Is there a way to black phosphate parts at home or is a pro plater the only way to have it done?

This is one of my best kept secrets but for a Chevelle head, here goes:
- Go to NAPA and buy a bottle of #6877 Triple Etch metal cleaner
- Start with zinc plated parts and soak in warm Triple Etch until until they stop fizzing. I use the microwave to heat.
- Dry and seal with WD40.
Technically, this is zinc phosphate, not iron phosphate, slightly gray in color.
Also check out http://www.caswellplating.com/nsindex.htm for materials to apply black oxide finish.
Phosphate coating should not be applied to Grade 8 bolts. It can cause hydrogen imbrittlement which makes them very brittle.
Learned most of this at an NCOA seminar by Gilbert Propes

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Fred Aldrich
Web Site: www.GeoCities.com/~69_chevelle (http://www.GeoCities.com/~69_chevelle)

WTF????
are you saying you put metal parts in the microwave?

nevermind - i just read over your message and determined that i am illiterate. just ignore me.
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Ian McDermott
1970 Chevelle SS 396
Columbia University
New York, NY.
E-mail: havoc@graffiti.net
Web page: chevelle.dhs.org (http://chevelle.dhs.org)
ICQ UIN: 3923441










[This message has been edited by Havoc (edited 03-25-99).]

For misc small parts, I sometimes use gun bluing in a Parkey plastic bowl. And sometimes I use Krylon High Heat Black, 1614, and cook them in the other oven.
Three years ago I sandblasted the brake drums on my 56 Vette and painted them with Krylon 1614. One day I drove it a long way with the emergancy brake partially on. That black ain't ever comin' off the rear drums!

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[This message has been edited by DZAUTO (edited 03-25-99).]

Eastwood makes a good bolt blackening kit. It costs about $40, but if you do all your bolts its probably worth it. You have to blast the bolt, stick it in this acid stuff, wash it off, then stick it in this sealer stuff. Works well if you blast it well and hang them by a thin wire to dry. Turns the bolt gray/black. Finish is much tougher than paint. Go to www.eastwoodco.com search for blackening.

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Jameel Qazi
#'s 67 SS