Plating and lessons learned

[makomark]

Cliff and other Forum Readers:

I was reading thru cliff's book, again, and really started to notice some of those plated parts. i check Caswell's(sp?) www site and realized I was getting in a bit over my head. Would one, or more, of you be willing to share your 'lessons learned' regarding plating carb parts?

My initial knowledge shortfalls include:

*what types of metal(s) are we dealing with on the carb (zinc based pot metal, aluminum[grades], steel, etc. - what Caswell refers to as the "base metal"

* known plating material performers - what works well, ok, poorly, etc

* any reason NOT to plate the entire major castings (inside and out) - any special precautions would be appreciated, too.

This looks like what we did in chem lab a few decades ago - electrodeposition - big difference is the 'experiment' isn't being handed out, I'm writing it.

tnx, again       mark

[Cliff Ruggles]

Mark, plating is done to the carburetor small parts, most are steel, a few are brass on some models.  The plating process used on the steel parts is to add a tin/zinc coating a few mil thick via the eletroplating process.  It's not all that complicated, or difficult, but does require good surface preparation, and close attention to detail for best results.  One must keep in mind that the smoother the base material, the brighter the finish will be on the final product.  The plater has the option to add yellow chromate to the plated parts for a "gold" finish.

The main casting and airhorn, along with some of the choke housings are an alloy.  I'm not sure of the exact "recipe", but they are prepared with a zinc/chromating process, not electroplating.  I will say that the basic "recipe" is not the same over the years, because the results we see from the zinc/chromating is not consistant thru the years of production.  My guess is that early models have more lead in the material, because they tend to come out a deeper/darker color than the later units.

I have talked to a few "builders" who are experimenting with plating the castings inside and out for E-85 testing, but haven't heard anything more about if, when, and how well it's working?

The baseplate will NOT react with the zinc/chromate process, they are probably a cast aluminum material.

Another option for the main casting is to use Eastwood spray paint.  LOTS of builders do this, it actually looks pretty decent if the castings are completely stripped down first.  Seems to hold up OK.  We do NOT do it here, we use real zinc/chromate instead, and paint will NOT protect the internals from contact with fuel, fuel additives, ethanol, alcohol, or water........Cliff

[critter]

A user's experience with the Eastwood paint. It holds up well but if a float sticks and gasoline cascades down the side our your carburetor be ready for gold stains all over everything. No, I'm not a fan of it if plating is an option.

[Mr.Pontiac]

I plate my carb. body with the Caswell plating kit, body first, amps are set at 5.5 with approx. 1.2 volts, seems to work well for me, secret seems to be the amount of time sitting in the yellow irracadecant yellow solution, im using ruffly 20 min. to 1/2 hr. looks really good for me. I have brightner in mine, but try not to use the brightner at all if possible. Rich, p.s. allow at least 18 to 20 hrs drying time also.

[makomark]

Thanks for the inputs gents.

Looks like you get what you pay for in this area, too.

tnx   mark

[SundanceKid]

I plate my carb. body with the Caswell plating kit, body first, amps are set at 5.5 with approx. 1.2 volts, seems to work well for me, secret seems to be the amount of time sitting in the yellow irracadecant yellow solution, im using ruffly 20 min. to 1/2 hr. looks really good for me. I have brightner in mine, but try not to use the brightner at all if possible. Rich, p.s. allow at least 18 to 20 hrs drying time also.

I just received my Caswell kit in the mail. What are you using for a power supply? Do you remove the steel tubes or leave them in?

I use POR15 Metal-Prep (phosphoric acid/zinc phosphate) to remove the zinc/chromate from steel parts. How do you prepare your parts? How do you prepare the body?