Coolant hard line preservation; zinc or powder coat?

[Spook50]

I'm one of those nuts who wants to keep my rear heater in my 62. My hard lines going to it are in pretty rough shape, but I think can still be preserved. I won't know for sure until I physically remove them and can take a close look. Should I be able to save them, I can either have them powder coated on the outside by a friend just across the state line who does all my coating work, or I could find somewhere to have them cleaned and have fresh yellow zinc plating applied. I'm honestly thinking the zinc might be the optimal choice, but if there's minor pitting underneath the hoses, the powder coat would help create a slightly more uniform sealing surface for new hoses. Major pitting will have me on the lookout for replacement hard lines, though sadly both sets are NLA new from Toyota to my knowledge.

So I'm curious to the opinion of the Mud collective on this one. To zinc, or to powder coat?

 

[MarkBC]

Zinc

 

[cruisermatt]

If it were me and I cared about them - cut the ends off to where there is good clean metal and and TIG on new ends from other lines available new from Toyota or good used ones, off the top of my head the 2F oil cooler hard line is the same pipe size and available new for about $35, I'm sure there are tons of Toyota/Honda heater lines that have the same size and end flare.

Then have them acid dipped and nickel plated. Then powder coat the exterior over the nickel plate.

 

[dbleon]

I might have mint set laying around spook.. 60 series though
Yours for the ride if you want em

 

[Spook50]

If it were me and I cared about them - cut the ends off to where there is good clean metal and and TIG on new ends from other lines available new from Toyota or good used ones, off the top of my head the 2F oil cooler hard line is the same pipe size and available new for about $35, I'm sure there are tons of Toyota/Honda heater lines that have the same size and end flare.

Then have them acid dipped and nickel plated. Then powder coat the exterior over the nickel plate.

I like the way you're thinking.

@dbleon Unfortunately the 62 rear heater lines are different from the 60 due to the difference in location of the heaters, otherwise I'd love to take them off your hands.