brake caliper colour

Paul,

I am assuming that your calipers, like the ones on my car, are ATE. If so they are yellow zinc (often referred to as gold zinc) plated. Not gold Cadmium plated which is a different process.

If you are particular about their appearance tell your plating shop to perform a post plate 'leach back'. Essentially what this does is tone down the strong iridescence often evident in gold zinc plating and gives it more of a straw yellow colour. If you've ever seen a new ATE caliper this is precisely how they look.

Best Regards,
Paul

 

I went to the garage to look at mine. I have the passenger wheel off from my engine serial number search so I can see the caliper. Should I be looking for "ATE" in the caliper casting?
btw, mine are "dirt" colored : )

 

Correct brake photos available here:

http://dino246blog.blogspot.com/2011/07/braking-news-we-are-back-on-track.html

These were done in yellow zinc with the leach back process. I have compared them to NOS parts and they are 100% perfect.

 

I assume you are rebuilding them before plating. Careful upon the rebuilding process they are not easily done but there are lots of good leads and advice on this sight

clay

 

And how were Girlings pls ??

 

same colour

 

My Girlings, had not ever been rebuilt on #01104 and were silver, now they are rebuilt and are silver.

Regards, Alberto

 

I always thought they are original a very bright yellow/gold, but maybe you are right
I will have a closer look when I depart the Girlings of #00306, but that will need some time..

 

Not too sure about that Matthias, all original Girling that I have seen ( also on Fiat Dinos 2.0, they are the same as 206 & 246L) were plated silver. Best, Emanuele

 

all early calipers were in silver, I have had n.o.s calipers to look from
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It is interesting that the caliper halfs are held together with FIAT bolts. I would have thought that the bolts were supplied by Girling.

 

Actually they were "Ghirlinghini" with FIAT bolts.

Mine are also FIAT bolts.

Regards, Alberto

 

I have just finished a set of ATE's. Like anything, the prep work is the key. So before plating I have found that if you bead/sand blast to get into the pores of the casting, then wire buff all over gives the best results. You may have to repeat the process a couple of times to get a uniform surface and texture so you don't have any scale or rust in the piston pocket. One other tip when they go into the plating tank it is important that they hang the halves so they don't get air trapped in the pockets etc. I have found that it's best if you can remove as much of the old plating as possible to get back to parent metal to get the best results. It also helps if your plating guy has experience in cast materials.
The wire buff (steel then brass) on the spacers will remove the old plating; sometimes it will be flaking off! But you have to be very thorough.
The 'O' ring seals for the spacers are a Porshe part # 90135192810.
Hope this helps,
Cheers

 

thanks for clarification
regards Matthias

 

I have a photo on the day of delivery of S/N00962 showing the calipers are silver. They still are.
Andrew

 

Not only the bolts are marked Fiat but the calipers as well. Specially casted in 1966 for the Dino road cars jointventure Fiat-Ferrari .

Best, Emanuele
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I think silver would be great. ;-)

 

So, what a pity when we have to look at that ...
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Sad indeed. And ugly.

 

I have a color cutaway drawing of a Ferrari Dino 206 GT and the calipers are gold (yellow cad). That being said, I too had looked at unrestored calipers on an "L" series Dino and they were silver cad which led me to go that direction when I restored my car.

It would be good to know if anyone has seen an example of a 206GT with unrestored, yellow cad plated calipers just to add to the confusion.

Cheers,

Keith

 

Hello Keith,
I did see the same cutaway and was confused too, but silver cad seems to be the correct colour... I checked old pictures pre restoration of #00306, #00334 and #01100, all silver.
Regards Matthias

 

I plan to service my '72 GT tomorrow and will clean and look closely at the calipers, which probably have never been restored. They will probably have turned cast-iron grey.

Andres

 

Here's one caliper on my 1972 GT, taken when I serviced the car this morning. It looked grey to me, initially, but there is a very slight gold tinge to it, somewhat evident in this photo.

Andres
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