Paint on Bolts

[jtm311]

I hope to start painting my firewall and other engine bay parts over the next week and I know the trick to painting bolts by placing them in a piece of card board but what is the trick to not screw up the paint on the bolts during assembly?

Thanks,
John

[Rick D]

Good luck, I have tryed everything from tape to 3M strip caulk to a bigger socket and paper towels pushed in. Door hing bolts were the ones that drove me nuts, ended up base coating them first then put the doors on and painted it just like the factory did with the fenders off. Your modern cars today are painted with most of the body panels on the car and bolted down so the paint on them looks great. I for one just use the blackend bolts this way I move them around all I want and not mess up any paint on them. Or you could use stanless bolts but those of coarse are more money. I would love to see what others have come up with, not saying it can't be done just saying it's hard.

[sccacuda]

I put them in the oven. My wife hates it. Use a good enamel paint, not lacquer, and don't hog it on, just enough to gain color. I bake them at 200* for 30 minutes. Let cool and serve.

[jtm311]

Good luck, I have tryed everything from tape to 3M strip caulk to a bigger socket and paper towels pushed in. Door hing bolts were the ones that drove me nuts, ended up base coating them first then put the doors on and painted it just like the factory did with the fenders off. Your modern cars today are painted with most of the body panels on the car and bolted down so the paint on them looks great. I for one just use the blackend bolts this way I move them around all I want and not mess up any paint on them. Or you could use stanless bolts but those of coarse are more money. I would love to see what others have come up with, not saying it can't be done just saying it's hard.

Understand Rick, that is what I run into..

[jtm311]

I put them in the oven. My wife hates it. Use a good enamel paint, not lacquer, and don't hog it on, just enough to gain color. I bake them at 200* for 30 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Graig I may give that a try but I think I would use the outside grill :)

[indyjps]

pick up a toaster oven at a yard sale or goodwill. perfect for bolts and doesnt take up much room

[jtm311]

pick up a toaster oven at a yard sale or goodwill. perfect for bolts and doesnt take up much room


Even a better idea :)

[mikey]

I have bought a set of sockets from mac tools that have plastic inserts in them. They seem to work pretty good so far they only have a torque rating of 25ftlbs though. Price is a little high unless you can get them on sale.

[Bryce]

I am not a fan of painted bolts. Why not use stainless or good black oxide bolt.

[jtm311]

I am not a fan of painted bolts. Why not use stainless or good black oxide bolt.
The bolts I'm concerned about are the ones to hold the fenders to the firewall, I really want them to be same color as the firewall.

John

[BigBlockOlds]

I typically powder coat any of the bolts that I need black. Holds up pretty decent for at least the first installation. If you have to constantly remove them and reinstall then it can start scratching.

I do this with all of the black oxide bolts as well. That coating doesn't hold up worth a crap unless you clear coat it or keep them saturated in oil. I have a few bolts that I forgot to coat and within a week being installing on my car and sitting in the barn the coating is completely gone and they are all rust now.

ARP's black oxide coating seems to be a little better but most of those have started to rust as well.

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

Totally stainless has black stainless indented hex bolts that look like stock. Might check out their kits. They also have a great assortment of high strength ARP stainless alloy bolts suitable for suspension work.

[jtm311]

Thanks for the feedback.

Also you guys may get a kick out of my $50 spray booth. Take a look at my build link. I used one of my old Christmas blow up motors for my exhaust fan :)
John

[orangetwist]

Ive seen some places that sell inserts for sockets that protect the bolt. probably dont hold up too much torque though. although ive also seen them for lugnuts, so they must be pretty stout.

[MyFriendScott]

pick up a toaster oven at a yard sale or goodwill. perfect for bolts and doesnt take up much room

I tried that but the bolts wouldn't pop up when they were done...

[jtm311]

I tried that but the bolts wouldn't pop up when they were done...

Now that is funny **** :) In the end I'm going with stainless so I can polish them.

Thanks

[c77owen]

Polished stainless always looks good. If you, or anyone else, wants the painted look, try fitting all of your panels BEFORE any paint and once you have the fit you want, tighten the bolts down, drill a couple of discrete 1/8" holes in the panel (like fender to firewall, door hinge into body, etc.). Then once the panels are painted, take some 1/8" round stock cut in 4"-6" lenths with one end ground to a point and the other end bent at a 90 degree angle (for leverage). Use these to line your panels back up exaclty where they go the first time and you won't have to bolt and unbolt, bolt and unbolt. to get the panels to line up like you want. Then you can try the other tricks to tighten the bolts down (i.e. plastic lined sockets, etc.) BTW...the farther appart you drill the holes, the more exact the alignment will be, and the holes are only 1/8" so virtually not noticeable