So I'm thinking about how I wanna dress up my 31 coupe (which is slowly coming along....update pictures soon) and I got thinking about the whole plating and stainless thing. The chrome is super expensive and there arent alot of guys around here that do it, so I got thinking about electroless nickel. We use a place called Waukesha Metal Finishing for all of our real early motorcycle and car stuff...he does it for really cheap, and the quality is top notch. The stuff looks damn near exactlylike chrome except for the slight yellow tinge to it.... I personally like it, but I was wondering....has this ever been done before? ...and if I did it, would it be cool and radical, or gay and stupid. I'm thinking like grille insert, grilel shell support rods, maybe the carb bodies, all linkage, maybe brake lines...etc... So fantastic of fagtastic?
I personally wouldnt do it. I used to work at a chrome shop, and i think it would just end up looking like a bad or old worn chrome job. I used to nickle plate my cast exaust manifolds. it lasted longer than chrome and didnt blue like chrome. You never know you just might start a trend.
I nickle plated my headlight stands. I like the look. There is a 32 in Rodders Digest that has lots of it on the shiny bits
Nickle is awsome I think it looks earlier and more correct for an early car. I had a lot on my 33 and loved it!! I have it on the hinges in my kitchen and love it, It just looks different. FLIP
I want to nickel my whippet grille shell,someone told me it tarnishes like e.p.n.s. and needs constant polishing...is that right?? I dont mind polishing now and then,but every coupla days might be a drag.
I thought they always used nickel years ago, long before chrome came into 'vogue'. Looks more authentic agewise. Just keep a coat of body wax on it after you install it(unless its on your headers of course ) Paul
I say, "do it". I love the colour of nickel. It can't tarnish that quickly, isn't nickel content why stainless steel is "stainless"? I think nickel got phased out in favour of chrome in the late twenties, so not strictly period correct for thirties. (Who cares?)
SlowLearner, the main 'ingredient' in Stainless Steel is Chromium. This is where the stain 'resistance' comes from. There is some nickel present but nickel is prompt to corrosion. On my 1953 Schwinn Whizzer S4, I had the rear sheave nickel plated because I liked the yellow tint. It is now a pleasing shade of brown... Chrome is chrome because chrome is chrome...
I like Nickel - I think it looks a bit more like polished aluminum than chrome (which I like). It will require less maintenance than polished aluminum, but more than chrome...a compromise.
Nickle is a sublayer in most chrome applications. The nickle provides the "shine". Chrome is applied over the nickle in order to protect the nickle from tarnishing and to give it a harder finish. The very thin chrome layer is almost transparent by itself and cannot be improved by multiple layers. If you plan to leave nickle as your final finish then plan on frequent polishing and waxing. Ever thought about gold? Its not very expensive and you can either go with plating or gold leaf. It doesn't tarnish either. Of course if its the original look you're after then gold won't do. There's my 2 cents now go spend it
Gold. HaHa That will be the next craze in SoCal. Gold plated Rat rods. WTF? Germs' putting a Gold plated sbc in his Custom...... Nickle will rule if you use it right.............As with most of these type questions its not so much what you use, it's HOW you use it.
28-29 model A radiator shells were nickel plated and 30-31 were stainless. All the 28-29 I've seen looked pretty good, granted alot of them the plating was getting thin. Never seen anyone polishing them very often.
Will it work on headers too? How much cheaper do you suppose it'd be than chrome for say a standard set of headers? How would it compair to Jet Hot? -Bugman Jeff
[ QUOTE ] Nickle is a sublayer in most chrome applications. The nickle provides the "shine". Chrome is applied over the nickle in order to protect the nickle from tarnishing and to give it a harder finish. The very thin chrome layer is almost transparent by itself and cannot be improved by multiple layers. If you plan to leave nickle as your final finish then plan on frequent polishing and waxing. Ever thought about gold? Its not very expensive and you can either go with plating or gold leaf. It doesn't tarnish either. Of course if its the original look you're after then gold won't do. There's my 2 cents now go spend it [/ QUOTE ] Hit the nail right on the head with that one. We do a lot of nickle plating in the aerospace industry. Generally, it's only usuable application is it's high electrical conductivity in electrical assemblies. And most of the time it's plated over copper (also part of the chroming process) It's rarely ever used as a protective layer over any metal substrate, because it is highly corrosive on it's own. It will tarnish farily quick if left to the elements. The beautiful part about Chrome is that it is harder and it's pretty much hassle free.
Another cheap and "period correct" method is chromate finishing. It's a thin acidic chemical conversion layer that bonds to the base material. It's fairly cheap to have done, and it gives off a golden hue. It's not like gold plating. Think more on the lines of a brand new 97 carb. They have that gold tint to them. Another cheaper alternative to polishing and chrome plating is Electo Polishing. I'm not sure as to how this works exactly, but I think that the part is basically dunked in a bath electrically stimulated by electrodes that hit the part with multiple frequency ranges. I swear I didn't make that up. Anyway, the part comes out shiney. Not as shiney as hand polishing with compounds, or chrome plating, but it looks pretty nice.
Nickle is the source of the rich brightness in decorative chrome plating. The chrome coat is nearly transparent, and its function is to provide protection to the nickle. Few subjects in the car hobby are as misunderstood as plating. Here's a link to set you on the right path . . . http://www.nmfrc.org/crexpert.cfm FWIW, here's the result of seven-plus years of agressive hot-rod running with nickle plating, polished stainless, and polished aluminum -- without the "protection" of chrome on any exposed surfaces on this hot rod.
where I work they do nickle plating & i'm starting to plate things on my car, little shit like the carb linkage, etc. It looks really great, has a nice look to it.And the price is right for me,$0 !!! Jim
Yeah, the whole reasoning behind me wanting to nickel it is its cost effective for me personally, and I just dig it in general (when used on early stuff) but the general consensus seems to be try it. ...I guess I'll try something small and see how it goes. I figure if there isnt any chrome on it, there wont be anything else to compare it to....and since I'm running the 20+ year old faded laquer paint job, I think it might be pretty cool....the whole thing could be a nostalgia rod. It tarnishes up really bad though, in my experiance. So I guess it depends on what the part is used for....A speedo cluster wont tarnish as bad as an engine pulley or something... The electroless is hard shit too...and I've heard that if you dont copper coat it first, it wont blue up pipes....maybe its a myth? I dont know... It took a really long time for it to happen on one of my older motorcycles, so I guess it must be pretty good. So I guess I'll try it and post my results on here....I think if I keep it polished it should look damn near like chrome jonnycola
Nothing wrong with Nickel plate. If you use a pH neutral polish it won't oxidise too quick either. Electroless is pretty good but the finishing needs to be pretty damned good, it doesn't level like copper. If you buff our sand through to at least 800 grit electroless can look pretty good and it actually seals better and more evenly than electroplate. Some shops actually use electroless strike plates before they bright nickel, and I'm wondering about an electroless tank for my shop, it'll enable me to chrome pot metal. It won't be anything like as expensive as triple plate especially if you can do your own prep. Polishing it is easy as long as you don't let it get real bad.
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