Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

[Gerard F.]

Guys,

What do you think these 73 hood latches:


Another member here, sent me these hood latches to experiment with, the next time I was hot with my setup. Since it was a rainy day in N. CA, and I couldn't work on the 67, I thought I'd fire up the Crock pots and organize a few things in the garage. Here's what the latches looked like as sent:


They had been beadblasted nice and clean, so all I had to do was degrease them by cooking them in SP degreaser for about 10 minutes. One could have probably used TSP or any other degreaser to get every remnant of oil or grease off.

Thought I'd try a step process by doing a short run of gray phosphate, then adding the blackener in the final run. Here's a shot of the degreased latches ready to be dipped in the pot:


And boy do they sizzle in the pot:


The solution is 4 oz of Zinc Phosphate (from Grant Wong) to a gallon of distilled water heated to 200 degrees. Here's the Gray stage after 10 minutes cooking:


Then I added 3 oz of OEM black (also from Grant Wong) to the zinc phosphate solution and cooked them for another 20 minutes for the black:


Then just let them air dry and hit them with a light coat of WD 40.
If you get some brown areas when they initially dry, just rub or brush those areas off and re-cook for 5 or 10 minutes to even things out. I did that with one of these.

Final finish was to hand rub the parts witn a rag with a light coat of WD40 or, I prefer, Tri-Flo. There is a little initial rub off of the black, but the Tri-Flo gives it a nice satin finish.

I think I got it down now.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Kent K.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Jerry ---- They look great!!! You do nice work.
You may have posted the contact previously but, I checked through Google for Grant Wong and Zinc Phosphate, and found nothing related to ordering the kits or chamicals. Would you post it again?
Thanks, Kent #6201

[Patrick H.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Jerry,

Looking nice! Do they seem (in person) to have any of that "sparkle" effect?

One note, the base below the spring as well as the top ring should be silver. See picture below. The assembly easily comes apart if you wished to plate these separately.

Patrick

[Gerard F.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Patrick,

Took them out in the sun this morning, and they have a real fine speckled finish.

On the spring ring and base, I didn't realize that, being a C2 guy. I'll let the owner do the final detailing. The phosphate comes off real easy with muriatic or bead blasting.

On the chemicals, one can contact:

"Grant Wong" grantwong@telus.net He was advertising in Driveline and I'm sure he'll come on, on this post

Jerry Fuccillo

[Greg L.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Hey Gerard what exactly is SP degreaser?

Thanks, Greg

[Gerard F.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Greg.

The SP degreaser is from my Caswell plating kit and used as a degreaser prior to plating. It's like TSP but with some buffering agents. I use it in a crock pot at 150-200 degrees. It just dissolves any oils on the parts which would give you spotting in plating.

Jerry Fuccillo

[Charles P.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Jerry,
The latches haven't looked that good since St. Louie! Regarding the top and bottom of the spring assembly, I have a near new set that will be mated with these. I would have overlooked the degrease pickle step and wound up with mottled latches had I attempted. The 0000 steel wool I hit them with had alot of oil in it. I noticed a pair of heavy chemical gloves, other than the hot temperatures anything potentially harmful ie caustic or vapors to deal with? I will be attempting this soon but will start with something less visible. Thanks very much again, now get back at that '67.

[Grant W.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Hi Jerry
Thanks for the kind words.( I still owe you a bottle) I still have some of the Zinc phosphate liquid and OEM black out. You can do nuts, bolts, clips, smog pullies, some smog bracket on a mid year anything that was Zinc phosphated on the mid years and C 3's I think this also applies to Camaro's Chevelles any GM cars. I've been trying to buy this Zinc phosphate for 15 years and never could. I finally got some via a very good friend pulling some red tapes. So if you want some then contact me grantwong@telus.net and I will give you info on getting this phosphate. If you have an inclination that you may use this in a few years but not now. Then I suggest any member buy a bottle and hold on to it until you need to use it. Once it is all is gone I will not get any more or by that time my car is done and I won't be restoring another car and maybe it'll take another person another 15 years to find this stuff. But I'll just problably keep a 1/2 dozen bottles for my self.....just incase a special car comes up and it needs some Zinc Phosphate restoration. Thanks to all, Grant

[Gerard F.]

Re: Black Phosphate Stew Revisited

Charles,

I use the gloves when working with acids and plating, and the hot stuff. The black phosphate is a pretty mild acid although you can get some stains on your hands. It is always good to work with household gloves around any of these chemicals.

Notice I hang each part on a wire and never touch it. With bolts, I make a little basket out of poly gutter screen, or hardware cloth if plating. When I take something from one tank to another, I spray it with distilled water and let it drip back into the tank it's coming from.

I always keep a 3 gallon jug of a baking soda solution handy, to neutralize an acid pickle, or to wash off your hands or face, just in case.

As far as fumes, all of these chemicals produce some minor amounts of bad stuff fumes, so work in a well ventilated area, not in the kitchen. I work in a leaky garage with the door half open and a fan blowing. I usually have more problems with spray painting from rattle cans in the garage, then with the chemicals.

I got your latches boxed up, and will probably get them in the mail tomorrow. They do look like the just came out of a GM box. If you want to take the phosphate off the spring rings just dip them in muriatic (2 to 1) or a heavy base cleaner, or beadblast them.

I had some fun with the latches.

Regards,

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179