1937 rocker arms

[DANPATCH]

Which of the rocker arms for 1937 have the larger numbers and were they nickle plated

[Steve Little]

Hi Dan. I have an original set but they are copper coated. The copper coating is applied before heat treatment and protects the metal that shouldn’t be hardened. Would the factory apply nickel when the arm already has a rust preventive coat.

[Chris Haynes]

As far as I know the first design rockers didn't have the copper plating.

[DANPATCH]

Hi Dan. I have an original set but they are copper coated. The copper coating is applied before heat treatment and protects the metal that shouldn’t be hardened. Would the factory apply nickel when the arm already has a rust preventive coat.

Thanks makes sense.

[Steve Little]

As far as I know the first design rockers didn't have the copper plating.

Hi Chris.
My thought is, whoever saw those arms probably saw some that had no copper coating left on them for whatever reason.
It would not have been possible to make a rocker arm without coating them and hardening the gasket areas and the valve contact pad of the rocker arm. If the whole rocker was hardened, the arm would break off.
I have some early rocker arms that have very little copper coating left. For the most part they don’t look like they had copper coating, but for the fact that small remnants of copper can still be seen in places. If you need pics, let me know.
Regards Steve.

[Chris Haynes]

Steve, I disagree with you. I have seen too many of the early nickle wash rockers for it to be the copper wore off. Manufacturing processes are always changing. How do explain that later rocker arms are not copper plated?