Oh, interesting, thanks for the tip. I didn't expect them to look like CHROME, but do want them to look clean and shiny behind the stock chrome wheel ring.

I need to find a sacrificial piece to go in the oven tonight...

 

It might be the brand of powder they use, but it definitely was not reflective.
I wouldn’t even compare it to polished aluminum.
It would look nice on the rally wheels with the chrome and black.
One of the pieces I had them do was the clutch Z bar and here is how it came out.
Nice but not near chrome or polished stainless.

 

Cool, thanks for the picture. I didn't have much time last night to play with anything, but I'm hoping to get a chance today.

 

Mine was definitely more shiny than that. I decided to go with the two front brake shields.

Here's one dirty, one sandblasted:




Then the other (dirty in first pic) sandblasted and the clean (from the first pic) powdercoated in the "chrome". It's not what I'd call chrome, but it definitely has some shine to it. I'm planning to hit it with a second coat, but it was too cold to do it tonight.

 

Wondered about the second coat thing. I was thinking it may level off and smoothen the texture on some parts, as well as do what you said, which is to maybe bring out shine and luster. I have not delved into the available powder coating knowledge as of yet, so did not know that a second coat was even a thing/possible.

 

@DougUSMC Glory! Glory! Those parts are looking super nice.

 

Yeah, that's my hope too. With paint/filler I'd sand down to flatten a bit, then lay another coat over it. I need to do some research though, because I'm not sure if it works that way with PC?

TBH, the pitted areas are behind the rotor though, so even if it doesn't clean it up I don't really care!

 

I would try the chrome again on a nice smooth metal part to see how it comes out.
The rotor shield does look good.

 

I scuffed it up and did a second coat but the same thing happened. It almost looks like a crackle finish on the middle section. I'm not 100% sure why, but I'm suspecting the thinner metal is the culprit.

I spent the last few days cleaning up front suspension parts:





The before, during, and after on these just blows my mind!!




My lowers still have the rivets in them, so I'm hoping to knock those out today. I don't have too much time to work though, I'm taking a mig welding class at a local makerspace...

 

I bought a nice little Eastwood mig welder when I started this project, watched videos Eastwood offered and some You Tube videos to teach myself.
Then I bought a bunch for scrape pieces in different thicknesses and went to town welding.
It was fun to learn and now I have a new skill.
Have fun!

 

Why........Would you take the "Patina" off those Parts?

 

Thanks for the tip. That’s on my list of things to get knowledgable about. Watched a youtube vid where a guy bought a cheap welder on Amazon and had a pro welder put it to use. He was amazed at how well it worked. I just want to be able to weld up a few tabs, etc.
DougUSMC, those parts are coming out nice!

 

Dude, with the amount of patina I've been taking off this could be an antique from the 1800s!

I'll say that it was way more fun AND way more challenging than I thought it would be. Having someone to walk through all of the steps for understanding the intricacies (volterage, amperage, feed speed, etc) was cool, and made it easier to understand how to work the settings. It was also great to learn how different prep techniques can give different results and how different types and thickness of metal impacts welding. All of those things led to more questions, and more insight, and more things to practice.
There were two things that stood out as the biggest challenge for me:
1) The hood darkens so you don't go blind (duh). That makes it really hard to see what you're welding (duh). Both of those things are so obvious that I hadn't even considered them. I had a really tough time staying in the right place for my welds, and an even harder time with scale! I'd think I was on target laying down a 1/4" spot weld, but then I'd take off the helmet and realize I missed by a bit and the "spot" was really an almost 1/2 line.
2) Speed and the size and scale of movements is huge. It makes sense before you drop the hood, but all that goes out the window once the sparks go flying! I'd think I was moving nice and slow, and making tiny movements - then I'd see thin welds and big blobs.

Now I understand why so much practice is needed! Class was 3 hours, 1 of standing around talking & learning, 2 of practice welding. It was a great format that worked well, but I'll say I need a bunch more scrap and practice time before I think I want to start messing with the actual parts that I'm buying to replace the windshield. The good news is that I want to steal a great windshield template that I saw on the Midyear Mitch YT channel, and that should give me a good bunch of practice.
All in all it was a great experience, and I'm excited to practice and get better.

 

The best purchase I made was the Auto Darkening Helmet made by Eastwood.
When you drop the hood, it’s like daylight looking through the glass and when you start to weld it darkens in a few milliseconds.
You can adjust how light it is before and during welding, which really helps when you’re welding inside or outside.



I also bought a welder cart that holds the welder, the gas bottle and all my tools so I can roll it around anywhere I need to take it.

I did all the frame welds with gas and solid wire, but when I’m doing anything a little thicker I’ve been using flux wire without gas.
There is some splatter but it cleans up really easy.

One of Eastwoods videos I watched said to only weld small strips at a time at one location, then move to another location and weld there.
I found this was a great tip because it keeps the material from getting too hot and helps keep the material from warping.

I’m having fun with it and I’ve found it is pretty cool to break out the welder and make something I need.

 

Dude, how can you talk about all the fun new tools and only send us a pic of the box for the hood?? We want to see the whole cart!

I hear what you're saying about the hood. I had a chance to try two different ones, one that was light then went dark (like yours?), and the other that was dark to start and went light. I found the second to have better visibility once I started, but I'm thinking it's because I didn't spend enough (any) time adjusting the hood once the torch was lit up. I should have spent more time on that, but I was too focused on playing with the welds!

Yup, that's one of the things we covered in class. I'll admit that I was welding on some box stock for a while, doing 5-6 different welds before trying to pick it up to turn it to a different side. I was surprised at how much heat it was holding, even though I picked it up (with gloves on) a good 5-6" from where I was welding. It makes sense that the heat will travel across the metal, but I didn't think there would be that much OR that it would travel that far! I'm super glad I learned that lesson the easy way!

 

I’ll take a picture of the cart and post it up for you.
I was really surprised how much the steel would warp and so I find I move around a lot from one end of a piece to another.
I use lots of clamps and spot weld everything before I get down into it.

 

Cart as requested

 

Definitely going to be getting one of those auto darkening hoods. As a kid, I was in 4H a few years. We did a little welding. As mentioned above, the going from seeing whats in front of you, the flipping of the hood, the arc then giving you vision again (now your hands may have moved), then goes dark again soon as you back off… pretty darn fustrating. Guys who can do tight work without an auto darkening hood really have it figured.
I here what you are saying too about the moving around. Have heard that on a lot of the hot rodding shows, for the reason you mentioned, when they are doing their thing. Seemingly more important on thinner metals, like body panels. I think the initial tacs here and there also help to resist it. Can’t move as much with it at least slightly tied down here and there. Can’t wait to get into the welding stuff!

 

Dang man, you could eat off of any surface in those pictures! OCD? Been working on cleaning all my stuff up lately. Would be a very happy camper if it all looked like yours!!!

 

Wow, congrats, that's a good looking rig!

I hear you on the hood too, I really should have spent more time playing with the controls on the ones in the class. They had a few different ones, and it would've been nice to learn what works for me and what doesn't when I didn't have to pay for them.