Hood latches, correct coating?

[theo law]

I'm having a bit of a tidy up under the hood and I'm getting an increasingly big box of nuts,bolts and brackets to go off to the plater.

However, the hood latches have an odd finish on them that I've never seen before. If possible I'd like to find out what it is and get it re-done. It's a black or dark grey coating with an almost sparkly sheen to it. Does anyone know what I'm on about, and have any idea what type of material it is? There is some mention in the Judging guide about it, but it doesn't actually say what the coating is made from.

If I can find that out, it might make it easier to find somewhere to get it done. Otherwise, they're going in the zinc box with all the other bits!

Thanks in advance

Theo

[William C.]

What year car? *NM*

[Donald T.]

Re: Hood latches, correct coating?

Theo,

Your description sounds like black/grey phosphate. As Bill stated, you would need to provide the year of your car to know the correct finish.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Hood latches, correct coating?

His profile says it's 80 L48. I know less about late C3s than I do C2s, but I agree his description sounds exactly like manganese phosphate.

Theo, the accuracy of your description makes me wonder if the latches actually need refinishing, but you're keen on refinishing them see the link below. That website supplies the materials you need, plus instructions on how to use them. Your problem is going to be getting the materials...as you can see Calvan ships only to the continental US. If you can find a Canadian supplier of parkerizing materials, it will be easier to get them to ship to England.




Calvan Parkerizing Materials

[theo law]

Re: What year car?

Sorry guys, yes, as noted in my profile we're talking about an 80. Thanks for the responses.

Chuck, although there is some residual area of coating left on the latches, they're more rusty than not! That's why I am keen to re-plate them, they're too far gone to just clean up and re-fit. Thanks very much for the link, I'll have a good look at that when I have a moment. I've heard of Parkerising before, in my limited experience I thought that was more of a solid blue/black colour, rather than this grey "sparkly" effect I have here, but I guess that shows what I know!

The 80-82 technical and judging guide mentions this finish but only describes it in terms of how it looks, rather than saying the actual coating material.

I'll see if the guys who do my plating can Parkerize parts too, part of the battle was finding the right terminology to be able to talk to these guys on a similar level!

Thanks again

Theo

[Mark D.]

Re: What year car?

Theo,
Bill Hodel in Massillon, Ohio restores and replates the latches. He has done several sets for me and they always turn out beautifully. I think most on this board will vouch for Bill's integrity and craftsmanship. His contact info can be found by searching his name in the archives.
Regards,
Mark Donnally

[Chuck S.]

Re: What year car?

..."I'll see if the guys who do my plating can Parkerize parts too, part of the battle was finding the right terminology to be able to talk to these guys on a similar level!"

Note that Calvan's site has two DIFFERENT formulas depending on whether you're refinishing guns or cars/motorcycles. I have no idea what the difference in the solution is, and I doubt that they will tell you.

The terminology "Parkerizing" is most frequently used with refinishing guns. If you tell your platers it's a black phosphate or manganese phosphate finish, they will either know immediately it's something they can do, or they may have no idea what you're talking about. Actually, I'll be surprised if a plater would do the process because it's not electroplating per se...it's a chemical reaction process.

For your info, black phosphate color often varies depending on the immersion time and the steel used; shade varies from near black charcoal gray to medium gray. My 70 hood latches were closer to the dark charcoal gray.

[theo law]

Re: What year car?

Mark,
Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately being in the UK means Bill Hodel's a little bit too far away for me! Appreciate your help though.

Chuck, that's great info, thanks. Now I know a little bit more about the actual process I can research it a little. It'll be a lot easier to find a local outfit who can do phospating now that I know what I'm actually looking for! And yeah, the latches are definately on the grey side, on my car.

Thanks again all.

[Terry M.]

Parkerising(sp?)

is a name derived from the company that markets(marketed) the chemicals to perform the process -- Parker Chemical Co. I haven't had occasion to deal with them in 40 years and have no idea if they are still in business or not, however, when I operated a research lab that phosphated metal samples they were our chemical supplier (in 55 gallon drums). Perhaps the process has in some circles taken on the name of the principle supplier of materials to the trade. The generic name of the process is grey (or black) phosphate. It is more of an etching process than coating or plating.

[Kent K.]

Parker Chemical Co.

Parker Chemical Co. was acquired by FORD in 1983 where Dr. Ronald E. Goldsberry became a vice president. He left them in December 1999 to become chairman ans CEO of an online auto repair and parts marketplace called Carstation.com.

http://shootersolutions.com/parkerizing.html has good information regarding parkerizing and Shootersolutions sells kits of all kinds for black manganese and zinc parkerizing.

Above was derived using the Google search engine.

Kent #6201

[theo law]

Re: Parker Chemical Co.

Thanks again guys, lots of info for me to look over now. I'll have a chat with my plating guy and see if he can do it/recommend a place.

Cheers!

Theo