Hi all,
Does anyone know of what material is made the radiator grille of a 240 '67?
I am sure it is not steel as I tried a magnet on it.
Cheers,
Nassos

 

brass?

 

with a name like that,
what lambretta have you got.

 

I used to have almost ALL the models. But I broke my collection recently as I am mostly interested in cars now.
But I am still keeping quite a few of them including moped48, C, LD, j50, vega75, S1 frambreather, S2 Rallymaster, S3 TV175, S3 Li, S3 Special, GP200, S2 TV175 (I am not sure if I remembered all of them)
I got ride my TV200 and SX200 as well as some more TVs I used to own. The needed so much of my precious time and my son is not able to ride with me since he is so young.
I prefer to focus in my cars, as I do enjoy them more than my scooters and bikes, since my 3yo son can join me

 

It is certainly brass or bronze. Probably with the zinc content fairly high & maybe some tin etc. (from preparing my S type grill for fit & alignment & doing minor repairs prior to chroming ~ we asked for it back after stripping off chrome to improve fit to the aperture in the car body & get vane alignment correct ~ many Jag grills don't fit the body well & have poor vane spacing). It is fortunately not Mazak like the boot/trunk lid plinth & tail lights which pits badly.

 

The grill surround and fins are of brass, with the fins silver-soldered into position. The assembly is then polished and chrome plated.

The separate central divider that holds the badge is made of Mazak, (or Zamak in the USA, I think). This is essentially 95% zinc and around 4% aluminium with the rest Copper and Magnesium. Once in very common use in the motor industry for light plinths and chrome trim, the modern car has very little of it on display, but there are still lots of electrical parts using it. For restorers, it can be hard to re-plate.

 

Interesting. Is the Mk2 centre vane in Mazak a point of differentiation between Mk2 & S Type? I know the surround & centre vane are larger on a S Type. The badge surround & centre vane on my S Type had noticeable copper content unlike Lucas made parts in Mazak such as the rear boot lid plinth & tail lights.

We might be discussing points of definition of what Mazak is here. ("monkey metal" or "funny metal" in the UK plating trade parlance) or when is brass actually brass. LOL! I'm always interested in learning.

 

in the US they call it "pot metal". It pits like crazy and cannot be rechromed.

 

well if there's any you don't need would love to have a GP200/TV200/SX200 here in the UK to ride,
David.

 

The Brits rechrome it & so do we but it is not easy. Definition is very easily lost. You need multiple copper coats to repair pits or some of the new chromeable fillers.

 

Apparently it's called pot metal because they chuck a load of random soft metal in a pot and melt it down to pour into moulds. it's a crapshoot what metal you get and how chrome-able it is. Alvin lab-metal is supposed to be good for filling pinholes pre chroming but haven't tried it for that yet.
Metal Filler for ElectroPlating

(Hi Jose, I'm lurking here researching a 61 mk II basket case project I may take on)

 

Snap ~ we posted at exactly the same time. Great minds think alike ~ we won't contemplate the alternative. LOL!

 

I use lab metal a lot, good stuff! Don't know about the other fillers for chrome. I did put some lab metal patches on something I powder coated and it worked perfectly.
Was hoping someone else would give me some feedback on how labmetal does under chrome before I spend money on finding out...

 

I don't know the brand of filler my platers use. Looks like sintered brass & certainly works perfectly under the chroming process.

 

I believe chromers use sintered brass suspended in some sort of bonding agent to patch holes, that might be a good idea to mix in with labmetal. I know a concern with fillers is that they will cook off and bubble up under the chrome.

 

The stuff I've seen used was to do minor dent filling, & pit filling prior to chroming ~ cold process whatever it is.

 

Oliver, there is nothing like a 1961 MK-2 basket case to guide someone into bankruptcy. Find one already done and drive it home.

 

haha - I don't do 'already done'. I did say 'researching' not pulling trigger though. There's a straight california body and most of trim, and I have so many spare engines and other parts already was contemplating Frankensteining it all back together. Interior is a problem though, I can see how spendy that could get...