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I used to run a drinking water plant up until May of this year, then I retired. The US EPA has established a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 0.005 milligrams per liter (mg/L) for cadmium in drinking water. It is some bad stuff. We tested for it and other metals.
iam pretty sure you cant even get Cad plating done here in Australia..... On my 1964 Matchless hardware i just went for 316 stainless and glass beaded it...looks like cad
panz4ever is correct. After looking closer most of the hardware is zinc coated. Im not sure what the rear brake arm & brackets are, or the regulator bracket. The rear foot peg mounting yokes and nut are chrome and the bolt is zinc.
Here are some closer pictures.
Think the difficult part is that there is no definitive documentation on the finish (and optional finishes) for Shovelhead models like Bruce Palmer has done for 1936-1965 models bikes. Cad plating does not have the shine that zinc plating has, but when looking at original parts, unless they have been in a climate controlled bubble, it will be a bit diffcult to determine finish. I would suggest that the neck bearing cups are cad finish as are the nuts on the kicker cover, rocker covers and cylinder base nuts and washers. The ends of the brake line fittings are zinc. Any OEM/NOS bolts I ordered are zinc plated. Philister head screws on my primary and nose cone are zinc. My brake pedal arm and rider footrest arm are chrome (it was optional), the footrests rider and passenger are cad.. And as far as the rider footrest goes it actuall makes sence. The footrest were used as far back as my 65 Pan and actually crossover to Sportster models right down to the bolts and nuts that secure the pedal to the arm.
A quick pic of my 65 passenger footpegs and rubber (same as on the rider footpegs and rubber on your 78 as well as my 78)
Not sure of regulations where you reside, but In California there is still one place that does cad plating. They are in SoCal and have done all the necessary cad plating for my 49 EL and 65 FLH. On my 78 and 84 Shovels I have done almost zero refinishing (because it can only be original once right), just tried to replace what was wrong or what was "toast" from sitting under a pole tent in the central valley of California.
Last edited by panz4ever; Dec 15, 2020 at 11:48 AM.
Bright nickel is also sometimes used but probably not on hardware.
I used to do a bunch of copper brazing with 10% or 15% silver rods that also contained cadmium. I'm fine thoughhhhhh...
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