1968 fan pulley finish?
 

Looking for input regarding the finish for a 2 groove fan (water pump) pulley. 9786819
My pulley is cadmium plated and then possibly painted black over the plating. I have seen about a dozen others done the same way (paint over plating).

I have seen exactly one pulley that was cadmium plated with no paint. That example was NOS so maybe not exactly correct.

I have seen Jim Mino's Firebird deuce and Jim Mattison's GTO deuce with that pulley plated golden cad.

What have you guys seen on original cars? Black paint, silver cad or gold cad?

Actually I don't think I've ever seen an OEM water pump pulley that was anything but black painted steel. Alternator yes, but not water pump.

I also have not see a cad plated water pump pulley. I've been looking at this stuff for 40 years without seeing other than black paint. But...this does not mean it was not done...I just can't prove it.

Why would one plate a pulley then paint over it. Paint will not stick to that surface as well as bare metal. Makes little sense to me.

From what I have seen black paint is correct it is also correct for f-bodies.

Thanks for the input guys.....keep the comments coming.

My pulley had surface rust on all unprotected surfaces but the plating was preserved on the inner and outer surface where it was in contact with the water pump hub and the fan spacer. I can't tell of it was ever painted but I didnt find any trace of black paint.

I have a couple other pulleys that have plating under the black paint. Either silver cad or bright zinc....not sure how to tell the difference between the two but the plating is shiny.

Never seen a gold cad or dichromate zinc pulley except on some restored cars. Here is a photo of Jim's Deuce Bird.

I found another photo with the gold pulley. This is described as an unrestored example car. I have looked at this photo a dozen times....never noticed the gold pulley until just now...

Most 9778808 wp pulleys I've pulled originally had a silver cad finish. These were installed on '66 models. The cad plating fades out with time to gray, the finish can even look like a very washed out (faded) black painted pulley. By examining where the fan spacer bolted up, one can see a circle that is still silver cad finish.

The pulley in question... "819" wp pulleys. Every original I've pulled was black painted. Have easily had three-four dozen "819"s, still have several nice used in the pallet section, never had any hint of a gold gad type finish.
In cleaning out dealership stocks, have had a bunch of NOS "819" wp pulleys that were silver cad plated. Have an NOS "819" currently in the pulley stacks which still has a wired on manilla tag from GM Parts Distribution. To install it on anything close to a Concours restored car, I would glass bead & refinish @ 90% gloss black.

Other silver cad factory finish WP pulleys:
In the late 90's hauled in a '63 Tripower GP. It's original wp pulley was silver cad finish. Original timing cover, PS, & pulleys. Have ran across this same part number wp pulley when boneyarding, often pulling it & setting it aside when pulling original water pump cores.

For '67 & '68 models, factory V8 AC cars typ received the "886" WP pulley. Have had several NOS, & ALL were a gloss black. Eventually that gloss black dulls. Have pulled & sold dozens of "886" wp pulleys, as well as matching crank pulleys, all were black, no hint of silver cad underneath the black.

In manual strg stock, have a complete '68 V8 manual steering pulley bracket & pulley set, bought in another dealership parts buyout. Both pulleys look NOS except for slight imprint where the fan spacer was bolted on. At the time of the buyout, I thought the manual strg set interesting. The prev dealership principal then relayed to me, that occasionally, he would get a brand new manual steering late '60's A-body in a dealership trade. On a few occasions, he had one of his mechanics swap on factory PS in order to make a sale. Those '68 manual pulleys are gloss black. Have numerous NOS '70, 70 F-body, & '71 up WP & crank pulleys & all are a gloss black, just like the area under the reinforcement ring on '68+ crank pulleys.

Thanks for the info OPH...
Any thoughts on the two example photos posted above? One restored car, the other is supposed to be an unrestored original example.

Interesting thread.... and good feedback as always from OPH (thx!).

Below are a few pix regarding the water pump pulley color/finish discussion. I have mostly only seen the black ones but have on occasion come across a silver cad one.

Note the silver pulley on this wrecked '68 GTO (HO or RA?). From a vintage Frame Repair book/article...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3078d6d3_o.jpg

This one is a '68 Firebird 350. Original/unrestored. Silver cad pulley...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5016746e_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9b731d3e_b.jpg

Here's a PMD promo pix of a '67 Firebird with silver pulley...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0b3c697a_b.jpg

I also have a lot of pix of survivor cars with black pulleys. Standard steering, PS, with and w/o A.C.

Possible explanations for different finishes:
- Different finish to distinguish between other part #'s? (there were 3 different in '68)?
- Mid-year change? Early build used silver cad, later builds used black?
- Supplier source difference? Plant usage difference? (water pump pulley was installed at vehicle plant, not engine plant)

Other than Jim Mino's '68 RAII Bird, I've never come across any gold dichromate W/P pulleys.

One of those mysteries.

Wasn't there some talk a while ago about the R/A pulley's being different & possibly these are the ones that are non painted? I forgot if the R/A pulley were designed to speed up, or slow down some driven accessories? Any relationship to the finish question of the WP pulley?

I am having déjà vu for some reason.

I know for a fact 66-67 ps cars had plated pulley. Manual steering painted. Here's a 30000 mile 66 we are working on.

There were 3 different part numbers in '68 for the waterpump pulley. None were specific to Ram Air.

Only RA engine that had specific pulleys were RA5.

Some RAs may have had HD cooling thus A/C pulleys. But that would be on any car with the option.

interesting, every time I think I know the black and white answer to something I find some gray!

I have had several 9786819 XF pulleys and they were all silver cad. I have replated 3 of them in zink and left one all original for reference. The other two types (w-A/C and manual steer) pulleys I have seen have been painted black.

Attachment 536193Attachment 536194Attachment 536195

Here is a super original 68 350 HO car that is a customer of ours, also no paint.

Attachment 536197Attachment 536198Attachment 536199

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Here is a scan from May of 68 Car Life, you can clearly see the contrast between the black belts and silver pulley. Also, note the Ram Air seal, it has been deformed by the hood. Looks to have a membrane on it like the Oldsmobile seals and how they deform to their hoods.

Attachment 536203Attachment 536204

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Exactly!!

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