Electrical panel : Ground/Neutral bus bar question

May be, it wasn't clear but I am trying to replace Aluminum Ground/Neutral bar with Copper and I am finding hard to match mounting holes etc. My question is, can I buy ILSCO N174 ( or alike) and drill hole ( at wire hole) to match with mounting position at panel ? Is it worth the effort ? The main bus on my panel is Silver plated Copper.

Thanks

Hi Jim,
It is always educational to read your response. I takes me an hour to read/understand your post and additional couple of hours to reply :-) I surely appreciate your feedback.

CH panel CMBE4242B200BTS uses part no. N-8108-86 , catalog no. NBAE-0924-2 , which tin plated aluminum (6061-T6) for ground/neutral bar.
http://www.ilsco.com/documents/PDF/TechnicalDrawing/N8108.pdf.
I still don't know the whether the bus is AL or 6061-T6.

"Food for thought, the CH 200 amp main breaker in the panel has mechanical lugs made of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy"

I didn't know that, thanks for info.

It seems , my goal of having a all copper panel is unrealistic. Every panel ( including QO) uses 6061-T6 extensively, this alloy is 43-45% conductive compared to copper.

Thanks Cdrc. I am using copper SE cable & 4 AWG solid copper GND wire terminated to 8 feet solid copper bar ( about 50 feet from Main panel) and to water mains. I have bought Cardas in wall AC for two dedicated circuit, 10/2 romex for subwoofer, 10/2 as spare. My outlet are Oyaide R1 with wallplate. Lugs in my meter are copper, not aluminum ( special order from Flexcenter).

I am sort of disappointed that I couldn't get all copper panel anyways , knowing that AL is just 40% conductive to copper.

I wish I could post picture on Audiogon to expain my situation further. Lug for GND ( where 4 AWG attaches in the panel) can accept copper and AL ( it is 6061-T6) and GND strap which connects to GND/NEUTRAL bus bar (BSSUSE Bonding Strap) is also 6061-T6. Ideally, I should be able to replace GND/neutral bus with N174 copper bar.

Again since bonding strap is also 6061-T6 ( Tin plated), copper bar screw to it, should not cause any harm. I am bit skeptical/reluctant after Jea48 comments.

Here is picture of the panel that I discussing about
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131393447@N08/17442124326/in/shares-S47X7U/

In my opinion ( as an circuit engineer), if the resistance is introduced in source path ( breaker contact, OR main distribution bus) or return path ( to GND via Ground/Neutral AL bus), it is bad. It is definitely worse in return path since all the current from refrigerator/washer/dryer/oven and all electrical appliances are dumped into this. Having this path as AL instead of CU is not the best.
Sure, according to NEC perspective, it is enough to carry current ( whatever rating it is designed for ) but it is definitely not desirable from audio application.

This is response that I got from eaton

My question

Hi,

Can I replace neutral/Ground (Tin plated aluminum) in
CMBE4242B200BTS panel with ILSCO copper bars ?

Thanks

Reply from Eaton

Since it’s a service entrance panel, the neutral/ground is bonded, so I don’t see any issue with changing to a different ground bar. However if any inspector noticed the difference and called you out on it, we don’t have anything official documentation to back you up in doing this. So I would suggest you hold onto the original neutral/ground in case the inspector says you can’t change it.