Chromate or Cad finish for Solex magnesium intake manifolds

[1QuickS]

I am currently working on a set of Solex carbs and want to refinish the intake manifolds. The threads I have seen refer to the finish as chromated but the photos I have seen of good condition manifolds look as if there is more of a metallic sheen than just a chromated finish. I was wondering if they were Cad plated? The later manifolds look to have been finished with Dow 9 and then oil coated; www.early911sregistry.org/forums/showthread.php?64825-Magnesium-Coating.

I spoke with a Cad plating provider in the Los Angeles area who stated that they could cad plate magnesium but would need to "play" with the parts first to get the process right.

Any comments regarding the finish to get a metallic sheen for the magnesium?

[304065]

Paul- if it's the same finish as the early Weber Manifolds, I think it's cadmium with a yellow chromate conversion coating. The trouble is that the acid used to activate the surface of the magnesium for plating actually dissolves it-- so I did flash copper, then cad, then chromate. It came out very nice and very similar to the finish under the carb linkage bracket-- doesn't show up too well in photos, but I'm happy with it. Search here under my name for the copper and final product photos.

The trouble with the old Dow processes is that we don't have a reference for what each looks like, except for the popular ones still used in Aerospace that we know are too brown, like Dow 7. Like Ferric Nitrate bright pickle-- I don't have HAZMAT capability so just don't have the ability to go testing various processes from the old Dow book without a way to avoid either destroying my kidney function or paying a lot of money to have chemicals hauled away.

Anyway, see what you think of my photos and let me know.