The Official 356Talk Forum

I have a '55 1500 N engine and want to refurbish the valve covers as it came from the factory. Is this an anodized finish? Thanks for your advice.

Silver zinc I believe

Thank you Joris. Added to my to-do list.

zinc in '55?
Cad surely? - Almost impossible to get done these days

I had mine power coated. Silver.

Clear Zinc.Although some swear Cad 1 plated. I wish Brad would answer this one. Or someone took a known original that was never refinished and had it tested to determine Clear zinc or Cad1

Clear zinc -- thoroughly bead blast first.

Thank you Brad. I looked in my B and C parts books but never found a finish.

all fixed

Apple autofill that I missed Vic. Thanks for being kind.

Thank you Brad and everyone with advice here. Much appreciated!

Cad; per photo of my cad re-plated valve cover duplicating it's original finish.

Okay, I refer to clear zinc as silver zinc. With regard to testing these, I have all of Tim Goodrich's old notebooks on his restorations. He did this for some cars (not a 55) and they came out as zinc. With regard to cad. It is a popular misconception that people think (I used to be one of them) that many of the plating on our cars was originally cad, it is not. The other is that many of the undercarriage hardware is black oxide, again, it is not. I believe that factory used 2-3 different kinds of phosphate finishes of which the dark black used on most of the undercarriage hardware has been a mystery to me.

Rather than further debate original cad versus zinc plating, suggest you re-plate your valve covers with whatever your choice may be.

Daryl & Joris, Tim Goodrich advised me to plate the valve covers with clear (silver) zinc on my 55100 coupe. He also had brightness/sheen measurements for black painted suspension parts and engine sheet metal taken from NOS parts. He documented all the fastener finishes (also with pictures) on the '56 "Keno coupe" that had 27K original miles on it when he disassembled it for Chris in preparation for its restoration. I believe I still have a compilation of notes for fastener finishes and types from a 1 owner, never disassembled '58 Speedster.
Wil, I like the look and built-in durability of your Cad finished, non-vented valve covers....