Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Brown
Checked several shells (mine, Dad's, and a friend's) 6 of the 31 shells were stainless (non-magnetic) 1 was carbon steel, plated and magnetic. The attachment rivets also do not look as nice.
3 of the 30 shells checked were carbon steel and plated and one was stainless. All with original nice nice-looking attachment rivets.
Wonder if there was a change in the material later in production.
Most of these 31's do not look like they have ever been worked on, but who knows ?
Could the change to stainless might have been to save $ by eliminating the plating process, just stamp, polish, and install. But the cost of materials was likely more. Who knows, mysteries of the A  |
Thanks for looking. I don't really know the answer to your question. This is a great reason why it would be nice if the archives were open again. I have a running spreadsheet listing part numbers and questions such as this.
One thing that I would guess about the stainless units would have been they would not have been totally polished. Likely just the top because when they were installed, just the topside would likely have been polished. That is why you do not see areas like under the hood pad (lacing) is polished. That retainer would take a lot of effort to polish given all of the nooks & crannies.