Looking for door sill plates

[agnatus]

I'm looking for the two door sill plates for a Fiat Dino Spider..
Does anyone have any for sale or know where to get them?

[Gaelicguy]

Is there anything wrong with the two you have , besides appearance?
If it’s just appearance take them to a chrome plating shop and have them electropolished.
They will come back like new, I had the SS trim strips from the sills done. Not a single ripple left and gleaming.
M

[agnatus]

there is nothing wrong with them..

but I have 2 Fiat Dino Spider 2000 and only one pair of sill plates..

and I am a regular customer at a local electroplating company and have had most of the metal parts of my Dino either yellow galvanized or re-chromed

[Gaelicguy]

Hi Agnatus
Hopefully somone can help on the strips.
I have a question regarding the colour of the cad plating. My 2.0 Spider is # 665. All the plating is the silver colour. Do or dies anyone else know when they started using the gold cad plating
Michael

[agnatus]

I believe all unpainted metal parts on the vehicle were delivered from the factory with a silver (light blue) galvanized coating...
However, it has become common practice for restorations to generally galvanize metal parts yellow... you probably mean gold CAD plating...

For example, I had my sandblasted metal parts yellow galvanized by a local company...

IMG_4848.jpg (160.05 KiB) Viewed 1789 times

It looks a little more elegant...

[Gaelicguy]

Thanks Agnatus,
I have a selection of fasteners both Fiat and non OEM that are cad plated silver and gold.
I was led to believe that somewhere around the start of 1968 most coating was the gold colour.
I don’t believe anything would have need originally “galvanized” is a zinc process that does not have the fine finish required for automotive parts.
You can pretty much guarantee that automotive fasteners and parts are cadmium coated.
Both processes are electrolytic, but cadmium provides a thinner coating that does not really affect thread diameters.

What is the general belief for restorers of our cars?
Are we trying to restore to original, or not?
Finishes like paint, enamel paint like the original or clear coat?

Fasteners original Fiat bolts with spring washers and nuts, or nylon nuts? With the correct coating colour?

This goes beyond fasteners, there literally hundreds of components that where cadmium coated, the gold colour has more “bling” but it may not be original!

Would changing these finishes matter with anything other than a Concour car?

Just asking for a friend

[agnatus]

hi Gaelicguy..

Since the use of cadmium, a (highly) toxic heavy metal, is now banned by law in many countries (including the EU), galvanization is now used.. yellow, blue, silver or black galvanization

[Gaelicguy]

Very interesting, I’m in Portugal and I know what galvanizing looks like. I’m a civil engineer and have been close to galvanizing all my career.
What I’m looking at is something that looks exactly like cad plating.
I will ask the company when I pick up and post pics.
Michael

[agnatus]

Instead of cadmium plating, they'll likely use yellow galvanizing.

This is a two-stage zinc-based coating. First, a zinc coating is applied by electrogalvanizing, and then it is treated with a chemical passivation that gives it its yellow color.

I had most of my metal parts (brake calipers, bolts, nuts, wheel hubs, etc.) yellow galvanized. Many of my friends have also had this done on their classic cars, and some of the spare parts for the Dino Spider that I've bought from people were or are yellow galvanized.

For example, at Dinoparts (the largest spare parts dealer for Fiat & Ferrari Dino in Germany) they will recondition your Girling brake calipers that will be galvanized and (yellow) chromated

https://www.dinoparts.com/en/parts-acce ... er-girling

nobody offers cad(mium) plating...

[Gaelicguy]

Well I learnt a lesson today!
My coating guy is infact using Zinkagem ( Portuguese) It is the same electrolytic process as galvanizing, except the zinc base metal is more refined. He does 3 colours, silver, yellow and blue. Each glean like diamonds.
So I have decided to keep all the colours that the car came with. Everything in the engine, transmission and suspension is the silver cadmium colour. But I will do the brakes in the yellow. I’ll let you know the cost and quality when he has finished.
I did get all my polished SS parts back today. I’m pretty sure they never shined like this from the factory. They look like chrome.

A warning to Spider owners. If you are changing your windshield glass, pull the frame out and inspect it.
Where the chrome finished and the steel bracket that bolts to the frame, you can expect some serious rust.
He showed me two other Fiat 124 frames he was chroming. All including mine require a lot of rework in that area.
The problem is, the rust can eat through the frame and the windshield could collapse at speed.
Michael