Refinishing zinc plated parts

[Basil Brush]

Thought I'd post this in case useful for anyone refurbishing their cars.

I'm going through a full rebuild on my Tuscan and replacing/refurbing pretty much every bit as I go. I have a zinc plating kit but thought I'd have a play and see if I could get something resembling the original yellow passivated zinc finish with paint.

These are the alternator and power steering brackets as they came off my engine.



I put them in my electrolysis tank for a couple of hours and then gave them an overnight soak in evaporust to get the last bits off. They've then had a couple of coats of silver ZG-90 zinc paint and a light coat of some Green Stuff burning gold, which is a chameleon acrylic model paint, with my airbrush. Below are my refinished PS bracket next to a brand new throttle cable bracket at the top for comparison. There is more of an orange/red colour shift effect than my phone camera has picked up.

[Snaaakeey]

Smart Baz.

I went with all the parts being shot blast and then sprayed black and cooked. I would have done it this way If I was sure what/how to do it. . Looks great.

What plating kit did you use?

[Basil Brush]

My zinc/nickel plating kit originally came from Gateros Plating.

Edited by Basil Brush on Wednesday 19th November 12:16

[Dalamar]

I can recommend the Gateros plating kit too. I remember plating the fuel injector rail and a few other bits in the engine bay of my Chimaera. Fairly easy to set up and I was careful to respect the handling of the chemicals. Thick nitrile gloves, safety glasses and an old lab coat!

I used an old small car battery as a power source along with one of these to adjust the voltage.

LM2596 Power Supply DC-DC Adjustable Step Down Buck Voltage Regulator 4.5-40V UK