Q: Power Brake Booster Color
I would like to return my power brake booster to its original gold color. I believe that it was cadmium plated at one time. I saw that Classic sells cadmium paint in a spray can … for $75.00 ! The spray paint colors that I’ve seen would make it look pretty tacky. Anybody know of a realistic alternative to getting the gold back into my booster?
A: The booster in fact was cad plated. A silver with a slight gold hue, but not as yellow as some other GM boosters. Check out Jim Matteson’s car for reference. He discusses the booster color in the magazine articles on his car.
http://www.phs-online.com/67bird/
The car was featured in both High Performance Pontiac and Pontiac Enthusuast. I can’t recall in which he discussed the booster.
The spray paint is actually about 5 or 6 cans, and requires several steps to get the results you want. And you may need to experiment to get it right. Still, costly for spray paint. And it’s not cadmium paint, just a cadmium look.
You can get your booster replated. There are a number of places advertised in Hemmings where you can send your booster, where it’ll have to be disassembled for the work. Another choice would be to check the local plating houses in your area. When I bought my booster/master combo from the local brake booster rebuilder, I could specify the color of plating I wanted. He farms the plating work out to a nearby plater.
The cost will be about the same as the spray paint, more if your booster needs rebuilding. The plating will last longer than the spray paint, in my opinion.
A: The process is called yellow cad by some platers, and will vary in shades from plater to plater,or part to part. In other words its not that consistent in the hue and color.I wouldnt even consider the the tacky look of the gold ,green ,red spray paint. Im sure that it can be accomplished with some degree of success, but Ive never seen anything even close to the yellow cad that comes in a spray can, even if it looks good in a catalog.
As for the platers,yes it can be done to look orginal. I have an NOS booster that I put on my 1968 several years ago and it too is fading even tho its never been out of the garage. It really frosts me to see a “correct” (by owners standards) restoration with a black painted booster. Spring for the extra $25 to get the booster replated and rebuilt. A guy named Steve Gregori redoes them in the correct hue and replaces all rubber for $120. http://www.brakeboosters.com/
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Content last modified: January 22, 2014 at 11:51 pm
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