Restoring rusted bolts

Trying out a few things myself, and to see what’s quick and cost effective, I bought a set of black oxide treatment from ebay for £15 delivered. I already had the acid for removing grout from some old tiles.
Put the bolts in a container and pour in some acid. You will see results in ten minutes but leave until clean, rinse, put in the first chemical for ten mins then rinse, put them in the second chemical for ten mins and rinse again. Then you leave them in the third one which is oil for an hour and hey presto.




Granted, not as nice as the zinc plate but ok for the out of site ones. I just do mine as an adhoc affaire. When I take something off to give it a coat of looking at and a bit of a clean, I do the bolts as well which might only be a couple at a time because I like to keep it on the road if possible.

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Better than doing a large batch and forgetting where they go … as my nephew did :grinning:

Following help from Joe, I a sent 9kg of bolts, nuts, washers, brackets and hose clips to DDG Plating in Nottingham. Postal is flat rate of £9.00 plus same return and DDG charged £20.00. I was there and back in a week and half. Opening the box was like finding your best Christmas present ever. I paid £12.00 for the fuel neck filler in the picture but is better than factory fresh.
Be warned though, If you send rusted and pitted bolts, they will come back pitted but yellow zinc, not smooth and brand new. I had about 20% rusted but the rest came back as if never used. I don’t know how many but a complete cars worth so say between 400 and 500?. These lads start at a pound each to buy so significant saving. And they do other bits so i will be using again. Highly recommended.

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how do you keep track of which bolt goes where after you remove everything?

Hi Ian
I was fortunate enough to get a doner car which I stripped it out completely apart from part of the rear sub frame. These are from that. As and when I do removal and cleaning of the various parts on my car, I will simply find the same refurbed one and swap.

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