Mark G

Just got my parts back from being re-plated (see pics). I sent a box stuffed with parts and bolts mostly for the 81 and a few parts for other vehicles I'm working on. About half and half silver/gold, mostly from the engine compartment. I couldn't be more thrilled with the results. The plating quality exceeded my expectations. The silver is almost as shiny as flash chrome! Way better than painting, which is what I've done on past proj's. Becuase the parts are acid dipped, no need to blast ...and, more importantly, (to me anyway) the factory tooling marks and sharp stamping edges have been preserved. The main thing is it saves me a lot of money because I disassembled the hood light, some carb solenoids, fittings, and put in new alternator brushes, etc. The other thing is I wanted to retain the original bolts with their markings, etc. I know it's only an 81, but to me these items will give the engine compartment a nice touch. I highly recommend Steve Gregori @ http://www.brakeboosters.com. His prices were reasonable and he did exactly as he said. I will definitely use his services again.

Also had him rebuild the brake booster.



Before and after:




Emission hose clamps are original Whittek and look great again. I also had the screws for stainless worm clamps plated:


Mark G

bmans vette

VERY NICE !!!!!
Bman

dbeall1968

Aw, Crap. Now you have me re-thinking my whole plan. That looks beautiful.

rudolph schenker

Very nice indeed!

GPGG70

Me Too. Very nice job.

Mark G

Here's a pic of the alternator with the newly plated pulleys. It freshens it up. It worked fine before, was a fairly low mile rebuild but very dingy looking from age. It was disassembled, cleaned, blasted, painted and new brushes ($2). The housing bolts and rear post are new as well ($1). Sounds like a lot of work but it wasn't. FYI, you can buy alternator parts (and lots of other parts) real cheap from National Automotive Wholesale (Shelbyville, IN). Gotta get their catalog (not online yet). They sell a lot of obscure items.



Mark G

Bruthish

wow very very nice!

Leung

NICE!

Mark G

I forgot to mention the costs:
Silver: $110
Gold: $110
Booster: $170 -ish

I thought that was a good price given that I didn't have to spend any time blasting. Everything was degreased and paint-free. I didn't really want to invest the time in home plating at this point with work and kids (maybe future). I know I could have bought a new booster for less, but I wanted the original Delco one with all the right numbers. For shipping USPS is the way to go. It's all you can fit in the box, regardless of weight. The booster didn't fit in a USPS box. Then there was shipping back to me.

My parts were pretty rust-free. Any rusty areas don't look that great as the plating is more 'frosty' due to the texture. You'd want to grind/sand any pitted areas.

Cheers,

Mark G

eagle275

wow, that's nice! Thanks Mark!

7T1vette

Those look fantastic!! I don't know that I would have the 'guts' to remove all the fasteners at one time and have any hope that I could get them back in the correct hole! Great tip on the vendor. Your car will look better than new when you're done.

69Vett

please list whom did the nice plating work,
its hard to find quality workmanship anywhere.
thanks, 69VETT

Mark G

I had Steve Gregori @ http://www.brakeboosters.com. do the plating. His contact info is on his web page. Actually, he doesn't "DO" the CAD plating himself, he primarily restores brake boosters, but he can perform a variety of plating types as his web page indicates. In this case he sends the parts out to a commercial plating outfit. I should add that a fellow C3 member recommended him on this forum ..and a few other platers.

I called a number of places in the state and a few in IL just across the boarder prior to going with Steve. What I found is most commercial plating companies don't want to mess with small batch-type stuff. One outfit that would quoted me a pretty high price because they have someone sort and catalog the parts, then resort afterwards to ensure that all the nuts/bolts/washers are there to prevent unhappy customers. Another place was more reasonable but they sand blasted all the parts prior to plating. That would have ruined my small sheet metal parts and hose clamps and removed the original look and tooling marks on the parts. The finish would have been more textured. Another private guy glass beaded the parts. That adds labor $$ and, again, not what I wanted with the finish.

Steve has the parts 'diped' meaning they are chemical stripped. That's a gentle way to do it. His prices were also very reasonable. Plating outfits will work with guys that do regular plating volume. It's kind of hard to get an estimate. I laid the parts out and sent him pictures. He didn't give me a quote (w/o seeing them first hand) but he gave me a 'budget' number. I thought that was fair enough.

It's worth noting that the pi$$ poor economy has created a situation where some platers that aren't busy are considering jobs they wouldn't have taken on in the past just for cash-flow. So you might call in your area.

Mark G