Nut plates, bolts, hood springs..

6

67fastbackgt

Working on the engine compartment, do you guys paint your nut plates(u nuts)? and bolts all separately, do you just use new ones? Also how do you guys paint hood springs, seems like if I painted them closed they'll just stick together then the paint would just break apart when used??? Maybe I'm just getting crazy over thinking it :)
 
I have never had springs crack after paint, but I put 3-4 thin coats on. Not sure what you mean by u nuts, are you talking about the ones installed so they dont need a wrench when the bolt is threaded in?
 
spent some time with mcmaster carr for bolts and nuts for the camaro, they had alot of the sizes we needed in black oxide stainless steel. Just remember 18-8 is slightly magnetic and will rust.

We powdercoated the new hood springs, even that did not stick together, but you can always open them up to paint them too.
 
The problem as I see it, is that the only time anyone sees the hood springs is when they are stretched out, so it just makes sense to paint them that way. You can use a couple pieces of angle iron about a foot long and some threaded rods, drill holes for the rods and holes between the rods for the springs to stretch them out.
I haven't tried this yet, but I'm thinking you may need 4 rods to keep it from twisting.

You might want to order a​ catalog from AMK Products and compare the cost for exact same new plated hardware, against your time cleaning and painting the original hardware. I have ordered a lot of hardware from them, and it is exactly like the originals. They also have many other under hood items that you will be interested in.
 
chevman;n79470 said:
The problem as I see it, is that the only time anyone sees the hood springs is when they are stretched out, so it just makes sense to paint them that way. You can use a couple pieces of angle iron about a foot long and some threaded rods, drill holes for the rods and holes between the rods for the springs to stretch them out.
I haven't tried this yet, but I'm thinking you may need 4 rods to keep it from twisting.

You might want to order a​ catalog from AMK Products and compare the cost for exact same new plated hardware, against your time cleaning and painting the original hardware. I have ordered a lot of hardware from them, and it is exactly like the originals. They also have many other under hood items that you will be interested in.


Mine stretch out when you close and latch the hood, so the spring closes when you lift the hood and it stays up. They are slightly stretched, but wide open stretched is when nobody sees it.
 
I was thinking all new, just know that sometimes replacement parts have sketchy coatings also...all good ideas on stretching the springs guys thanks.
 
Place a small order and check it out, I'm not a Ford guy, but I was very impressed. They make most of the hardware themselves in Virginia. http://restorationfasteners.com/about_amk.htm
 
Wow long video but very cool, I may just go that route.thank you
 
I temember seeing a video of a guy putting the spring in a home made contraption and used a worm gear to stretch it
 
For U nuts on my project, I bought new ones.

Thanks for the ideas on AMK, and McMaster for the black stainless. I've been looking for sources of factory style bolts. My concern is rust. I used Caswell black oxide for a bunch of bolts on a daily driver. Less than a year later they were all starting to rust. Recently, I have been using black epoxy or powder coat, but that is too time consuming.
 
MX442;n79500 said:
For U nuts on my project, I bought new ones.

Thanks for the ideas on AMK, and McMaster for the black stainless. I've been looking for sources of factory style bolts. My concern is rust. I used Caswell black oxide for a bunch of bolts on a daily driver. Less than a year later they were all starting to rust. Recently, I have been using black epoxy or powder coat, but that is too time consuming.

Forgive me raising the dead but next time you buy new bolts use t9 boeshield on them to prevent rust.
 
All my past restoration research shows that OEM "black" fasteners were/are MANGANESE PHOSPHATE.

I have done small batches in a stainless steel vessel on a Coleman Camp Stove using chemical I bought from PALMETTO
but more recently had large quantity done at commercial platter

I like FLUID FILM as a rust inhibitor as well as BoeShield T-9
 
Caswell sells a SS blackener that works great. Finished product looks like black phosphate.

I have my stuff plated by a commercial plater that silver cad plates the hardware then dips it into a black chromate bath that turns it black. A little shiny compared to black phosphate but it lasts forever compared to the cheap DIY black phosphate stuff.

I have the caswell cad system and chromate baths which look really close to black phosphate. Problem is the amount of time it takes. I can pay a company and be way ahead of what I can do it for. Only problem is I Have to prep the hardware. It gets glass bead blasted. I lay everything out and take a picture so I know what I send. Each bag is labeled for contents.

The first picture is hardware blasted and prepped for plating. It all gets thrown into a bag/box.
The second picture show the returned lot of black hardware ready to be put back into the bag. Taking your time labeling accurately really speeds up reassembly.
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