MrPontiac -- Thanks for the reply. I pretty much do what you do, and just recently started using the muriatic acid dip, which really helped the zinc process. Here is a photo of how mine turned out, I now know that i should have plated (without) brightener, but it is what it is cuz I am not going to do it over. The next one I will try with (no) brightener.
Here is a link to my project, from one Pontiac guy to another...............
http://www.wctc.net/~arm/68gto.htm