OK Steve, I'll weigh in.
Greg,
I do a process very similar to what Craig Lewis showed in his post. I too, found that beadblasted hardware was just too "bright," and had to be dulled down to look like an unfinished item. There's lots of ways to do this, and Craig's process works very well. You just don't want the metal to look have a lot of shine or be too bright.
I tried many different coatings in many different shades, including Eastwoods, but didn't like any compared to using satin clears over properly prepared fasteners. I've used various brands of satin clear coats, so I don't really have one specific brand to recommend.
Your wrenches will take the coating off of the corners of fasteners no matter what kind of coating you use, so be prepared for lots of touching up later or you will have some funny looking nuts and bolt heads. You can also use plastic over the heads to minimize the problem. That works very well for me, especially on the cad plated fasteners. Now, if you choose to go the black route, that won't cause you a problem according to the Standards, but, you will have the same problems with chipping the black paint off those fasteners just as you would if they were finished with a satin clear. Maybe more problems, as the black paint is usually a bit thicker.
Greg, I strongly share Brent's viewpoint about building and showing. The cars Brent's shop built and showed at the last MARC meet proved a person doesn't need a boatload of money or lottery luck on finding new old stock parts to bring home a great score in Blue Ribbon. And, you are so right that the Touring Class rules are "looser" (Your words). Proof of that is the fact that two of the four 500 point cars have whitewalls. (JS are explicit in that whitewalls incur a 2 point deduction - Page 22-2). My point is that I believe a person will derive a LOT more pride out of a 400+ point Blue Ribbon award than any Touring Class award, simply based on the "loose" judging in Touring. That's my opinion (Shared by many) and everyone is welcome to disagree.
Tom's input about an occasional wipe with an oily rag is good, especially for people living in areas with a lot of humidity. Some people use a little Gibbs, or WD-40, many choices, to each his own. I know Glenn in Camino does something like this, and you should see the undercarriages of his 30 and 40 year old restorations!
And Fred's comment about using stainless cotters is great. Steel cotters will rust after a while and then you've got the same problem as the rusty nuts and bolts. They start rusting very quickly right where the pliers grabbed them. Those stainless cotters are a lot tougher to bend into shape, but worth the effort. You can dull down the stainless shine a little by lightly beadblasting. Again, my opinion based on my experiences.
Peter,
Your second posting is just your same old sour grapes based on your personal issues with the MARC and MAFCA Judging Standards and your disagreements over how judging is performed. This was all hashed out earlier this summer until you beat it to death. Your second post did nothing to help Great Lakes Greg or anyone else, regarding the original question about finishing fasteners.
Greg,
Your "musings" as you put it, are not trivial at all. Whether Blue Ribbon or Tour, we all spend a lot of time on the fasteners during our restorations. Your question and comment about the direction you're going with your restoration is something that many on this board have gone through, some multiple times. So, your "musings" apply to many, which when the responses are received, benefit many. And, you said it best in your follow-up post, "...if I do half a job on something, nobody else will know, but I will. I'll feel like I'm cheating the car and myself." So go do it right and please yourself first!
Dave Lopes
