M25 and M75 small parts finish help needed

[bellbigdawg]

palmers book states that 1941 linkerts have a mixture of cadium plated and nickle plated parts. does anyone know what ones were nickle, and which were cadium? need to know for 1941 knuck M25 and M75 restoration.

[T. Cotten]

Bellbigdawg!

On '40 and '41 models,
I often find nickel gallery plugs, idle bleed plug, LS spring collar, float pivot caps and drainplug, SV bowlcaps, and OHV choke cam (which I believe remained nickel for many years.)
Nickel floatvalves and LS liftlevers were certainly probable, as Indian models show them, however I have not yet found enough on an "unmolested" assemblies for certainty.

....Cotten

[bellbigdawg]

are the nuts and screws cad plated or parkerized? proper finish for the throttle lever and choke stepped stop?

[T. Cotten]

are the nuts and screws cad plated or parkerized? proper finish for the throttle lever and choke stepped stop?

BBD!

I have never been convinced that any Parkerized hardware was applied to L&L carburetors.
(Aged cadmium can become nearly black.)
So it is my presumption that anything that was not nickel was cadmium.

And very poor cad at that!

.....Cotten

[T. Cotten]

Here's another sampling on the Silver era of Linkerts '40-'42:

This near-NOS M741-1 is probably a later production, as it is stamped with a one-piece stamp.741DTAIL.jpg

(Ignoring the modern cotterpin),
Note that it has a nickle "wash" lift lever, bright nickel idle bleed plug, a cad lift spring, and cad everything else including apparently the gallery plug.
Gallery plugs inside were nickel.
The knobs were so thinly plated they may as well have been raw. The screw in the LS knob retained its cad much better than the knob.
The throttle lever screws also retained plating well, whereas the throttle lever only retained plating upon its shielded underside. The nickel "wash" and poor cad are so similar after so many years that I still reserve the right to change my mind on what is what until I get them under a scope.

Ordinarily I find thick LS spring collars on this vintage of Indian Linkert.
It is my deepest belief that the folks that put these together grabbed out of mixed bins, or took what was handy, and that assigning any mythical ideal to production standards would be irrational.

....Cotten