VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 NOS Vacuum Shift Canister

Should the body be painted black

Black?????Or Natural

Chef............

I think nobody knows.........

Here's my take on it for what it's worth.
If, as you say, this piece is NOS and it was on the shelf in a Chevy garage, that's the way it would have gone on the car if you went in to have it replaced.

On the other hand, on my Aero, I painted it black (with POR15) to keep it from rusting any more than it was.

My 2 cents worth...........(but that's from a guy that pulls up on the door handle to get out of the car)

Double C,

It is my understanding that it should be natural.

Charlie

the one I am replacing is also black..The canister is atually aluminum so no rusting...I would be interested seeing how there must be many out in the VCCA world...Any thoughts on this matter..I have been looking for a long time for a NOS unit,hopefully no air leaks!

Can't imagine why it would have been painted. It cost more money to paint and would not improve the function or lifetime.

Bruce, let me pick at you a little Dyslexia? SORRY! I don't know the answer either. I do not believe that it is aluminum. A magnet sticks to it. Mine was left natural and is showing very small spots of rust as Ken said. I looked through all my file pictures and found a shot of one on a '47 and it appears to be black. But it could be covered in 60 years of gunk.
? does the "boot" go on the inside as shown in the picture or perhaps the outside? Asking??

No aluminum canister on this one.....



That's my spare before I cleaned it up and painted the canister part of it black.

Right about the aluminum,I just tested mine and it appears only the top is not magnetic...I think it will be painted
The boot goes outside on the indentation on the canister top..A bear to get on

Don't forget, paint/primer doesn't just "stick" to aluminum, as it would to steel...

Good point Kevin,I beleive only the front of the canister is aluminum and would only be paintg the rear body
What is the trick for painting aluminum??

Chef,

Here's how I painted mine......just the steel cannister part.

The "front" is cast aluminum or maybe pot metal and really doesn't need painting (IMHO)........





This is the same one in the previous photo.

BTW..........Chef, you are correct about putting that boot on. It's like putting socks on a rooster

ken so you did some painting yesterday?

Ken,

If you were going to paint it anyway, against all advice to the contrary, why not metallic grey? It would have been protected as well as being near the right color/shade.

Of course, painting it was your call but I just wondered why black?

I can imagine that Steve wonders why you failed to recognize an opportunity to have it chromed.

Best,
Charlie

In the case of Aluminum, it has to do with the oxide that forms on the surface that causes the problem. Ideally, you should etch the surface first, and also do some research on a compatible paint for the environment in which it will be used...

Bruce,
Ha, no I painted that a while back. The first picture of the rusty canister is quite old and shortly after I took it is when I cleaned the unit up a little and painted it. So it has been on my "extra stuff" shelf for a while now.

Charlie,
No particular reason for using black except that I had the black POR15 out to paint some other items to prevent further rusting. I suppose I could have used silver POR15 which actually looks metallic grey and now that you've mentioned it, maybe the next time I have the silver POR15 out, I'll paint the canister with that.

Chrome, huh? Not for a part under the car Charlie. Too much trouble to climb under there to keep it shiney

I realize I'm kind of late to this party, but I don't think I've ever seen an original canister painted. Not sure what that canister is made of, but they just didn't seem to rust that much. Not sure why...

Is it possible that they were cadmium plated?

This unit being factory installed.Is it posible that is was painted prior to insallation,like othe parts were???BTW these units were produced by Bendix Aviation

My observation is that many parts that were out of sight were not painted. It is particularly the case if the part was either plated (for chassis items often Zinc instead of cadmium) or in an area out of direct water splash.

Don't most of these parts get 'undercoated' by a leaky rear mail seal and road grime anyways?

You got that right

I ran across this thread while searching for Vacuum Advance information. I installed an NOS Unit on my convertible and it was natural in color, see pic. I cleaned it up and painted it with clear satin paint. This is a trick I learned from a friend. By doing this it keeps this original nature look without making it shiny and gives it a protective coat that is unnoticeable.



I have a few used spares and all are natural color, I believe that to be correct, just me though.....

Good information on the finish of the vacuum unit. Thanks Johnny.

Also a good tip about using clear satin paint to keep 'em protected and looking good.

I have 3 used vacuum servos, 2 appear to have had no paint, one has remnants of black paint.I would at least clear coat it or paint it black.