How to Plate Carb Body

[71vette]

While I'm waiting for parts I ordered from Cliff, I have been plating all of the carb parts using the Caswell plating system.  I have the yellow chromate solution that gives everything that golden cad look.  The one thing that I am unsure of is how to recolor the carb airhorn and main body.  Is it as simple as bead blasting the body and then dipping it in the chromate solution or do you have to plate the body with the cad plating before dipping in the yellow chromate?  I see in my Caswell book that they suggest dipping the part in a 2-5% muratic acide first before dipping the part in the chromate solution.

Also, is the yellow chromate the right solution vs. the Caswell Olive drab solution?

Any help would be appreciated.

[omaha]

   As far as what I have read, yes the yellow chromate is corect. But, you can get different effects depending on different variables. I've seen some plated carbs that come out looking like polished gold plating, very bright. That's ok if that what you want but if your looking for a somewhat correct original look, some experimenting will be in order. It would be nice if you could find some old unusable cores to experiment on a few. As far as the cleaning goes, the best way nowadays is an "ultrasonic cleaner" however, beadblasting (being careful of internal passages getiing clogged) is pefectly acceptable. It will remove all of the original finish though. The muriatic 'dip' just prepares the part for the plating. Kinda like a final, thorough wash. The carb needs to be essentially clean before the dip.
   My cleaning process; 1 soak in diesel for a day or two (depending on grease)
                                      2 carbcleaner in spray can and small brushes (wear goggles!!)
                                     3 bath in a large electric roasting pan filled with purple cleaner. (about 180 temp)
                                             (electric roaster available at wal-mart)
                                       4 more brushing and rinsing and more soaking if necessary.
                                      5 soak in the "carb bucket " cleaner (from auto parts store-berrymans etc)
                                       6 more carbcleaner in a can
                                       7 Final "hail mary" option: bottle of "The Works" toilet cleaner.
                                          (be forwarned, this is some serious stuff believe it or not and will eat any thing
                                               including the metal itself. good vemtilation and dilution  with water.) I dont know whats in it exactly but it eaats through rust like fat boy at a pizza buffet. Hope some of this info helps.  ENJOY!!
                                     

[71vette]

Thanks for the information but one other question.  From what it sounds like, the carb body is not put through the electric plating process first but rather cleaned well and then put into the yellow chromate solution.  Is this correct?

My other parts (like the air flaps and linkages) were plated with the cad process and then dipped in the yellow chromate.

Thanks again.  I received my parts from Cliff today so I am anxious to get started on building my carb.

[omaha]

    I believe the original finish was just a wash (chromate/acid) that reacted with the zinc in thecarburetor itself. So, if it were me the body of the carb would be done in a zinc/chromate process and the choke plate and airvalve plate would be done in the cad process (bright cad).  the dull green linkages were actually teflon coated. I guess the olive drab might look appropriate as a substitute for that.
All coatings done on 99% of rochestor were for protection only, the appearance was not that important.
This leads to a wide leeway as to the appropriate "look" as factory coloring varied widely. The older carbs tended to look darker because they contained more led in the mix. Later carbs were much lighter and less consistent of an even coloring. Sometimes it looks like a rainbow effect in the coloring of the later carbs. (I wish I could figure a way to make that rainbow effect ). I'm sure caswell would have some good advice also.  I just have a local guy do mine (if I do plating at all- its an extra 30 bucks so if I can save the original finish I do.  most of em usually go on pickups and those 4x4 dudes dont want to spend the extra coin if they dont have to).  FWIW........Enjoy!!   {hey now you got me thinkin about plating a carb olive drab.......that would be awesome looking!! darn it!!}