Opinions needed. Thinking of having my 72 grill surround and bumpers powder coated

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

I should probably get every bolt redone but then I'd have to mail each one off separately since I'd mix them all up if I sent them off at once.

I have been soaking all the bolts in Evaporust, washing off with the hose, turning on the wire wheel, and spraying with NAPA Rust Treatment. I then put those into a ziplock bag with a label as to where they go. I hope that's a good thing to do. Most weren't rusty anyway, just grimy. A few were really gone though, threads completely lost. A few broke off, like on the passenger side inner fender. Those were tossed also.

I pretty well do the same thing. If there's any sign of rust I soak em overnight in white vinegar/water, maybe 80/20 mix. I then brush them off a bit, wash and dry. Then I soak them in WD-40. Rust or not, anything that needs to be cleaned soaks in WD-40. I then brush them to perfect, wash, blow dry and put em away for another day. Doesn't take long now that I have a system, the oil really makes it easy, they come out great........

To answer your question, if the part looks good I don't know why your system wouldn't work. Assuming the Evaporust isn't harmful, it's not as if you compromised integrity. There are cheaper solutions though, pardon the pun. That said, I do wonder if the white vinegar is harmful. Doesn't appear to be.

I record the size of every screw and bolt down to thread count. I ended up with about 300 cigarette hard packs . The packs really keep things organized and things are easy to locate if I have to. When I'm ready I'll double-check everything, inventory and throw everything into a pile. It's real tedious, but I'd rather do it than not.

A lot of the hardware is similar. Some know these trucks so well they can look at any screw and know exactly what it's for. I'm not there yet, but I will be. Like I said, very tedious.