Engine paint, bolt paint, cold galzanization

I'm not sure how many have noticed this, but there is a paint or other coating (cold galvanization?) on the steel bolts on the engine covers etc. of a KZ1000P and probably other kawasaki bikes. The finish looks very similar to the aluminum paint used on the engine. On the bolts, this wears off where contacted by wrenches and those spots rust. I'd like to be able to restore it.

I got some Rustoleum Cold Galvanizing spray, but the finish that it produces is more like gray primer.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a product to use? I not only want to match the looks, but also the rust resistance of the original finish.

I've discovered that some combination of soaking in Evaporust (which will attack any oxide based paint as well as rust) and cleaning with WD-40 will easily and completely remove the old coating, revealing the steel underneath. Now I just need to replace it.

Have you thought about going with SS allen head screws for the engine covers, & all the other nuts & bolts could be replaced with zinc plated nuts & bolts
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Pete

pete greek1 wrote: Have you thought about going with SS allen head screws for the engine covers, & all the other nuts & bolts could be replaced with zinc plated nuts & bolts
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Pete

Sure, I've thought about it, but SS has its own problems and there's no way I can replace all the fasteners everywhere on the bike with SS. Plus, that would be spending a lot of money to replace perfectly good bolts.

The hardware is electroplated with a coating of zinc, followed by a sealer of some sort, possibly a chromate. You can not replicate this coating out of a spray can. Caswell's plating sells a kit that works nicely. I've been using one for three bikes worth of restorations now and can't even imagine being without anymore.

www.caswellplating.com/

Impressive. I'm sure zinc plating would be a great option.

However, I'm not convinced that that's what the factory finish is. I don't believe that Evaporust or WD-40 would remove zinc plating so easily. I'd have to experiment with something I know is zinc plated to prove that, though.

It seems more like a zinc or aluminum oxide based paint.

jackleberry wrote: Impressive. I'm sure zinc plating would be a great option.

However, I'm not convinced that that's what the factory finish is. I don't believe that Evaporust or WD-40 would remove zinc plating so easily. I'd have to experiment with something I know is zinc plated to prove that, though.

It seems more like a zinc or aluminum oxide based paint.

I'm 99% sure the factory hardware is zinc plated. Another possibility is cadmium plating, but don't think so.

You can't remove the plating with WD-40, and I don't think Evaporust would touch it either. I soak all the hardware in phosphoric acid to remove the old plating, then I bead blast followed by a good work over on a fine wire wheel mounted on my bench grinder.

Take one of the parts you have cleaned and drop it in a tub with phosphoric acid. Home Depot sells gallons of "metal prep" for about $15 in the Paint department. The part will start bubbling as the acid eats off the zinc. When the bubbling is done, all the zinc will be removed.

Nessism wrote:

jackleberry wrote: Impressive. I'm sure zinc plating would be a great option.

However, I'm not convinced that that's what the factory finish is. I don't believe that Evaporust or WD-40 would remove zinc plating so easily. I'd have to experiment with something I know is zinc plated to prove that, though.

It seems more like a zinc or aluminum oxide based paint.

I'm 99% sure the factory hardware is zinc plated. Another possibility is cadmium plating, but don't think so.

You can't remove the plating with WD-40, and I don't think Evaporust would touch it either. I soak all the hardware in phosphoric acid to remove the old plating, then I bead blast followed by a good work over on a fine wire wheel mounted on my bench grinder.

Take one of the parts you have cleaned and drop it in a tub with phosphoric acid. Home Depot sells gallons of "metal prep" for about $15 in the Paint department. The part will start bubbling as the acid eats off the zinc. When the bubbling is done, all the zinc will be removed.

I'm not really interested in removing any zinc plating if there is one. I know what cadmium and zinc plated hardware looks like. It is certainly possible that there was aluminum paint over zinc plating and the process I used removed the paint but left the plating intact. However, that doesn't explain why the hardware rusts so easily after the treatment. I wouldn't expect it to rust like that if it was plated. The finish appears uniform under the paint, so it doesn't seem like just parts of a zinc plating have been removed by wear. It looks like it could be a dull zinc plating. Definitely not cadmium. But again, if it's plated why does it rust?

I did some bright Nickel plate, that looks quite nice and plating is just such good fun. I tried double plate over copper but it didn't work so well, needed to persevere on that. Triple plate with chromium is not really for amatuers. I my own set up and sourced the chemistry but Caswell come highly recomended.

I always thought the factory finish was Zinc, the apperance can differ according to the process.

There's probably a kind of 'touchstone' test to tell if the surface is zinc or steel. I'll do a little more research on that.

I'm with Nessism. I've had my Caswell kit for 10 years and done 4 restorations using it. It's probably the best money I ever spent. I use a 15% muratic acid to strip the zinc. It leaves the bare steel. Phosphoric acid leaves a black oxide coating. With the zinc stripped, you need to be ready to replate almost immediately. The bare steel will begin to flash rust within minutes of removing it from the acid.
There are several chromate conversions you can do to zinc plated hardware: Black, OD green, yellow (looks like cad) or clear (blue) which gives a rainbow effect. The clear can also get "cloudy" and may look like paint.
I've never owned or worked on a "P'. There may have been some special coating specification Kawasaki had to meet for the original Government contract these bike were sold under. I've seen a lot of regular Z1/KZ's over the years, and the majority of the hardware is zinc plated.

There may have been some special coating specification Kawasaki had to meet for the original Government contract these bike were sold under

off topic, but I know the 4 digit Z**** format for ordering replacement keys is different only for the police bikes, maybe they wanted their own secure code. This came to me from an auto locksmith and experience of just this with z1000P.

MDZ1rider wrote: I'm with Nessism. I've had my Caswell kit for 10 years and done 4 restorations using it. It's probably the best money I ever spent. I use a 15% muratic acid to strip the zinc. It leaves the bare steel. Phosphoric acid leaves a black oxide coating. With the zinc stripped, you need to be ready to replate almost immediately. The bare steel will begin to flash rust within minutes of removing it from the acid.
There are several chromate conversions you can do to zinc plated hardware: Black, OD green, yellow (looks like cad) or clear (blue) which gives a rainbow effect. The clear can also get "cloudy" and may look like paint.
I've never owned or worked on a "P'. There may have been some special coating specification Kawasaki had to meet for the original Government contract these bike were sold under. I've seen a lot of regular Z1/KZ's over the years, and the majority of the hardware is zinc plated.

So, as someone who's seen lots of KZs over the years, do the side cover bolts look zinc plated to you, or do they look like they're covered in aluminum paint? Because on the KZP, they look like they're covered in aluminum paint (not that it looks painted on, it's very thin and uniform coating).