I have a nice shiny multi carb intake and I want to have some nice shiny carbs sitting on top of it. I have a bunch of the holley 94's that I was considering having chromed. I have searched out some of the chrome carb posts but most leave me still scratching my head. How many of you have chromed your carbs? Who did you have do it? Did they leak afterwards? How much did it cost? Did you do the linkage and everything? Is there any HAMBERs that offer this service? I am a mechanical dummy so if I could send off a pile of cores and get some nice shiny rebuilt ones back that work I would be a happy camper. I was thinking about having warbzz polish them up but I don't know how hard they would be to keep looking nice.
Why don't you clear coat them after Warbozz is done with them. That should hold the shine. Chroming is outragousley expensive. BB How about some updated pictures of the latest project.
A chromate dip is like dyeing an easter egg, but it also makes 'em shiny. Not chrome, but close. I'd do what Bob suggested over chromate any day, though. ~Jason
Plowboy, I have chromed strombergs and had no problems. Give Matt K a call. He will fix you up with chroming these at a resonable cost. You know ..Whiskeyrunner... I'll Pm you his work garage phone number. You can call him anytime.
If I am going to spend upwards of 400 a piece on carbs, they might as well be shiny. Especially wheh there are 8 of them. Ha Ha Ha I've been pissing away money like it is going out of style lately. I haven't been buying gold chains, just a lot of shiny and heavy things. Ha Ha Ha Bob, I really wish I had pictures of something to show. I just have a very large pile that keeps getting larger and more expensive. I need to finish the "Hag" first. Do you hear that giant sucking sound? That is my credit card every time I open my garage door. I did get an interesting gift the other day. I was "The Cisco Kid's" best man in his wedding this past weekend. He gave me this plastic sack that was clinking around. What was in it? A Terraplane hubcap and some 39 Lincoln Zephyr taillight bezels. What a pal! That sure beats a goofy coffe mug or something gay like that. Ha Ha Ha
bill hasn't run his yet, so i can't comment on leaks, but the grinder marks sure are obvious with the plating...
I rebuilt Strombergs and Holley's for several years and can tell you plating them is difficult.They do polish up nice and are easy to take care of with a little Neverdull once in a while ( available from Mother's Polish)
I have chrome Holleys. The place I've been using doesn't to copper, nickel & chrome.... just nickel and chrome, so they don't turn out as nice. The good chromer around here still won't price the job, but I'm gonna get it out of them for my Strombergs! Anyways... no leak, but I've had some get slightly mishapen from something during the process. I have linkage from NWSpeed, so it's all stainless, but the arms are cast alum, yes everything is gonna end up at the chrome shop. I was gonna chrome the choke linkage and junk, but I decided to not run a choke. If you can't find anyone to chrome/rebuild... shoot me a PM, I can do 'em, given that they're good rebuildable carbs.
plowboy, you've seen the 57 plymouth at the pileup and other events. it belongs to a guy here in hammond, paul. he has chromed rochesters now i believe, but he had chromed strombergs on the 50 merc he owned before. i don't recall him ever having any issues with either car. he is a perfectionist. i know he sent some parts back because of pitting in the chrome. he had someone other than the usual guy do the carbs. as you know, he chromes everything, dash, fenderwells and just about evrything else under the hood. i can get a name from him if you'd like.
Hey Silent Rick... can you PM me the name of the chromer he uses?? I'm really picky, but with the carbs, I've learned to look past slight pitting etc b/c I always thought chroming carbs was a one shot deal.
FWIW, I would never buy strombergs that have been chromed. There's just something I don't like about the idea. I would however look at buying ones that had been polished. The chrome 97s I already have (bought as part of a job lot) can't be redone as far as I'm aware. They're wall decorations now.
Here's old photo of my 57Ford with chrome carbs done in the late 50s any information would now be out of date,but you can enjoy the photo anyway---RIGHT? TWOCHOPS
I have 4 or 5 chromed 97s. all were done in the 50s? The chrome won't change the surface it adheres to. That's why you have to polish the metal before you chrome it. It's not like you dip the carb into a vat of molten metal that flows into every nook and cranny. You don't have to worry about the chrome plugging small holes. It's very hard to get chrome into nooks and crannys on hood ornaments etc. If the gasket surfaces are smooth and leak free to start with, they will remain the same after plating. I had Jerry Jobe rebuild my carbs in the early 90s. I had one plated carb but needed two. He had plenty of chromed cores back then. He had a hard time finding unplated ones for his restorer customers. I'm thinking that might have changed since then.
Different metals reflect light differently, so aluminum will never be just like chrome- not as drastic of a difference as silver compared to gold, but they will have different reflectivity. I'm looking at try out some of English Custom Polishing's line of polishes (Polisher here on the HAMB). They're an Alliance vendor and the products they have sound pretty amazing. I think it will be possible to get them so bright that they will be able to mimic chrome pretty well. Keeping them that way though might be tricky without a clearcoat.
Finish what you're already getting with our products and you'll be quite amazed. Not only at the finish, but how long it lasts. Choming carbs is hellish expensive if you want a good job done and the problems it can cause is unreal. I won't do them. Most shops that do plate them only nickel/ chrome. Using copper is a bitch and causes even more problems. I would buy old chrome ones, if the plating is in good shape. I might even buy over the counter, if I was allowed to really check them out before I paid. But I won't even try to chrome my own. I just polish them out. It's fast, it's easy to maintain and looks good. You can email me if you need any info, or check out my site at www.englishcustompolishing.com If your running a website you should seriously consider linking to mine, I'm all over google and most search engines. It'll help your rankings and you can pretty much go anywhere within the site.
Thanks guys! It looks like I may go the polish route then. Warbozz, I will get a hold of you after I figure out what parts out of the 15 94's I have are going to get used. I may go ahead and have all of the shafts chromed on them though. I am still undecided about that.
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