[squidtone]

JT,
I have re-used most of the fasteners in my car, particularly the suspension and front end sheet metal hardware.

I did not have the resources (money and equipment) to plate anything, so here's what I did:

Wirewheeled every part clean. In some cases I sandblasted parts. Everything was bagged and tagged.

Got some Master Series silver primer, and coated every single part. I used various foam brushes. If you use a brush, you can get a nice thin coat. Sometimes just the excess on my gloves was enough to put on a coating. I did not dip parts; dipping would make a gloppy thick coating....not good.
Master Series is good stuff, I like it. It's tough, very hard, and the silver sheen is pretty close to zinc coatings. For stuff that was zinc plated, I left the master series stuff as is.
For black oxide coated fasteners, I simply flash coated the primered hardware with flat black spray bomb paint. If the paint is allowed to cure for a week or more, it gets pretty hard too, and wrenches don't do much damage. Any scratches can be touched up with flat black paint.

All in all, it looks good and, although slightly labor intensive, is cheap.