Going to re-build my stock calipers this winter. Wondering about having the caliper bodies re-plated instead of painting. Has anyone tried this?
What exactly was the plated finish on the original calipers? Zinc? Yellow Zinc?Cadmium?
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I think they were painted black over cast iron. Nothing special- a rattle-can finish works fine. A few Euro show cars had front & rear calipers (and their brackets) nickel plated.
Some were plated and some were painted. The plated version were yellow.
IIRC Girling calipers from the late 60s/early 70s were mostly plated gold, not sure if this was zinc or cad. I send my business to PMB Performance in Utah for yellow zinc, no affiliation but I've been happy with their work. They are brake specialists, actually, but work w/ one plater in Salt Lake who seems to know how to decontaminate & prep these parts properly. (When the plater doesn't do it right those dreaded white spots show up way too quickly!) I usually have the fasteners done in black zinc at the same time.
Wilkinson has plated calipers that are correctly rebuilt and ready to bolt on. His prices are amazingly friendly for these types of parts. It would probably be a lot of work and likely be more expensive if one tried to duplicate what he has on the shelf that is ready to bolt on. Here is a picture of the rears that he provided to me. The fronts look even better but I have not yet installed them and thus no picture at this time.
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Inspiring.
I've already sourced the new pistons, seals etc., so I'm committed to rebuild my own.
I like the yellow zinc. There's one guy left nearby that still does cadmium, supposedly better for wear/friction than zinc?
Thank you.
Thanks Kirk. Good catch. Maybe now I can get more air out of the system.