I am well under way of restoring my ride of years ago. It is dismantled completely, in may cases, down to pop rivets being drill out to get the various parts replated that are/were attached to plastic side panels and such. While one thing or the other is waited upon, I have figured to use stainless steel as some of the replacement bolts to save a lot of replating on my end. I plan to set up a small zinc plating operation to plate the one of a kind bolts I can't replace. It seems pretty easy. Back at the matter. The original bolts are not marked on the top like the newer bolts have that is now a requirement. To keep from buying new zinc plated bolts, grinding the markings off just to replate them again, I decided to go with stainless steel, since I can grind and polish them to look like the original plated screws. All of these screws are 6mm  by differing lengths and are used to hold on the various parts to the frame and such like the air box, front and rear fender, reed body to the cylinder, front brake lever and clutch to the handle bar.

Some of this going forward blindly is due to my so called familiarity of the chart, thinking they were "compatible enough" to work together, and if I remember rightly, the availability of SS replacement case screws for the engines of bikes.

I should have referred to the charts that show electrolysis between dissimilar metals before all this, but it shows that SS does not like residing with pretty much any other metal on a motorcycle. Even bare metal, like tapped holes on the frame.

So my question is, have any of you fixing up your rides, used SS fasteners with any luck? Disproving what I find online? Or will I be destroying my ride in spite of all the restoration steps I am taking?

The SS bolts I detailed do look real good, seems a shame to toss them since I cannot return them. It is a grade 8.8 that was ground off and it has a bit of steel in the blend, the bolts can be picked up by a magnet.

Thanks guys.....

PS... the pics below are pretty much pics I took for reassembly reference, but it shows something at least.

i've got a lot to learn about different bolts & screws by the sounds of it. I admire how 'you' & all the other forum guys go to extremes to do a top job. Look forward to the results.

Galvanic corrosion shouldn’t be a problem unless you are subjecting the bike to moisture on a regular basis or live near the coast where the salt air does cause problems.
If you’re concerned, you can insulate the screw/bolt with grease on assembly, I do this on my engine cover screws.
I’m currently tidying up my DT175MX and since a few of the screws are corroded and others have been replaced with wrong or modern screws I’m getting a batch together for plating.
I do the same as you creating the plain head bolts, filling and polishing the heads then look at my other bikes to see if there is anything else that needs plating.
If I can manage to get all of them done in one batch then it’s far better value and saves time.

I got a question for you guys, I am going to do a mix (at least for now, since I am still learning as I go) of replacing some of the bolts with new stainless steel bolts with the markings ground off and polished for a number of the bolts, but for the one of a kind bolts, I will replate myself. There are all kinds of DIY plating videos on Youtube and it is pretty simple. There are some nuts and bolts that are chrome plated, some of which I have are rusted badly that still have yet to figure out how I will remedy that. I did read on this forum that there is a fella, daddy something... who specializes in replacement nuts and bolts for our rides. On that subject, his replacement steering stem top bolt will work, but my original has a hole in the top all the way through, but his does not. I still have to decide if I can get by with that notion....

The question I have for you guys is, are the other nuts and bolts zinc plated or nickel plated or a mix of both? Both are done the same way as zinc plating but nickel is more durable than zinc, so I have read.

Polish up a nickel plated bolt and I doubt most could tell it from original chrome finish.

If you want to do your own plating, I do my own zinc, there's a company called caswell that sells a kit to do nickle plating, even have a new kit to do chrome called ez chrome (or something like that). the zinc is really easy to do.

@AirborneSilva, I seen those kits. What I seen on Youtube using white vinegar, epsom salts and D batteries does the trick too. I need to come up with the passivate to coat the zinc to complete the process, that will happen in time. Trying to get all the bits and pieces together to pull it off, as well as what parts get what plating. I read that nickel plating is more durable, but if it gets a nick in the plating, rust will bubble under the plating. My steering stem bolt may originally have been nickel plated, since it rusted terribly. Maybe chrome would do that too? I do not know for sure. 

There is a pretty comprehensive how to thread on DIY plating by Scootern29 on this forum. 

I wish someone had the codes breakdown for the type of finishes used on the fasteners surely one exists Clear cadmium can be polished to look like chrome and is rust resistant. Ford motor company used that a lot for under the hood and the undercarriage for rust protection 

"I wish someone had the codes breakdown for the type of finishes used on the fasteners surely one exists"

I've asked for this before, but with no luck.

If someone had a bit of spare time, some known finishes to parts and an early style parts manual, then they could probably work backwards and create their own list of finishes.  Might still be a couple of blanks, though.

For accuracy, the original part numbers would be needed, as some supersessions of parts actually showed a change to the finish.