Cadmium Plating

[Erv M.]

I have hood hinges that need to be redone "dull silver cadmium" and a Hood support that needs to be redone in "silver cadmium". I would also like to have the male probes redone in silver cadium.

Three questions:

1. Any reliable vendors out there for this type of work?
2. Is it cheaper to buy reproductions?
3. Are reproductions good enough to pass judging?

Thanks,

[John H.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

Erv -

I doubt if any of those parts were originally cadmium plated - most likely they were zinc-plated. Just about any plating shop can handle zinc, and hardly any do cadmium any more (unless they work on aircraft propellers), as cadmium is a highly-regulated carcinogen.

[Erv M.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I am just stating what is stated in the TIM&JG. Please someone help me with what type of plating is actually on these items.

Thanks,

[Terry M.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

Erv,
You are going to need a scientific metallurgical analysis to get the answer to your question. NCRS has never budgeted for such tests, so the authors of the TIM&JG (ALL of them) are giving it their best guess as to what the plating is. Unless you have access to those kinds of tests, I suggest you also give it your best guess.

[Dale S.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I never saw an answer to 1, 2, or 3. The gentleman asked for help, he is a member. If I knew the answer to the questions, I would answer. Dale

[Tony S.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I have hood hinges that need to be redone "dull silver cadmium" and a Hood support that needs to be redone in "silver cadmium". I would also like to have the male probes redone in silver cadium.

Three questions:

1. Any reliable vendors out there for this type of work?
2. Is it cheaper to buy reproductions?
3. Are reproductions good enough to pass judging?

Thanks,

Erv. There is a good plater here in the Kansas City area that does both zinc and cad clear (silver). I've found that in order for plating to be economical, you have to bring quite a few parts in for plating. There is a minimum charge, so it would cost the same for 25 parts or 5 parts. However, to me, there is something satisfying about reusing old, original parts rather than buying repros. That's your call.

I am told by my plater that cad clear is a bit more durable than zinc plating. There is no visible difference when you look at a zinc or cad clear part when it is on your car.

Good luck.
Tony

[Greg L.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I can't answer #1 but I'll give the others a shot.

It may or may not be cheaper to buy a repop depending on the part and how many you get plated at one time but nothing beats a replated original part.

I think most repops will get you some or most of the points but again restored original parts are always best.

I can't say for sure what those items would have been plated with other than the hood hinges don't matter because they get painted body color and black-out so you don't see them anyways. My (69) hood support was shiny so I'd say it was silver zinc. The hood bayonets were somewhat dull so I'd guess they were cad but I'm not 100% sure on that one.

All plating is for is to protect the base metal but generally zinc was used for cosmetic items like brackets, linkage and some "easy to see" hardware like under the hood. Cad is better for corrosion resistance so it was used more for under body items that were more in contact with road debris like some suspension hardware and brake backing plates. BTW as far as I know ALL repop backing plates are incorrectly zinc plated instead of the proper cad(for 69 anyways).

[Terry M.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I never saw an answer to 1, 2, or 3. The gentleman asked for help, he is a member. If I knew the answer to the questions, I would answer. Dale

Dale, I was responding to the question Erv asked in his second post. I have no recent experience with plating, so I have no specifics to offer in that regard.

I would point out that before you can have plating done it is important to decide what type of plating you want. Some platers are limited in what they can produce -- so his question in his second post could be argued to be more important than the first three questions.

I would further suggest -- as many others have in similar threads since this board began -- that dealing with vendors that one can contact face-to-face is more advantageous than sending difficult-to-replace parts a long ways using commercial delivery systems. Sending ones parts to a distant vendor only adds another level of uncertainty to the restoration process.

All that is a long way of saying Erv would be better off finding a near-by plater. Some here might be able to offer him that help, but we would need to know what state or part of that state he lives in.

[John D.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I have hood hinges that need to be redone "dull silver cadmium" and a Hood support that needs to be redone in "silver cadmium". I would also like to have the male probes redone in silver cadium.

Three questions:

1. Any reliable vendors out there for this type of work?
2. Is it cheaper to buy reproductions?
3. Are reproductions good enough to pass judging?

Thanks,

Erv, Email me at johndegreg@aol.com or call me at 724-832-3786. Don't use the email here please as I don't use it.
John D

[Jim S.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

As I recall, there were a lot of GM drawings that said "cadmium or zinc plate per GM Specification XXXXXXX. (I just can't remember the exact spec number.) But the old drawings gave the option of cad or zinc. Then in the 1980s or so, cadmium was removed as an option. The European countries were the first to ban the use of cadmium. Saginaw had a lot of offshore business so we eliminated cad as an option even before GM dictated it.

Jim

[Erv M.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

Dale, I was responding to the question Erv asked in his second post. I have no recent experience with plating, so I have no specifics to offer in that regard.

I would point out that before you can have plating done it is important to decide what type of plating you want. Some platers are limited in what they can produce -- so his question in his second post could be argued to be more important than the first three questions.

I would further suggest -- as many others have in similar threads since this board began -- that dealing with vendors that one can contact face-to-face is more advantageous than sending difficult-to-replace parts a long ways using commercial delivery systems. Sending ones parts to a distant vendor only adds another level of uncertainty to the restoration process.

All that is a long way of saying Erv would be better off finding a near-by plater. Some here might be able to offer him that help, but we would need to know what state or part of that state he lives in.

I now reside in the Houston area. Before you can have a meaningful conversation with a local plater you need to know what you want; thus what were they plated with originally.

[Tony S.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

Erv. If you properly prepare your parts for plating, it doesn't matter if they were originally zinc or cad clear.

Tony

[Donald T.]

Re: Cadmium Plating

I now reside in the Houston area. Before you can have a meaningful conversation with a local plater you need to know what you want; thus what were they plated with originally.

Erv,

As was stated, it is highly unlikely they were originally cad plated. It is far more likely they are zinc. I have replated many of these parts - mostly C2 but some C3 as well. I have yet to run into cad. I lightly bead blast the part to prep for plating and do not remove all of the original plating. Zinc is not compatible with cad. I have never had an issue zinc plating over the original plating, which means it is zinc.

I have mentioned this before, but in my opinion it is irresponsible to cad plate these parts. First it is not how they were originally plated. Also, at some point in the future, some poor sole may have to bead blast the part and inhale a very nasty carcinogen. Zinc is much safer. Just my opinion.