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[Ruth's Mini]

I'm hoping to get some input regarding original colours on the master and slave cylinders for our 1961 Mini. I believe the masters were plated using Hexavalent resulting in a gold colour. As Hexavalent is a carcinogen it's not used anymore. One of the attached pictures is of Mini 621 AOK at the Heritage Museum. The clutch master looks gold so I'm wondering if it still has it's original plating. The brake master looks just like the masters on our car. Would this be what the unplated cylinder looks like?

My other question is about the slave. Since it's cast iron I assume it's unfinished state would be gray. It's painted green on the Museum Mini suggesting they were fitted to the engine prior to painting. A Mini Spares replacement appears to be a bronze colour. 

I'm in the process of detailing the engine & engine bay and would like it to look as close to original as possible.

thanks for your help...

Brian

 

 master cylinders on Ruth's car.jpg   57.59K   0 downloads

 master cylinders.jpg   180.63K   1 downloads

 slave cylinder.jpg   9.42K   0 downloads

[Spider]

The original Master Cylinder were a type of Zinc Plating, the finish was a dull silver colour, similar in appearance to Galvanised Steel. Most Zinc Plating Finishes done these days will leave it shiny, though some of these will dull in time.

 

As best I can recall, the Slave Cylinders were just bare cast steel, they didn't take long to rust (like the Wheel Cylinders). I think / feel if you also had it (silver) Zinc Plated it wouldn't look out of place.

 

The 'Hexavalant' finish I think as you say, is no longer done these days, however, there is a very similar (and I feel superior) finish available from most Electroplaters. The all seem to refer to is as 'Zinc Yellow' or Zinc Gold'. They do an ordinary Zinc Plating Finish and then apply a further process to give it the 'gold' appearance. I've found this way better wearing and lasting than just plain Zinc. Many fasteners these days are finished with this. It does look very good, however, it definitely would be way out of place on a 1961 Mini !