I'm rebuilding my SU carbs and I'm trying to do a thorough job of cleaning them and getting them all nice and shiny. Some of the linkage bits were rusty so I dunked them in a jar of rust remover.

Now they're all nice and clean but the paint is completely gone so they're metallic silver. The original color looks kind of like brass but I bought a can of metallic brass spray paint and it didn't match up. Has anyone tried to repaint their linkage back to the original color and have any tips? I'm not great with paint work. I've attached a pic of some restored ones so you can see what I mean.

I'm an idiot. Apparently it's cad plating or yellow zinc chromate? I see that caswell offers a kit but I don't want to spend over $100 just to get the original look to the parts. Anyone have any other ideas?

Keep the hood closed, don't worry about it, and enjoy the ride

Dennis

Getting parts zinc chromated shouldn't be that difficult. Look for plating shops in your area. Most if not all can do this. While you are at it, look for other engine parts with a similar plating and get them all done in one batch.

Zinc plating can be expensive as most shops have a min. charge. I remember someone on this forum a while back talking about a zinc cad coloured paint from Eastwood or maybe Dupli-color, it looked pretty good.

Really, you just want to protect the metal so any silver type spray paint will do the job and not grab the eye.

Chris

I think this is what Grannyknot is referring to:

Eastwood Company: Search Results for zinc chromate inproducts

Thanks guys. I tried to look up plating shops around here but apparently they changed the EPA laws a couple years ago and most of them were shut down in Maryland. I did email someone at zeddsaver to see about shipping everything out to get plated. If it's too expensive I'll try out that eastwood spray paint.

Dennis, yeah I normally wouldn't care so much but since I already put in all the effort to get the carbs nice and clean I just want to make sure it's perfect before putting it back together again.

Dennis, yeah I normally wouldn't care so much but since I already put in all the effort to get the carbs nice and clean I just want to make sure it's perfect before putting it back together again.

The Eastwood coating sounds like the budget way to go, in that case. Post some pictures when you're done with whatever process you end up using.

Dennis

Carb linkage should never be painted IMO. You want it to operate smoothly with no binding. Either leave it like it is, or have it plated. Eiji at DatsunSpirit in your neck of the woods may be able to help you with plating.

Carb linkage should never be painted IMO. You want it to operate smoothly with no binding. Either leave it like it is, or have it plated. Eiji at DatsunSpirit in your neck of the woods may be able to help you with plating.

Thanks Diseazd, I didn't even know DatsunSpirit was nearby.

I'm trying to figure out which parts in the engine bay were originally plated so I can do all at once. I found this picture at zeddsaver: Engine Bay

Would you all say that's accurate?

Gather all of the parts that need plating.....clean them up with carb cleaner.....never use steel wool or sandpaper. DatsunSpirit is in Manassas. Don't know for sure, but would bet Eiji would throw your stuff in with his next batch. His cad plating is very,very nice!