From a judge's perspective what is worth more points...nicely plated repro actuators with incorrect 5/16" vacuum hose connections or poorly plated or painted original actuators with correct 1/4" vacuum hose connections? Thanks.
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
The nicely plated, but incorrect actuators will cost you 20% of the available originality points (see NCRS Flight Score Sheet) for violation of the Configuration axis of the Originality sphere (Finish, Date, Installation, Configuration, Completeness) while the plated surface deterioration will be a variable deduction from the available condition points (again see NCRS Flight Score Sheet) and a judgement call from those who judge your car based on their opinion of how far from 'Typical Production' the aging/wear appears.
Bottom line, why not pull your factory original HL actuators and have them freshly replated for a minumum deduction? -
Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
who can replate the headlight actuators?Comment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
There has been several discussions on this board about the Caswell Plating kits. I would check the archives.Dick WhittingtonComment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
Anyone who does cad plating with a post-plate gold irridite wash can do the job for you. Fortunately, we've got an EXCELLENT facility here in Denver and I had mine replated last week when the shop opened their doors to the Rocky Mtn Chapter for a Tech Session on plating. If you don't know of a local resource, feel free to use these guys:
Aero Propeller
9616 Jeffco Airport Avenue
Hanger # 44
Broomfield, CO 80021
(303) 469-1749
A few tips: Their nominal plating cost is around $75 per lot (ask them for the definition of a 'lot' when you call). This presumes the parts are stripped, cleaned and ready to plate. If they aren't, you'll see a surcharge for preparation that could raise the job cost 50-100% (depends on how long their plating tech works to prep the parts).
On silver cad jobs, you should specify either extra brite or dull if you don't want their standard brite finish.
Also, if the part to be plated is a critical, load bearing, device tell them you want anti-hydrogen embrittlement service and they'll bake the part to Mil specs to satisfy the application. They use a trained eyeball here and automatically run the embrittlement bake when they see a part that's obviously critical. But, tagging and informing is always the BW to go.
When you want gold tone added after cad plating tell them the degree you want. If you're after a 'rainbow' surface, that's a short post plate dip for them. If you're after an almost solid, dark, gold surface, that's a long post plate dip. They'll accomodate your request.
There's no extra charge for post plating finishes (extra brite silver cad, dull cad, gold tone, or anti-hydrogen embrittlement processing). These guys are NOT your typical 'bucket' shop plating house. Their main line of work is FAA compliant aircraft propeller repair & Mil Spec cad plating for the aerospace industry.
You can literally eat off the floor in their shop. They're audited on a regular basis by both the FAA and the EPA and they keep scrupulous records on each job through the house because they ARE federally audited.
Every job coming in is digitally photographed against a file number and the job is again digitally photographed when it leaves. So, you can forget about the threat of 'missing' parts typical of a bucket shop....
On other forms of plating (black phosphorous, black oxide, chrome, annodizing), that's NOT their bag.... This is a dedicated cad facility and while their mainline work is Mil Spec compliance for the aerospace industry, they DO welcome classic car work because it defrays their overhead.
For our tech session, we put togehter a 'run' of multi-member contributed parts. My two HL actuators amounted to roughly +10% of the run, by weight. So, it makes economic sense to round up a group of parts to feed them (hood hinges, hood catches/latches, hood support, bulk fasteners, Etc.) vs. just sending them a pair of HL cans....Comment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
Thanks Jack, My local plater said that he can't plate these actuators because the acid will get into them and destroy the rubber..also that they will float in the tanks if they are sealed to prevent the acid from going into them.
Years ago when I first "restored" this car and in my "infinite wisdom", I swapped my original actuators with the ones in my buddies 77 because his had very nice plating on them. I did manage to buy one original 68-69 actuator but after my plater said that he couldn't plate it anyways I started thinking about getting some repro ones. But as far as I know, they all have the 5/16" tubes so that is why I was wondering which route to take that would yield the least points deducted. Maybe I should get my original ones back, buy one more spare, and get all four plated as long as I can find someone to plate these things...wiper actuator and vacuum relays as well. Do you have any other words of wisdom on this?Comment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
We always plugged the vacuum holes before plating. We also added weights to the threaded shaft to insure that they sank in the plating tanksDick WhittingtonComment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
Your plater is full of *&^^. The thick rubber diaphrams inside the cans LAUGH at the weak, room temperature acid used in conventional cad plating. As far as the cans not hanging properly and floating in the plating tank, that's another myth. They'll easily fill with electrolyte when submersed (YOU have to remove the front side seal and dust accordian as part of the preparation effort) and then hang nicely.
Your guy is simply 'spooked' because he's never done the job before and he doesn't have a handle on his risk exposure. The folks at Aero Propeller have experience and it's a no brainer job...
But, if your headlight or wiper door actuator failed because the internal diaphram is ruptured, all bets are off. But, you (and your plater) can verify each part's gross functionality by manually actuating them (gently suck then blow) to observe the drive shaft moving in/out in response.Comment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
There's really no need to plug the sucka's... Ask any plater why he wears rubber gloves when working around the plating tank. The acid won't hurt the rubber diaphram unless it's already history. BUT, you do need to take care to thoroughly rinse the inside, post plating, and let it dry out before re-installing.Comment
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Re: Headlight vacuum actuators for my 69
Thanks for that info Jack. So you are saying not to bother with plugging the tubes...just throw them in the tank? Well if it works for you then it should work for me! I assume that this also applies to the wiper door actuator and the vacuum relays as well?Comment
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Wiper door actuator is identical to HL in build... *NM*
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