Any clever people out there able to tell me if the cast iron hubs, calipers and drive flanges can be zinc plated without risk of embrittling them?
What have people done to restore their parts?
Mine are all painted but I'm unhappy with the result so now I want to abrasive blast them and start again, but only if it is safe to do so.

Thanks.

I shied away from having those items plated, calipers are often brittle enough (as Scott found out recently). Hairy muff if they are new, but I simply blasted and painted mine, and they look pretty good still cos I used a decent quality epoxy paint.

I know some have done so and the result is good, and a good shop automatically cooks the parts at 200degC for four hours (or more) to remove the potential, but introducing another chance of hydrogen embrittlement into the equation might be a conundrum you need to contend with.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I have had a set of Cooper S disks plated about 15 years ago and they are still working fine, although they are just starting to go rusty. I also had the drive flanges plated. I have just sent off to the platers a set of front and rear drive flanges for my latest project and I expect to pick them up on friday. The only failures I have had was a few springs which were brittle, but nuts, bolts and other small parts have been OK.

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

I did paint the calipers with 2pack, although they have since invented caliper and disk spray paint whcih works very well.

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

The hubs I'm inclined to just leave as they are, only because I don't want to take the bearings out because I'm lazy. I might just give them a good wash down and hit them with caliper paint or something.
Drive flanges same story....they wont be seen so might just bead blast them and paint silver like the wheels (mainly because I don't want to risk embrittlement of the studs).

So it's mainly the calipers I guess I want to know if it's safe to plate them.
Just a thought. I have some other stuff going out for plating in the week so whether I chuck them in or not is the decision.

I have been plating brake & hub parts for years & have never had a problem. NMP sold hundreds of reco disc sets with plated callipers etc & also has never had an issue.

Give Allbright Plating in Heidelberg a call, they will give a educated answer to any questions you may have with reguards to plating of cast iron parts. They have been doing it for the car industry for about the last 60 years...

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Have a Nice Day.
If already having a nice day please disregard.

mmmmmmm very nice looking zinc plated parts there 850man.

cheers dan

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Cheers Dan

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