Cool fix - but gotta say - I've never seen a gold colored hood latch on any of these trucks. I've got a few NOS, too, and they all seem to be gray phosphate both the originals on my trucks and the NOS ones are too. The door latches were a gold cadmium but that's not a shiny gold, but a dull gold. Is that gold zinc dichromate you had it plated in?






Chad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely a dark gray here. On all my originals and NOS ones. Must be different vendors. Look at the release handle itself and how much different shape it is on mine here from my Ranger than yours. Mine is very square along the back edge (top as seen in the photo).



I know some of you do not get into this sort of thing and I can appreciate that. It can make the head hurt sometimes. But, bear with me here and you'll see my point.

I'm suspecting they used a variety of bolt finishes for the tops of the fenders and everywhere. If you look at the MPC the bolts that go down through the tops of the fenders and into the radiator support and elsewhere are shown as 353483-S2

S2 is a phosphate conversion coating plus an oil, black to dark gray in color, and is intended for general use on steel parts which do not require long term attractive appearance. Parts shall be evenly coated with oil. Parts supplied shall withstand 72 hour salt spray test.

Here's the Dennis Carpenter reproduction of that bolt, clearly not yellow or gold.

http://dennis-carpenter.com/searchnew.aspx?keyword=353483-S&d=3&type_category=trucks

Look at all the places it is called out for in just these two drawings.





Also, see how the 16700 - just above the hood latch - is hightlighted blue - because I searched on those numbers.

BUT, and you'll like this.....

If you go through the text closely - I have modified the MPC to make it searchable - you can see, for example, the 353483-S2 (BB588) is used on the hood latch. Note again how the text I searched on is highlighted in blue. Really makes it easy to find things quickly.



But, as opposed to the drawing, the bolts for the fender are listed in the text as 378178-S39 (BB412BA) highlighted again in blue.



S39 is Cadmium Plate - Soft Silver - This finish is electroplated or "mechanically plated" cadmium, thickness .0005" minimum. Where nonelectrolytic plating is specifically desired, the suffix "M" is added to the finish number; e.g. S39M. Parts supplied must withstand 96 hour salt spray test.

I have a few boxes of these bolts. You can see what they look like.





Chad

 

 

 

You must have missed my point as I was trying to agree with you...but alas.

Chad

 

I used slim to no Gold/Yellow bolts on my truck.

Any truck I do I have to be able to drive it and have fun doing it and make it last a long time. Being 100% "Original" would not allow that not only that so much is near impossible to find NOS unless one has a very thick wallet. I got lucky with a lot of NOS stuff as started buying nearly 19 years ago.

The Clone of my dad's truck I am planning on building was kind of thinking to have the nut n bolt stuff and complete engine and drivetrain be perfect as left factory but the cost associated with that would be thru the roof. I already have so much for it to do it that way but for cost of just a proper engine/trans rebuild I can buy a wrecked 2.7, 3.5 or 5.0 truck and get so much more. Eco1 total spoiled me and changed my thinking.

 

Kind of like the Rainbow Ranger. With the bone stock 352 that gets 22 mpg and Power Brakes, Power Steering and AC its absolutely fantastic and fun to drive. Love it! It is that good from factory with the OD trans and tall gearing no real changes would need to be made. Runs n Drives awesome but If I were to tear it down for a proper restoration I start the nut and bolt route and it would put me in the poor house. I would be better off selling it to someone who wanted to do a proper restoration.

Its been bare metal for a year now and starting to get some light surface rust. Makes me sick but its such a great daily driver. Its just that I do not care for the "Unfinished" look.

Just took a couple pics last evening showing how much its deteriorated in a years time.

 

My truck had the fender bolts like on your hood latch pic upper right bolt. Those were not going to cut it as would kill the paint on assy.

 

Only pieces done it the Yellow/Gold


Many of the pieces that were Phosphate I did in Electroless Nickel because of issues in the past. Some just to have a contrasting color upon assy.



A lot of painted stuff got powdercoated simply for durability





These bolts what were fender to apron. Decided to go with the flat washer type that was used later on. Too worried about paint chips.



Random plated hardware