Hi Roman,
In addition to the Caswell kit, Eastwood makes a tin-zinc kit, though not yellow:
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=134&itemType=PRODUCTLooks to me like a lot of work, buffing the tin-zinc to a shiny silver color.
I have been through the process many times always choosing the checkbook route and thus have chosen not to do it myself. Here's why:
[li]Plating, even on a small scale, is a nasty business with a lot of nasty chemicals; there is no issue of problems if they are not in my house.[/li]
[li]Typically, zinc with our without chromate (yellow) finish, as well as cadmium are processes very different from decorative chrome like the bumpers. They are done in bulk in racks and barrels. It is not expensive to have it done if you are doing a lot of parts; it is expensive (like USD $125.00 minimum) if you are doing one part.[/li]
[li]Mostly, the metal prep on these small parts is done in bulk too, with tumbling, either barrel tumbling or vibratory tumbling. Tossing one of your parts, or 50 of your parts in the tumbler is the same amount of effort.[/li]
[li]Be mindful that replacing some small parts with new is less costly then re-plating. This is true for CAD or Chrome![/li]
[li]My personal philosophy is that yellow zinc for the most part, is a modern alternative to yellow CAD. Yellow CAD is somewhat longer lasting by the salt spray test used to measure such things. So if you are going to go through the process of re-plating some small parts to bring back the color, why not go with the real thing? Contrary to popular belief, CAD it is still available.[/li]
Note that CAD like Zinc, is silvery in color. A chromate or phosphate wash
after the plating adds the color and additional protection. I had some parts plated silver CAD (no wash) and yellow CAD (with the wash)to match the finish they originally had.
To true afionados, there is a color difference, too, between these. The noted mechanic Ted Gottfried, mentioned by JonnyB here before once judged my car at a Concours and immediately spied the color difference on my fuel injection lines, and told me in no uncertain terms that
proper plating for these would be CAD, not Zinc. (Have you any Grey Poupon??) It was that statement that had me searching out CAD platers which I found and used and whose names were posted here previously...one of these days the fuel injection lines will be redone once again, this time in yellow CAD.
So do a search of plating on this site; I've posted some names and contacts for platers in the past. Good luck and Godspeed!
Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored
