thinking of plating some of the rarer bolts on the truck in nickel to protect them, like the inner fender to frame, water pump bolts, and hand brake equalizer bolts, as well as the head bolts on the 255 I am building.

Has anyone else tried plating? The caswell kits look pretty cool, I think the tailgate chain and bolt would look pretty cool in nickel also.

JB

 

I used Caswell, Eastwood as well as a home brewed vinegar recipe to zinc plate mine. Zinc will keep them from rusting and is what the factory uses along with cadmium. Zinc is much safer to play with though.

Ernie

 

Is a home kit as durable as an industrial shop ?
I have sent plenty of hardware out over the years to a plating shop for zinc dichromate plating (gold colored) and recently had some done in zinc.....holy crap the price to do has jumped. Hood hinges, some brackets and hardware was almost $300 from what in the past would have cost less than $100. Time to either find a new shop or decide I like the painted look better.

 

I wondered the same thing. I called a shop here locally just to get a ball park price on what it would cost to get a handful of bolts plated in nickel, minimum charge is $150. I asked the guy what he thought of the home kits, his honest opinion, and he said it would work fine and get you to 1mil in about 30 minutes if you know what you are doing and have a good kit. I think I am going to try it, and see how it turns out. The Caswell kits look like a good start.

JB

 

here i did all my bolt in zinc coating

 

That's awesome. Is that a home kit?

 

had a bucket full was $50 for everything