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MG TD TF 1500 - Seat Rails plating


I took my seat rail hardware to a cad plater in Sacramento. They came back today. This platers price was a bit on the high side, but about the same as buying new ones with shipping.




Bruce Cunha

Cad plating is a toxic process, so the plater was probably charging for the extra care they need to take.
Lew Palmer

Lew. While they had warning signs on the building about the various metals that were present, the workers were not using any unique Personal Protective equipment (respirators or coveralls). Their process appears to be fairly automated and it appears the only handling was when parts are put on and taken off the plating hooks.

They had a very large, open operation, with two tank systems down the middle. I saw a number of workers alongside the tanks, so perhaps they have a different process now that is not as hazardous.?
Bruce Cunha

It was brought to my attention by Chris Cooper that the rear seat hinge was painted black, and not raw cad plated.

While I did not find any paint on my hinges, I have found other pictures of the hinge painted and feel that this is correct.

Thanks Chris for bringing up that detail.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, It's not the worker's health and safety that would cause extra cost, but rather the red tape dealing with the various government agencies )EPA, etc).
Lew Palmer

Ok, so LaVern says the seat hinge on the early TD he is restoring was cad. Is this another part that changed during production?

TD 4139 had no paint that I could find on the hinges. It did have that white powdery look of old cad.

So, Is your seat hinge painted or not? Please list your ID number and it may give us an idea on if they changed to a painted one during production.


Lew. No doubt that regulatory costs have raised the price of plating, but I also suspect these shops don't like doing small jobs. Their bread and butter is large volume jobs. More and more, we are seeing production shops that do not want to do hobbyist jobs.

I posted in another post about a Rexine material substitute. I had a hard time finding companies that would sell by the yard. Most had a minimum order of $150.

This shop had a minimum of $100.

Bruce Cunha

I think it is more about shop rates vs actual plating costs. I use the same plate shop for my cad work a five gallon bucket of cleaned bolts for TD 4834 about the same price. Basically if the parts fit into their dipping basket it was all one price. My second batch was significantly more however.

Bill Chasser
TD-4834.
W A Chasser

TD28423 (June 11 1953) has a black hinge.

Jim
James Neel

My TD8105 had painted rails and hinges. they were original to the car.
TRM Maine

And as usual, the issue gets even muddier.

Thanks for the input.

Lets see what others come up with.
Bruce Cunha

The factory cad plating was very thin. I would imagine that as the plating failed and rust began, many owners painted them with black paint. I have not seen plated hinges, but that does not mean they were not plated. I’ve only seen black painted, and rusty hinges.
Be well,
David
D. Sander

I sprayed mine with Galvacon and it's hard to tell the difference from Cad plating.
PJ Jennings

I posted this on the MG TD facebook page. I got 5 responses. All had plated rails and plated hinges. I am not saying painted is not original, but it appears the majority were just cad.
Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 28/01/2021 and 06/02/2021

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