Concours suspension

[ROWSC]

I am unsure which direction I want to go with my restoration project. Many of the bolts, especially in odd places, have the gold cadmium (sp?)plating. I am inclined to have all the bolts replated. Given the state of the 25 yo bolts and nuts, I feel I would do the car a service by using all new stainless steel. I have a 79 R.o.W. SC which I am updating to an 83 (so I can get the side markers). I have the body and trim differences down to the point that the knowledgeable few would be assume that the vehicle has yet to go through the EPA modification process. I am not painting the car the factory color and the factory stereo has already been switched to the power antenna. In other words, the car is not exact to the original build sheet. Am I worrying about nothing? When people see clear coated rear trailing arms, new A-arms, and powdercoated oil cooler lines, are they going to be less impressed if the bolt heads are not gold?

Concours experts please chime in.

Does anyone have color photos of what a "new" undercarriage should look like?

Maybe I can get my sphincter untied.

Rich

[89911]

It depends on how far you want to get into this concours stuff. If you want to just do the informal top up type affairs, then it really doesnt matter what you do to unseen area's. That said, it always nice to use new or replate hardware when redoing a project. If you are going to the type of concours where they check every nut and bolt, then you better duplicate the original identically. This stuff is not my bag, but others enjoy it. My car has won two informal concours over the last year on the very fact that I keep it this way all the time. Just a couple of touch ups here and there and its ready. Anything else would be too much work.

[Oliver911]

I am pretty particular about these fine detail items on my GTO, so I would pay careful attention to this on your car as well. These fine detail items add a lot to the character of the car and are the difference between a really nice car and a pristine car. Most plating shops wouldn't do non-contract cad plating so its either new bolts or ugly old ones. Look into www.caswellplating.com I bought the zinc/gold cad/black oxide kit and use it for pretty much all my bolts. If the bolts need cleaned and you do not have a sandblast cabinet, try muriatic acid from a hardware store, but be careful if you forget about the parts they might not be all there when you get back