70 Corvette dust shield plating

[Lynn]

Back when I restored my 69 Z, I (like most folks at the time) had them plated silver cad.

They came out very nice, and are still looking good today.

Then I read a thread on here that they SHOULD have in fact been galvanized.

Tearing down the 70 Corvette LT-1 chassis. Dust shields look about the same as the ones on my Z before plating. Dull silver color.

Question: what is the correct plating?

[LT1vette]

Where are these shields located?

[napa68]

This is from my 8900 mile car......

[Lynn]

Thanks. I have three that look almost that good. Any idea how it is plated?
Silver cad? Galvanized? Painted?

This car is not getting judged, and will have a couple of day two parts. But, I still want it somewhat correct for when I go to sell it.

[MosportGreen66]

Mike Gibbons just did the dust shields on our '70 L78 Nova. Great work and site sponsor.

[70post]

Maybe there was some variation on the plating used on these front disc rotor shields.....I have originals from 2 '70 Oldsmobile Abody cars and they are absolutely galvanized. Same thing for a '72 Buick Stage 1 car.

I think the only option these days is to have them clear (silver) zinc or cad plated. Repros are zinc plated as well. I've seen where people take things like crumpled up foil or cellophane rubbed in a silver paint and then "dabbed" on the surfaces to try and emulate the galvanized look.

The shield in posting #3 above doesn't have that distinct galvanized "pattern".......maybe it's just the photo and I can't see it, etc or then again, maybe that one isn't galvanized.

And yes, Mike does very nice work!

[RPOLS3]

Originally Posted by 70post

I think the only option these days is to have them clear (silver) zinc or cad plated. Repros are zinc plated as well. I've seen where people take things like crumpled up foil or cellophane rubbed in a silver paint and then "dabbed" on the surfaces to try and emulate the galvanized look.

Galvanizers are becoming tougher to find for sure but I was able to get my originals re-done through an ornamental iron supplier I work with.

[Too Many Projects]

VERY nice !!
Looks like you could set up a nice sideline with that plater...

[SS427]

Jake, those look fairly accurate. I have yet to find someone who could galvanize them correctly and yours are damn close albeit a little shinny. I did these using the mottling process 70post mentioned earlier. I think I got them fairly close.

The first photo is of a pair of NOS. The second photo is mine on top of the NOS and the last photo is mine overall.

I have also had mine zinc plated and then hit them ever so lightly in the glass media cabinet to dull them a bit. Those looked pretty good as well.

[Lynn]

There are two galvanizing processes. One is hot dipped, and gives the mottled look. I doubt GM hot dipped them, just because of the added expense. Seriously, they were not anticipating us scrutinizing these finishes 50+ years later; and frankly didn't give a rat's a$$ whether they would last that long.

The other process is electroplating. Much cheaper. The finish looks more like silver paint. The downside is that they do not last nearly as long in a harsh environment. My brother chewed me out for bringing home some electroplate galvanized roofing nails. I had no idea.

Now I am wondering if GM used electroplate galvanizing. That would explain the pic in post #3 NOT having the distinctive pattern. I can assure you that the "virgin" (albeit a 54 year old virgin) shields that I have do NOT appear to have been hot dipped.

I will post pics when I get them off.

I cannot express how much I appreciate the pros, as well as the other very knowledgeable folks who post on topics like this.