1973 Brake pipes restoration

[DavidAustin]

I have read 1973 brake pipes were Zinc plated.
I am pretty sure my brake pipes are original but they are very tatty.
I have a plating set up that is doing a good job. Should I be worried about the brake pies being blocked by the plating process?
David

[fizeus]

It's a common practice to zinc plate brakes while restoring 'em.
Be sure to yellow zinc plate.
You have to not worry about blockage because plating is an electro process and it's driven by the percentage of zinc in the fluid.
The solution inside recesses or inner parts rapidly became poor of zinc so the plating process rapidly stop in the internal parts while continues to the external part of the pieces.
Also zinc plating is not only important for esthetic reasons but above all because it protect metals from rusting so a light (1 micron) of internal surface plating can simply prevent internal rusting.

You also have to be sure to accurately wash your pieces after plating.

[moito]

You also have to be sure to accurately wash your pieces after plating.

thats the point why my gut feeling says it`s not good idea to replate brake lines...

[BillJones]

Bundy brake pipe was a double wall tube and was commonly supplied with a 'Terne' coating.

Terne is an alloy of tin and lead and was hot dipped and is also used in the manufacture of Tinplate.

Modern Bundy tube is zinc electroplated but then coated with a PVF material which is normally dark green in colour.

I think it is still possible to buy a double-wall copper coated Bundy Tube and then tin electroplate which would look very similar to the Terne coating so new lines could be produced. A single wall tube isn't really suitable for a brake line.

I am not sure I would re-plate old lines as their internal condition would be difficult to assess and the corrosion caused by 'wet' brake fluid could be significant.