Technical Building a new Winfield...

Workin on a dual Winfield setup and missing one of these… not anymore!

 

Gettin closer…

 

Excellent work Kevin! Your attention to detail is always so inspiring!

 

Simply amazing work.

 

Doesn’t get any kooler than this…!

 

Pretty impressive, keep it up

 

BR-549

LOL

 

well, that set up is sure going to make the A/F mixture dizzy for more HP......
Ed would be proud

 

absolute artwork

 

After a short stint at the plating shop, I now have most of a new carb copper plated. Now, before anyone blows me up about what color they supposedly were originally… I have been lucky enough to have, or gain access to, some incredibly well preserved (dare I say NOS) original pieces.

Most Winfields have long shed their thin protective plating, retaining either a pewter look, or a heavily stained brown color commonly mistaken for plating. But occasionally, small segments of original plating will survive. When cleaned with some polishing compound, a bright copper sheen is revealed.


I have heard the tale of Winfield carbs being “bronzed” at the neighboring baby shoe dipper, but am trying to stick to tangible facts rather than folklore. The cleaned up originals are definitely copper, and mold marks being visible thru the plating indicate that the plating was very thin (electroplated, not dipped). The tarnish lifts quite easily, even considering that there is an additional 90 years of buildup. I highly doubt these carbs were offered with a bright copper finish originally, and would have corroded into green carbs long ago if they had. So I began to look into industrial treatments to prevent corrosion on copper, as the original Winfield finish was likely not proprietary. Most copper treatments are artis**** and produce green surfaces, but eventually found a process that creates a chemically induced tarnish, that will protect against green corrosion and also turns the copper dark brown/black.

Here we are in brilliant copper. Gotta admit, I like it! But the goal here is to get close to the original color as possible;


A little time in the magic dip, and it looks almost like a gun metal, but with a brown undertone instead of blue. Hard to get a pic that truly shows the color, but here are some pieces ***embled to a throttle barrel that is near NOS. Color is close, with an extra dose of gloss;



The 90 year old original throttle barrel lacks any luster to the plating finish, but I can’t help but wonder if it was simply lost over time. The surface finish of the original castings is quite smooth and very similar to what I produce, so it may be possible that the original copper plating finish would have been similar as well. This tarnishing process changes the color, but as the pics show, not the sheen. I am considering ways to dull the finish without sacrificing color…

 

Beautiful! I'd guess that the dulling is going to be difficult, considering that those NOS parts were probably stored in the box on a shelf so the typical 'cool, dark place'. Not UV, probably not heat/cool cycles, but more just oxygen or other air g***es over time deepening the oxidation.
Could also be chemicals involved back then that aren't used or available now, like some stuff in the firearm refinishing arena.

 

Couldn’t agree with you more! My thoughts of dulling the finish would de to simply remove some of the luster and sparkle, not match the oxidized original. These are the best quality pics of Winfield carbs that I have scrounged up, and both clearly show dark color, but also a bright reflection similar to that of the nearby aluminum castings. Not claiming to know the original recipe, simply in pursuit of a reasonably similar result

 

About patina,,,found this on the Web.I have no idea if it works!

 

Interesting. I have done the salt and vinegar directly to copper to clean it. I'd guess the vapors with oxygen in the air do the opposite?

 

Vinegar and salt will produce a green patina, primarily used for artsy fartsy stuff.

I wish pics would show my results better, it’s almost like black chrome, but with some oil slick swirling of brown and black color. Gonna try a few things this weekend to improve the finish…

 

Kevin, I truly believe this C downdraft bowl I have is new old stock there’s plating still in the threads and no sign of a float moving inside the bowl.