bumperquip

The nuts and bolts you see in this thread are not refinished... I, personally, do not believe in finishing or refinishing (i.e. painting and/or polishing) fasterners as that's not how they came from the factory.

These fasteners have been restored to, as far as I've been able to research, the finish or as close to the finish they had when they were new. They do look used but the finish is accurate.

These are my shock and sway bar fasterners.

They've been through the 1st step of the process I find most effective.

These still need to go through 3 reamining steps before they're done.





These things were as rusty as you could imagine.

Here's a photo of the top sway bar end-link bolt head before disassembly:



Step 1:

They have been acid bathed in a solution of 3 parts muriatic (hydrochloric) acid (pool acid) and 1 part water. They soaked for ~ 4 hours. I will watch my "batch" and periodically give them a jiggle and typically when the bubbling stops they're done. Then they're thoroughly rinsed in clean water.

If I'm not going to complete the process(es) right away, I'll spray them with WD-40 or the like to ensure that no surface corrosion initiates again. That's where these are in the process.

Step 2:

Next, they'll be soaked in degreaser for a couple of hours. Then they'll be rinsed again. If you really wanna do it right, boil some water in a pot... without your wife knowing... take the pot to the garage or back yard, add your degeaser and let them soak in a pot of really hot water/degreaser.

Step 3:

After the desgeasing step, they're dried off and the next step I use is to then soak them in clean motor oil (the brand and viscosity is based on personal preference and brand loyalty). After I let them sit for a bit in the motor oil they'll be wiped down.

I've used this process a number of times and have fasteners go as long a four years with no signs of corrosion.

You may be wondering why I do the acid bath before I do the degrease... personal habit. I learned a long time ago that some chemicals, even in resudual amounts, don't mix. I therefore have always done the de-rusting before the degreasing. I'm sure flipping these steps in the process would be fine.

Step 4:

The very last step that I always take is to run my taps and my dies through and over the nuts and the bolts to clean up and re-establish the threads. After that you've got pretty much good as new fasterners.

I'll post additonal photos of these when I get them all done.

The next set I do I'll post some complete before, intermediate and finished photos.

__________________

lobo1117

The finish on those fasteners is called Black Oxide..
its a chemical process..

Black Oxide is a blend of caustic, oxidizers, additives that is used to black oxide ferrous metals. There are two types of metal blackening: hot black oxide and room temperature blackening.

Hot black oxide is a conventional hot (285 F°) process which produces a true black oxide iron magnetite, Fe3O4, finish. It is a premium grade salt mixture which will blacken a wider range of steel alloys than any other process on the market.

Room temperature blackening is the preferred metal blackening process for safe and convenient in-house blackening. It is important to note this is not a true black oxide process; however, it may be referred to as room temperature black oxide. It produces a super deep blackness and corrosion resistance equal to hot oxide blackeners. It is an excellent non-bleed out black finish for powdered metal and cast iron. Room temperature blackening process is an autocatalytic reaction of a black selenium-copper compound that deposits on ferrous parts through an immersion process.

EPI has a full explanation on their site..

Black Oxide - EPI

bumperquip

I took this set through the whole process. They turned out very nice as they typically do.

They don't look much different than they do in the photos above except maybe a little more slick since I soaked them in Pennzoil Platinum 10W-30.

I took one of the bolts over to a friend's place and media blasted it and then treated it with this stuff from Eastwood Co.
EW Metal Blackening Solution 1 Pt


After applying a coat of new black oxide and then a dip in a sealant solution, the black still would rub off in your hand or a rag and with a little rubbing you'd be back to pretty much what you see in my photos above.

Not worth the $$ IMHO. It looks gorgeous don't get me wrong... until, that is, you install it and start scraping it on parts and putting sockets and wrenches to it.

Maybe the EPI stuff John linked us to above has better adhesion and durability.

Personally I very much like the battle ship gray you get after a nice acid bath and there's nothing to rub or smear off.

Again, with my next set, I'll post before and after photos through the process.