# 66 tripower carb color



## Familytradition (Jul 2, 2014)

Can anyone give me some advice. I changing out my 4bbl to tripower and have began rebuilding 66 carbs. All are disassembled and ready to be put back together, but I would like the original color of the zinc chromate. Is there anyway to duplicate this with paint and clear? Carbs are stripped and ready to go just need to get them the correct color. Thanks for any advice.


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## Joe'sToy (Mar 9, 2012)

I had my Tri-power done at PontiacTripower.com, this is how the center carb looked when is was done. Hope it helps.


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## TonysGoat (May 16, 2015)

I had my tri-power rebuilt by Mike at PontiacTripower.com as well and they turned out great. I would contact him, he can probably help. Mike Wasson <[email protected]>


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

And to add, I would pick up some K&N air filters for everyday driving. The paper ones seemed to clog really fast on mine.


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## 68GTO4004Spd (Jun 19, 2008)

Probably as close as you can get to cadmium plating is with zinc chromate. This company sells a kit if you want to do it yourself, but there is also a forum on there and I am sure someone would plate them for you.


Copy Cad® & Zinc Plating Kits - Plating Kits - Caswell Inc


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## Familytradition (Jul 2, 2014)

Has anyone used Eastwoods Carb renew paint to redo their carbs? How close does the paint resemble original colors?


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

Bought the small can of Eastwood Carb Renu several years ago with a few small tools. Have vatted and rebuilt hundreds of 2G's, Holleys, & QuadraJets over the years. The Eastwood product is more of a spray dye than it is a spray paint and the color comes out more of dull caramel gold color. No where near correct a finish on an original tripower 2G , not a big fan of the deep gold look seen above, though its closer than the Eastwood product. NOS and very low mile non faded original 60's 2G's will have more of a light green/silver coloring mixed with the gold color to them. The original zinc dichromate plating process not only gives a slight rainbow effect of coloring, but the plating closes small pores in the pot metal casting. An old carb shop owner/restorer, once told me, the more zinc in the casting, the better the appearance of his "replating" process (not like we get to pick our castings when it comes to restoring a tripower or really rare Q-jet).


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## topfuel67 (Dec 23, 2008)

I looked up a you tube video a while ago where a guy used alodine 1201 and it came out nice. Like others have said the factory finish was dull/light. Newer methods over do it. The alodine method seemed to be a good light/dull method as it is simply brushed on or dipped without electrodes etc.


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## propuckstopper (Jan 20, 2012)

Familytradition said:


> Has anyone used Eastwoods Carb renew paint to redo their carbs? How close does the paint resemble original colors?


I did, and the carbs turned out great. The trick to this Eastwood paint is not to apply it too heavy. The heavier you apply it, the more the carbs turn "gold" and they really do start to look phony. 

I had the luxury of practicing on another junk carb body. I tried it several times, using my ultrasonic cleaner to strip it down between practice runs.

You have to kind of just "fog" it on, using very light coats. You will start to see the correct look as you go. It is very durable so far.


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## propuckstopper (Jan 20, 2012)

*No K&N*



Rukee said:


> And to add, I would pick up some K&N air filters for everyday driving. The paper ones seemed to clog really fast on mine.


Not to start an argument, but I would advise heavily against the use of K&N Filters. I used to run them in everything (including dirt track sprint cars) until I started doing Used Oil Analysis on all of my engines.

My theory was always that "what could be better than an oiled gauze filter, like a K&N?" The oil would surely catch more dirt than a paper filter, I assumed.

This is simply not the case, and it has been proven many times over in my Used Oil Analysis.

A paper filter will beat a K&N every time in terms of filtration quality. It is the reason Rukee finds that paper filters "clog" quickly. The reason the K&Ns don't clog is because they simply don't filter as well. Further research on your part will confirm this fact. The K&N fallacy has pretty much been confirmed these days.

Now, understand that a K&N filter will improve in filtration quality as it gets dirty, but airflow is then reduced, which negates any claims of higher airflow.

Despite all of the evidence, I have a friend who still swears by K&N Filters. "I have run my engine for 40,000 miles on a K&N and I have had no problems", he says.

To which I said: You might not have any "problems", but it doesn't mean that you are not experiencing higher than normal wear in your engine.

My bet is that you will see far more wear in a K&N engine than you will see in an engine with a paper filter.

Just something to be aware of...


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