Anyone done home zinc plating with Olive Drab Passivate finish ?

[AshimotoK0]

A lot of the fasteners on my 1980 CB250RSA have olive drab green passivated zinc plating.

I found it hard to find any of the passivate solution at a reasonable price on-line.
I phoned Gateros Electroplating and the owner Tony told me that they no longer supply olive drab passivate as it can't be sold for DIY use anymore. So he doesn't stock it now. However, he found some old stock, enough to make me 2 litres of the dip but I had send him a letter on my VAT registered business notepaper stating that it won't be re-sold and that I will use it in an industrial environment with the necessary safety PPE. So it should be winging it's way to me shortly.

Just wondering if anyone else on here has done any olive drab green passivated zinc parts. I know that is was used on many Yamaha models. I have also seen it on CB400F chain guide rings and the metal parts of Honda  front disc brake 'spats'. I did once get some parts finished  in zinc  olive drab by Allenchrome in Pocklington but they no longer do bike related stuff.

[Laverda Dave]

When I restored my RSA I couldn't find any plating company that used olive passivate Ash. I gave up in the end and just had everything BZP or black powder coat such as the metal section of the rear mudguard. This was the same reason I had the kickstart and brake levers finished in chrome as they should have also been olive drab finished.
Is/was olive drab a cheaper finish then BZP? I ask because the finish on the RSA was obviously built down to a price compared to the Superdream, the kickstart was left as a rough cast finish whilst the rear brake lever was a stamped piece of steel. I'd still rather have a RSA compared to a Superdream though

[AshimotoK0]

Was the rear mudguard olive drab originally Dave? Mine looks like black paint (well what's left of it). It's paint on mine because I have had it dipped in acid and olive drab zinc would have just dissolved in seconds in the acid.

[Laverda Dave]

100% olive drab passivate Ash. I remember thinking at the time when I stripped my bike why didn't Honda just paint it! If you find any used rear mudguards on eBay they will be rusty all over and suffering with rin worm. I know that olive drab was it's original finish as I owned it for 22 years and it was all original even down to rear shocks that had been painted by hand at some time by the PO as a result of the rusty springs!
Have you noticed during the strip down how thin the frame paint and fuel tank paint is? The engine paint finish though was quite thick especially on the clutch and alternator covers.

[AshimotoK0]

100% olive drab passivate Ash. I remember thinking at the time when I stripped my bike why didn't Honda just paint it! If you find any used rear mudguards on eBay they will be rusty all over and suffering with rin worm. I know that olive drab was it's original finish as I owned it for 22 years and it was all original even down to rear shocks that had been painted by hand at some time by the PO as a result of the rusty springs!
Have you noticed during the strip down how thin the frame paint and fuel tank paint is? The engine paint finish though was quite thick especially on the clutch and alternator covers.

OK Dave .. Based on your advice on original finish, I think I will paint  the rear guard metal section olive drab and satin 2k clearcoat it like I did my 400/4 chainguard. One side of it was rotted through and I had to cut it out and let in new metal so not really possible to zinc plate it, as I brazed the new metal in. Really solid now though but quite a bit of work to get it to that stage. Yes the black engine paint looks pretty tough. I bought another fuel tank for it but it's been powder coated which is going to be fun to remove. Been suggested that I just rub it down and paint over it but sounds dodgy gto me. There is some stuff made in Hull that's designed to strip PC. If it hasn't had petrol in it for ages, I might treat the inside with my usual strong  caustic solution,  then fill with phosphoric acid or De0x-C, swill it out and then put a torch to the powder coat. I did that with a CB250JDM headlamp shell that had been powder coated and it worked really well.

[Laverda Dave]

DeoX-C is a great product. The powder coat will be difficult to remove whatever method you use. If you use heat be careful not to distort the very thin metal of the tank. Can it be dipped by a company that powder coats frames as they must have to strip old powder coat off and I doubt if they blast it?

[AshimotoK0]

Evidently Atlas-T is the stuff to strip PC.
Made in good old Hull 

https://www.eurochem-northern.com/paintshop_powdercoaters.html