Yellow Zinc HT Bolts.

[richardjj]

Hi out there.

Im in the early stages of rebuilding a 2002 XR400.
I would like to replace the Bolts with new Yellow Zinc ones, does anyone know where i can get any.
I have purchsed a ' Bolt Pack " for / from Honda, but they are bright zinc and only have a few of what i need, making is very expensive, and really wanted the Yellow zinc.

I have been to hardware stores all over Hawkes Bay but anything close has a massive flange head, the likes for engineering. The Honda Motor / head bolts are very small flanged.

Any help would be appriciated
Cheers.

[GazzaH]

You could try Fortress in Hastings: http://fortress.kiwi/

I'd suggest giving em a call first, and explaining what you want. If you just turn up at the door with an unknown bolt, the eyes roll ... but even so they will try to help.

G.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I was interested in this - and I see from a google search its been asked on this forum before.

Overseas you can buy a DIY electroplating kit. So you could DIY it assuming you had the correct bolts. It doesn't appear you can here but you might be able to talk to someone like these guys - it sorta seems like it might be for the jewellery market but might be worth a follow up.

https://www.warburtons.co.nz/shop/Shop+by+Category/Tools+%26+Supplies/Plating.html

The thing that got me interested in it was Project Binky - they replated a metric fuckton of their bracketry and nuts and bolts. I mean Binky is DIY to the extreme but there might be an equivalent kit.

I guess the usual caveats apply: harmful chemicals, own risk, dispose of properly etc - but it might be a fun project.

Here's the one where they get to the plating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMZ8_pqJgek

By the way, if you haven't seen Project Binky, start at Ep 1 and go forward. You're welcome.

[richardjj]

Cheers for the advise.
I have been playing with a DIY zinc plate bath at home i made up, just got a boat zinc anode - Vinigar - epson salt - suger and rigged an old PC power supply allowing for a 12 / 5 and 3v output.
It's been working well and then giving them a final shine with Autosol metal polish.
Apparently you can get some (Not sure where yet) yellow chromate, but need to research further if i can't do the lazy thing and just buy some.

All else fails.....give up on the Bling and leave it natural....

[toycollector10]

Have I read this correctly? You have a bolt set for your restoration but the bolts are silver and you want to turn them gold for a correct restoration? If so, take them to an electroplater and ask for them to be plated with gold passivate and show him the picture of what you want. They may need to be polished first. Ask. As some of them appear to be countersunk hex head get them vapour blasted first as a polishing wheel won't get in there and also vapour blasting is a better preparation for plating. My guess is around $30-$45 to get the job done.

[richardjj]

Stumbled across a powder coater that did electroplating in hawkes bay and went and saw him. (Curran Engineering). If i supply the bolts they can hang them at an hourly rate and plate them in bling gold - the other option is called barrel plating according to them, and they come out a dull gold colour. I'm going to take a few and have them do both ways and then decide what looks best. Thanks for all the help. Now on to my next mission, is trying to find a powder coater that can match the original silver frame colour and bronze colour of the clutch covers. Saw one, but they don't match and only have the standard dulux colours, got a chart but nothing is close. Need to find the original colour's and names of the paint so i can see if someone can mix and get them close.