Been spending the last week or so cleaning and painting parts. Again I ended up painting some of the parts that were originally nickel plated. They look good to me and I could always plate later if I decided to.
There are a bunch of parts that where chromed during the rebuild in the 60’s. Most of the chrome is not original but I was able to clean them up to the point where I’m going to use them as is. You can see in the pics that the chrome pitted quite allot during the bikes slumber. I was amazed at how well they cleaned up though. Not perfect but very usable. Hard to believe that’s the same part in the last two pictures.
1931 Indian 101 Scout Rebuild 
For the amp.meter, as there is only a paper washer between the glass and bezel, they tend to leak in water. The thin magnet inside will rust badly and swell until it crack and split, so a good idea is to rust proof the details inside and seal the glass/bezel gap with some silicone.
LikeLike
It’s interesting that you say that. The paper gasket was almost completely gone on mine. It was basically just some leftover residue so I did silicone it.
LikeLike
The switch body is made of early bakelite where the bulk consists of lint. The body is sealed with some lacquer or maybe the production method does seal the outer surface. However, when the surface is damaged, water is absorbed by the lint and the body will crack. A good idea is to reseal it with some clear lacquer.
LikeLike