Cad or Zink

[John Straub]

I am in the process of getting things replated on my 65. I'm going back to the original color...white rather than yellow.

I have heard that Zink will turn to a white powder over time.

Zink does have more shine to it than Cad, any idea which the factory used in 1965? Any help on this question would be great.

Thanks,

John

[69S-S/R]

John, I "restored", aka prepared for concours events, an 18,000 mile 1966 911about 25 years ago and both yellow zinc chromate (or yellow cad) as well as clear zinc plating were used on the hardware. I could not determine any special reason for which type but it seems most bolts and nuts were yellow and washers were clear. I believe that either holds up as well as the other and the powder you mentioned is largely caused by sea air.
Tom Scott

[John Straub]

Thanks Tom, OK here's a question for you. Do you know what color the 64 and 65 356 cars had? Skip tells me they all used white at that point.

I'm wondering if they would have used the same on the 64 and 65 911 cars. Any idea on that? And if they did change, when?

I'm also glad to hear that Zink will hold up fine. I'm almost sure they used Zine on some parts, it sure looks like it.

I think some guys out there on this Board have done some research on this.

Thanks,

John

[304065]

John,

I am using silver cadmium, not zinc of any color, on my '66 (#304065). This is what I found on the car.

You can see a nice example of the sheen of the plating over on Pelican in the Engine Rebuilding forum. That BBS is off the air at the moment but when it comes back you can see what I had done.

Yellow is later, yellow is either late sixties when they brought in the magnesium cases or early seventies.

Hope this helps.

[304065]

Here's my recent real silver cad.

[69S-S/R]

John S, I agree with Skip Shirley, almost all of the hardware used on 1964/65 C models was clear, or silver, zinc. This does not include any engine hardware which was clear, or silver, cad. I suspect that there are a very few, is any, parts which were yellow cad, aka yellow zinc chromate. I keep mentioning yellow zinc chromate because cad is not available in all areas of the country.
Ergo, if 1964/65 356 C used clear zinc, then it follows that the same period 911's also used clear. There is absolutely no question that the use of yellow was started and used extensively in 1966. I cannot determine the approximate time however. Perhaps original or unmolested car owners of 1965/66 can make a general list of those suspension and hardware items which are yellow.
Tom

[John Straub]

Good idea, can anyone else chip in on this, because I'm sure some of my parts are clear zink like the oil filler neck.

Thanks guys for your help.

John