Vintage Honda bolts

[cametro]

I am restoring a vintage Honda motorcycle and need some advice for prepping the fasteners and small parts for nickel plating. I have read the post regarding the use of a vibratory tumbler etc. for cleaning bolts--which I think is a great idea.

The condition of the fasteners ranges from nearly intact to being completely covered with surface rust. I might add thay at this point I'm not even sure what type of plating Honda used (zinc?).

My question is, how do I assure a successful nickel finish on these parts? Should I be looking at a pickling operation to assure that no minute particles of the original plating remain? If there were specs of zinc, how would the nickel react? Any help would be appreciated.