Any years Carburetor plating

[Cadman-iac]

  Does anyone know if a carburetor that's been stripped of the factory plating in a carb cleaner solution is susceptible to damage by the crap fuel sold today?

 I just cleaned a Quadrajet in Berrymans chem-dip and it stripped the coating off the castings.

 If I were to use it like this, would the fuel eat into it at all, or is that coating just for appearances?

 Thanks in advance for any help.

 Rick

[Clewisiii]

If it is a cast zinc carb then it is platted again in zinc and dipped into a dichromate solution that acts as a passivate. Zinc will still corrode. The passivate helps to protect from that. But the coating itself will also wear off. Sometimes with just time and age. I think you should be fine. You would only want to coat it again if you completly disassemble the carb. So i wouldnt do it unless you have to.

[Cadman-iac]

I've already taken it completely apart, to include the secondary pickup tubes and discharge nozzles on the air horn, and I'll pull the idle air tubes and any other brass fixtures that are in it that I can safely remove. The primary discharge nozzles are not removable that I'm aware of, but I've got 3 dozen Quadrajets that I can play with to try to remove those.
 Although if I'm not going to re-plate it, I guess those won't matter, I can leave them in.
 I took a small wire brush to the bowl and horn to finish cleaning them and they look almost like they're polished now.





 Rick

[Clewisiii]

One note. Plating does not get everywhere. Even though it is submerged in the electrolyte the charged suspended zinc particles collect on the closest surface to them. Which is why it is hard to get coating into recessed pockets. Carbs have lots of those so it will never be completly coated.

[Cadman-iac]

  That's good to know, thanks.
 Do you know if the system you're using is the same as what the carburetor rebuilders are using?

 Have you ever tried doing a carburetor before?

 Rick

 

[Clewisiii]

It is the same stuff. I have not needed to do a carb. I did fuel pumps, fuel filters, light housings all in cast material.

[Clewisiii]

This is what I have. He named this video Cadmium dichromate. But that is incorrect. He is doing zinc dichromate like me.

[Cadman-iac]

This is what I have. He named this video Cadmium dichromate. But that is incorrect. He is doing zinc dichromate like me.

That's really interesting, I wish I had the equipment and chemicals to do that myself, because I've got tons of stuff that could use a good coating.
Thanks for posting this, it's been very informative.

  I noticed that when he dipped the top of his carburetor that he didn't remove the brass pickup tubes, or the steel discharge nozzles, he just coated everything.
  Does this color the brass and steel parts as well as the casting?

Rick

 Edit: also, does that solution clog up the tiny passages inside the carburetor, or is that not an issue?

[Clewisiii]

It will plate and coat zinc, brass, steel, copper. All would get coated. If you plate for to long you can build up a thick film. But this is mostly an issue with exposed outside surfaces. I had some fine thread bolts that would no longer fit in their threaded holes due to build up on the bolt.

Or you could have an issue if you dont filter your solution and leave your anodes in to long. The solution is acidic to the anodes. So chuncks can break off. That is why we filter solution and wrap the anodes in a gauze material to trap big particles.