Re: Larry's 1951 Club Sedan Project

Posted by Larry51 On 2013/12/26 7:07:08

(Trying to make up for my very poor 'posting performance' of late(!))


Zinc and Nickel Plating

Been doing some Zinc and Nickel plating again. I last plated parts over 2 years ago and it was time to do a lot more as I put the car back together.

There's going to be another couple of plating sessions sometime future because there are still many small parts that need to be done.

Despite all the cleaning, buffing (and then more cleaning) involved it's a rewarding job when you see the results.

I was given 20 litres of the best Nickel 'Watts solution' and Nickel anodes etc some years ago by a professional plater. So the results are really good for the Nickel plating. The only tedious part is keeping the bath at 65degrees constantly for around an hour. A 1500W immersion heater and a water bath does the trick.

Before plating the instrument cluster surrounds I removed the old chrome in an electrolysis bath (Caustic Soda / Lead anode).

The instrument cluster looks ok but some time I'll try and get a better one as there is a bit of pitting in places on the one I have.

Cleaning up an instrument cluster


Getting old chrome off in a bath


Troublesome power supply trips out when started (design fault)


Built a circuit to prevent the trip-out (soft start)


Bumper bar bolts and door handle bezels to be Nickel plated


Nickel plated bolts


The Watts Nickel plating setup


Handbrake lever Nickel plated


Handbrake mechanism Zinced


Dozens more small parts were done . . . . It's tempting to plate loads of parts that were originally painted (just for the glam), but I resisted the temptation, not wanting to end up with a car that's not to original spec.