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Interior door handles.
- Thread starter Mike O'D
- Start date
tony perrett
Gold Level Sponsor
Door handles, boot hinges, filler cap etc., are made from Mazak (which is a zinc, aluminium, magnesium and copper alloy) chromium plated.
puff4
Platinum Level Sponsor
That's absolutely true of the original ones, and of all the British trim, save what's on Rolls, Bentley or other very up-market brands. The fact that they used all those metals is why they pit and corrode so badly - it's down to the interactions of the metals with each other in the presence of water vapor. Not great stuff.
However, I have seen boot hinges made of brass but I'm pretty sure all of them are aftermarket repro's (i.e. non-original mfg).
tony perrett
Gold Level Sponsor
When I restored the Alpine in the early 80's, repro hinges and filler caps were not available so I took the originals, filled all of the pitting and asked a local foundry to use them as patterns to cast me a set in brass. Unfortunately, they used bronze which being harder than brass does not take chrome so well and, if damaged, tends to peel.
Hinges
Hinges are pot metal cast zinc, Ricks are SS I believe and are expensive
I put inserts in a pair for the alpine,and will do the same for the Tiger.
They tend to corrode and lose their threads, and by the way heli coils do not work.
The interior handles are also zinc I've repaired a few but Ricks are good quality and
in expensive.
Hinges are pot metal cast zinc, Ricks are SS I believe and are expensive
I put inserts in a pair for the alpine,and will do the same for the Tiger.
They tend to corrode and lose their threads, and by the way heli coils do not work.
The interior handles are also zinc I've repaired a few but Ricks are good quality and
in expensive.
puff4
Platinum Level Sponsor
"Gun metal", "Pot metal", "Monkey metal", "White metal", "Die-cast zinc" and other such names are all really just slang for the mix of metals that was referred to earlier - zinc, copper, tin, lead, aluminium, cadmium, etc. - which is used for casting trim part for cars. The mix varies widely depending on the manufacturer, and as such, some of the stuff literally 'rots' away in a few years while other brands hang in there pretty well. Fortunately, the stuff they used in England was pretty good and tends to last longer than others (believe it or not).
I think, but cannot prove, that the term 'pot metal' refers to just that... whatever was left in the pot.
65beam
Donation Time
door handles
rick and i talked about this today when i placed my order. he 's told that what they're using now is much better than the original stuff. i have a set of hinges that is on one of my cars that i bought from him in 1995. they're not showing any wear or pits yet. over the years i have had only one inside door handle break and that was where the pin goes thru. original outside handles seem to weather pretty good. the chrome does dull.
rick and i talked about this today when i placed my order. he 's told that what they're using now is much better than the original stuff. i have a set of hinges that is on one of my cars that i bought from him in 1995. they're not showing any wear or pits yet. over the years i have had only one inside door handle break and that was where the pin goes thru. original outside handles seem to weather pretty good. the chrome does dull.
Jay Laifman
Donation Time
About 20 years ago, when my pot metal ones broke at the base (and pot metal is not weldable, at least to my knowledge), I bought from CAT a pair of aftermarket stainless ones. They looked identical, and continue to this day to be just fine. That said, when I'm long gone (assuming my car is still cared for by someone, and there is still gasoline), no one will have any idea how special they are.
What a concept. Age sucks!
What a concept. Age sucks!