Does anyone know what type of finish is supposed to be on the Phillips Head bolts that connect the inner fender wells to the core support in the front of a 1968 Firebird? Are they supposed to be Phosphate? Zinc? I bought a repo set from Ames and they are shiny silver plated at this point.
Mine is a 69 and these two bolts on either side have been protected by a respray since 1986. The paint scrapes off by using a thumb nail and when looking at them through a magnifying glass they do not have any rust (even inside the philips slots) and have a very dark gray color. I "might" be able to take a cell phone pic but no guarantees.
I got the master body kit from ames and it was stocked with phosphate color ones.funny they have two different version. I did see when you bought them single it was zinc.
Mine were aged they were gray metal. I pulled them off the car, they were original. the new ones were a shiny metal. Don't know if they are painted at all, but as I said the originals were tarnished gray metal. This is for a 67 Firebird. Ames sells them these match the originals perfectly on 67's. FB703K
Not finding a picture of these phosphate screws on the AMK site. Do you have a picture you can send me? If AMK says they should be phosphate, I would assume that is correct. But as you stated, strange that they are zinc when buying the 703K screws together in from their catalog. No other bolts/screws are shiny on the body, so not thinking these should be either.
The shop where my bird is at has a phosphate pot set up. Very easy for small parts...just blast them and stick them in the pot...instant phosphate. Does not fit large parts.