generator finish

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Schaefer Ralf
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generator finish

#1 Post by Schaefer Ralf »

The generatur of my 1963 S coupe needs a rebuild. Actually it is painted siver. I would like to know if the original silverplating was cad or zink ?
Thanks for your help.

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Greg Bryan
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Re: generator finish

#2 Post by Greg Bryan »

That's a good question - I'd like to know too .....
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Mike Wilson
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Re: generator finish

#3 Post by Mike Wilson »

I had read that back in the day, zinc plating was more common than cad-plating. That said, the ones I've had restored were cad-plated. Perhaps bright zinc would be more correct? Original unrestored ones do look dull rather than bright, however.

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Ben Wainscott
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Re: generator finish

#4 Post by Ben Wainscott »

Had Zim's rebuild mine a while back. According to their web site they use zinc. I suspect Al knows the answer. Here's the link to their rebuild process.

http://www.allzim.com/store/zims-premiu ... 56-6v.html
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Doug Darrah
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Re: generator finish

#5 Post by Doug Darrah »

According to Brad Ripley a clear zinc coating was used on the generator, our shop using the zinc coating (see below photos) feel free to email us abcpartswerks@aol.com - our website is abcpartswerks.com we reman only Porsche 356 - 912 - 911 Generators - Starters - Alternators -shop phone is 920 378 5538
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Mike Wilson
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Re: generator finish

#6 Post by Mike Wilson »

Thanks, Doug. Awesome work!

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Brad Ripley
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Re: generator finish

#7 Post by Brad Ripley »

Zinc but after completely removing the old plating : acid dip and then complete bead blast but avoid any polishing of the clean steel -- you need to have a somewhat dull surface or the plating will be too bright -- as it appears in the above photos.

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Martin Benade
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Re: generator finish

#8 Post by Martin Benade »

I was thinking they looked a little bright, but they sure are beautiful.
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Joris Koning
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Re: generator finish

#9 Post by Joris Koning »

Brad Ripley wrote:Zinc but after completely removing the old plating : acid dip and then complete bead blast but avoid any polishing of the clean steel -- you need to have a somewhat dull surface or the plating will be too bright -- as it appears in the above photos.
Hey Brad, are you sure about this? I have found original clear zinc pieces to be very shiny. It is actually a very hard plating to duplicate these days. I agree that polishing is not the way to go but the original machines surface just after manufacturing did give the parts quite a lot of sheen.
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Doug Darrah
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Re: generator finish

#10 Post by Doug Darrah »

We follow Brad's steps to the nth degree, as far as shine a small piece of burlap will reduce the shine, this is a process that we leave up to our customers, never use an abrasive pad.

Cory Evens
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Re: generator finish

#11 Post by Cory Evens »

For what it's worth, having just gone through this process plating all of my original hardware. I chose clear cadmium due to being near a saltwater bay and the ocean. My plater, having 28 years experience, told me that cadmium handles salt air and rust much better than plain clear zinc and having looked at both examples they can look very similar. Where zinc ends up doing better with corrosion the plater applies chromate which "blues" the metal making it look quite off. Much like cheap modern nuts and bolts you might find at big box hardware stores. For authenticity clear zinc is the way to go for most of your hardware WITHOUT the chromate application, if you're not too worried about future corrosion.

Where the shinyness and matteness comes in he explained if you have very clean, original metal, smooth and not pitted or any rust – much like what might come out of a fairly well taken care of engine bay – the hardware will come out looking fairly shiny. If there is any rust they will do a light blasting which in turn gives them a matte look due to the nature of that metal piece being blasted. Also blasting larger surfaces like generator bodies helps to even out the years of use, scuffs and such which gives the end result a nice evenness to it. However, I think there may be some provisions in restorations to the level of shinyness one might want nowadays. I do remember getting new Bosch generators at least as far back as the 80's and they were pretty shiny zinc looking, much like the photos above.

Speaking about various pieces, depending on your specific piece you might want to either polish before plating to get a nice shiny original look. IE: cheese head screws look more original this way. Some of mine ended up getting a light blasting which looks a little off, milky. Or for other pieces like the generator body since you can't get fresh manufactured metal, as others have said blasting to give it a dull matte look might be the way to go. I like the burlap trick to!

Rule of thumb: Just as in chroming, where you end up with your base metal, polished or light blasting is where you'll end up in shinyness vs matte.


For anyone about to start this process I found a product called Evapo-Rust from Amazon. It works magic on bare metal or older plated metal with years of light to medium corrosion and rust. Made a lot of my parts look nearly brand new and would be a great start for any plating process. I am amazed by it! And after soaking my original generator for a few hours it came out very clean and acceptable in a tidy engine bay.

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Joris Koning
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Re: generator finish

#12 Post by Joris Koning »

Cory Evens wrote: For anyone about to start this process I found a product called Evapo-Rust from Amazon. It works magic on bare metal or older plated metal with years of light to medium corrosion and rust. Made a lot of my parts look nearly brand new and would be a great start for any plating process. I am amazed by it! And after soaking my original generator for a few hours it came out very clean and acceptable in a tidy engine bay.
Agree there are no wonder products in this hobby but Evaporust comes real close. Truly a must have in any home or professional restoration shop
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Mike Wilson
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Re: generator finish

#13 Post by Mike Wilson »

I've got a 5-gallon bucket of it to clean up parts. I found that cleaning the heck out of parts before plating really improves the look. I clean every nut and bolt on a wire wheel before cad or black zinc plating. The results are noticeably better than leaving the cleaning up to the plater.

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'63 B coupe

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