VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood Metal reconditioning

I am working on my doors and am curious how others are restoring some of the interior small metal parts such as door pull rods-tracks-etc. Removing the surface rust is not the issue but rather how to protect afterwards. In particular the items that were originally zinc? coated. I have been acid etching after bead blasting and Evapo-Rust removing but not sure that is all that is needed to prevent future rust.

There are small shops around that will zinc oxide coat small parts reasonably. Generally you will want to have all your little parts together in one lot. Black zinc oxide should hold up fairly well and look pretty original.

Thanks for the info. I'll check locally to see if there are any shops in my area. Hardest part may be to get most items together.

I use Ospho to give some protection after bead blasting or wire brushing. It gives some level of rust protection by converting some surface to iron phosphate. If I expect the part to see some water I lightly paint over the phosphate.

Zinc plating can also be done fairly easily and inexpensively in your shop. http://www.southsandia.com/forum/website/zincplating.html is a good place to learn how.

I have done some nickel plating on a few small pieces at home. I got all the information I needed from various U Tube sites. It didn't take that much to get started. It was fun and educational and a lot cheaper than sending it out to a plating house. It might not be for everyone but it wasn't that difficult, give it a try.