MTFCA Forum

I started cleaning a Stromberg OF, and the throttle and economizer arms look like they were copper plated. I know that Winfield copper plated S and SR bodies, but has anybody seen this on Stromberg steel parts?

They had a pretty thin flash plating on them for rustproofing. It’s pretty uncommon to find one with anything still showing. I do mine in nickel plate, which is copper flash and then dull nickel. Gives them a nice look and rustproofs them.

Thanks Tim! I've never seen copper plating on a contemporary carb, but a "rustproofing" flash plating wouldn't surprise me at all.

I have 7 OF's at the bench and of those, 1 clearly has remains of a copper wash and 3 have the remnants of an obvious brass wash. They are all extremely thinly flashed as mentioned. I think I've seen more brass than copper and that seems to be borne out with what I have right now. I have seen the same thing on the internal economizer spring as well.

Strange copper plate on parts has come up. I recently found copper plating on some NOS rear parts. The remains on Pinion gear and differential gear that goes on axle.
Must have been used a lot to prevent rust.
Also brush plates were copper plated. Dan

Dan

I, too, have seen the copper wash on pinion gears and the very end of the inboard end of axles. I suspect that it was there as an anti-galling agent for assembly purposes.

Here are my parts with a quick nickel plate. The two on the right had a quick skuff with a scotch brite pad. The RF had a black painted finish that rarely survived, like the flash plating. I did a couple of my favs in black powder coat. That should be worth an extra MPH !

The copper plating on gears is part of the heat treating process. The copper plating acts as a stop-off for the carburizing process to mask areas that are not to be fully hardened. Its not a rust prevention issue.

Thank you for the lesson Dan