreciated.

Gordon

[mrbreeze]

Damn Gordon....when you restore....you get right down to the nuts&bolts of it!!!!!
Hope you find what you're after to make the Buffalo pristine!!!

[GroovieGhoulie]

I believe 736cc (Andy) on this board re-zincs parts on his K0 builds, perhaps he'll know a guy?  His work is stunning, by the way.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Hallelujah brother!! We need a great source for this. Yes, we could do this ourselves but some of us would prefer a professional. If we can find someone like the fellow that makes your frame kits we are in business. Perhaps we could could start a "Preferred Vendor" list. We already have a number of specialists to start off our list. Thank you Gordon!

[bwaller]

Gordon, I have used a company in Montreal for clear zinc plating several times. He does great work and is not expensive.

I'll PM a phone #

Edit: I suppose this is no secret! //electroloh.com.  I have had to wait a few weeks to get the job done, but obviously doing a few pounds of nuts and bolts for a vintage bike restore is not his bread & butter. I have taken half a five gallon pail of bits and paid $60.00.

[toycollector10]

Ask around the platers in your area. If you don't want full-bright-bling the bolts and parts need to be placed correctly in the tank. I think for a soft Bright Zinc Plate the parts have to be placed away from the anodes, i.e. in the middle of the tank. If you want them bright, get the plater to put them next to the anode.

The plater does it for a living and he will know what is required. You just have to brief him correctly. Tell him what you want.

Keep a record of what you give the plater. Ask the plater about his system of returning to you exactly what you give him.

I sent some stuff off to be BZP'd last year and when I went to pick it up it took the joker in the shop 30 minutes to find my parts. I was starting to freak out, 'cos on a K0 a lot of it is unobtainium. "What have you done with my parts, FFS"?

Bloody hell, that's the way to turn off repeat custom.

[WHALEMAN]

A few years ago when I was restoring a 1966 Yamaha YM1 I used Sun Polishing and Plating at 115 N Chestnut in Leroy, Illinois. They did Cadmium plating that looked absolutely stock. It was beautiful. I do not know if they are still in business. If they are still in business and someone would like I can take some photos of the work. Dan

[Patrick]

Does zinc plating strengthen the bolts? My biggest concern about reusing the original bolts has always been their age and the relative weakness of 40-year-old steel.

Patrick

[Steve F]

Ilbikes, where you located?  I had some plating done very reasonably at a shop in Streamwood.  Just told them if I wanted plain or yelllow zinc plating, and everything came back looking like brand new.  Just threw everything in boxes, keeping them separated by what I wanted done.  I heard that springs could be affected by the plating process, (hydrogen embrittlement), but I haven't had any problems yet.

[DME]

I was looking into doing my own zink plating when i built the cafe 750.
However the difficulties sourcing the chemicals needed made me contact the local plater to get a price.
He explained that he was using a drum as a tumbler for small parts like bolts etc. The maximum lenght of the objects that could be fitted inside was 70 cm and max total weight was 8 kg.

The price was the equivalent of a 100 $us per drum.

He cleaned the parts in an acidic bath prior to plating, and that takes away everything except paint that had to be removed by myself.

Came back looking brand new 




Used him again when i rebuilt the streetfighter, this time I went for yellow zink:




Cheers
Dan

[WHALEMAN]

That is a way better price than I paid. Dan

[DME]

That is a way better price than I paid. Dan

Forgot to say that mine was done in Sweden, but that usually means it´s more expensive...

I guess the tumbler method is the key to the low price as it makes it very easy to do.
Just throw everything in the drum and flick the switch (that´s the platers description...).

I you use a regular bath you´ll have to hang every nut, bolt and washer from a wire = labour intensive...

[toycollector10]

Yes, keep it original Gordon.

Because OEM parts are so expensive I'm going to do the same with my Kawa Z1. A bucket of bolts and bits for light BZP, a bucket for  chromium etc etc.

I'm even going to see if it's possible to keep the original spoke nipples and get those done in Gold Zinc.

Going to phone around re tumble plating as that sounds as if it's definitely the way to go. Nice tip.

[736cc]

  Any chrome plating shop can do zinc. On Long Island, Nassau Suffolk Plating does it by the lot- I hand them a bucket of all fasteners, washers, springs, clips, spokes, sprockets, brake arms, footpeg hardware, carb bowl clips, linkages, choke levers, etc and ask for clear zinc. A good sized pile costs under $100. (Spoke nipples get gold zinc). Its especially nice playing new w/ shiny hardware. Get a Honda parts book and metric ruler to sort everything during reassembly, book gives sizes for every nut, bolt and washer.
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