Aging Zinc-Plated Fasteners

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peterp
Posts: 314
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:42 am
Location: NJ

Aging Zinc-Plated Fasteners

Post by peterp »

I don't know if it's been discussed before, but here is a simple way to age new fasteners. I lost an original bolt that fell into the engine bay. I know it will show up eventually, but for now I replaced it with an aged new bolt.

The aging process only takes a couple of minutes and involves heating the bolt with a butane torch until the zinc plating changes color to a whitish gray and then immediately dousing it in oil (I used Marvel Mystery Oil because that's what I happened to have, but any oil works). The aging isn't just burnt oil (it won't wear off), it permanently changes the zinc plating. I suspect that the modified plating will still prevent corrosion (it seems like the zinc is chemically changed rather than removed), but that's just a guess on my part.

Photos below of the tools and "aged new" versus "unaged new" bolts:

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Peter P
1966 330 2+2 series 2 #8169
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