RESTORATION PLATING:
To help you achieve profession quality results with your own restoration project, use the same plating techniques that GM did back in the sixties and seventies. There are many local plating companies that do this type of work for industrial end users in your area. Key is to find one that will work with you as a small customer. Keep in mind that most of their customers bring them truckloads of parts in barrels and bins. You are bringing them a small box of parts. To you it's a lot, but to them it's peanuts. Offer to bring the guy cash when you pick the parts up in a few days and usually he'll accommodate your needs.
You are responsible for thoroughly cleaning and prepping your parts prior to plating. The plating company will not do it for you. The key to good plating results is good prep work. Remember that the part was freshly machined, stamped or cast prior to plating by GM, so that is the look you should be trying to replicate during the prep process. A sheet metal throttle bracket was not freshly sandbasted before it was plated by GM. It had a shiny, just stamped look to it. You may need to start by blasting the part, but then follow up with steel wool or a fine wire wheel to "buff" the part. Start with the cleanest examples of parts you can find. Pitted parts never look good after plating. Spend time looking for clean core parts from which you can restore. Remember, try to envision what the part would have looked like when it was brand new before it was plated. If you replicate that look, then the part will look brand new when it comes back from the plater.
Yellow Zinc: a bright yellow rainbow plating used on power brake boosters, caliper brackets, master cylinder covers, shifter linkage, underhood components, etc.
Clear (silver) Zinc: a bright silver rainbow finish found on bolts, Hurst shifters, underhood components, some master cylinder covers, etc.
Black Zinc: a durable black plating found on emissions control components, nuts, bolts, hood latch mechanisms, shifter components, underhood components, shifter linkage, etc.
Gray Phosphate: an oily gray coating found on hood hinges, hood latch components, underhood components, shifter linkage, etc.
Yellow and Clear Cadmium: Used extensively underhood. Similar in appearance to yellow and clear zinc. More expensive than zinc due to increased environmental hazards.
