Rust inhibitor will not effect the look in a positive way after media blasting. New clamps should not need blasting or further appearance help . A new or used clamp that has been blasted to get rust or paint off would need to be tumbled to bring it back to a more proper look. The leafs should be coated with which ever rust inhibitor used on regardless of if painted or not. The springs were a typical spring steel dark blue gray finish which looks so dark that it is confused by many as ether black painted or phosphate .
Thanks Bob understood. Hopefully the chemical strip of whatever paint the manufacturer uses will yield a close to original look, that can then be sprayed with T9. Since I have a few sets of used original leafs I may paint a set to see what they look like. Perhaps someone who is building a driver will be interested in an original set. If that is the case I may paint up a few sets if they turn out ok.
Now all I need is a nice set of shock plates and I am all set on the rear suspension. So far no luck on sourcing a nice set! Most parts up here are always rusted and pitted, which can be restored when being painted to some degree of success, but parts that remain bare metal are harder to find in good condition. I have tried to restore some parts and I am less than pleased with the result. Like the leaf springs I will probably paint them and see if anyone wants them, since I have so much time into these parts as it is, with evaporust bath, then media blasting, grinding, vapour blasting and then the final tumbling process,