Should I restore my ignition shielding?

[Michael L.]

guys

I'm trying to decide if I should restore and reuse my ignition shielding on my 69 350/350. This car was very original and much of the ignition shielding was present when I tore down the engine. It is pretty rough of course but I'm sure a good plater can restore most of it. Looks like I can buy whatever is missing piece-by-piece. Im just a little concerned that if I restore it, although it will be original, the new chrome will not look like the cheap "flash" chrome that these pieces had from the factory. I'm just wondering if the re-pop stuff is good enough to make restoring this stuff not worth it. I've had pieces like this re-chromed before and the chrome looked "thick" compared to the factory chrome. I appreciate your thoughts.

Mike

[Patrick H.]

Re: Should I restore my ignition shielding?

I've found that most chrome places want to buff and polish the parts to look like show chrome. What this does is remove the tooling marks on the sides of the shielding so that they look far nicer than originals.

The reproductions don't have the same tooling marks, and the chrome is better than factory, but not as shiny as a replating job.

The only way to do it is to find a chrome shop that doesn't mind catering to a restorer who likes cheap appearing parts. In my case I buy pieces of shielding at swap meets over the years so that I don't have to worry about using rechromed or reproduction pieces.

[Edward J.]

Re: Should I restore my ignition shielding?

I agree with Patrick, re--chroming these pieces will result in pieces that are over restored, For C3 corvettes there are so many of these pieces that were removed early in life and are sitting in someone's basement. I had a neighbor that saw my car(72) outdoors one day and stopped by to take a look and he was tellingme he has a few pieces that he had removed from his 70 and 72 corvette and asked me if I wanted them, so I said yes, he has some of the lower heat shields and chrome shields, a NOS E/ brake center housing still in the Box and a like new chrome air cleaner top and bottom. Places like Carlisle has hundreds of these shields and Even E/Bay or someone in your chapter, these pieces are generally cheap.

[Thomas S.]

Re: Should I restore my ignition shielding?

If you want a correct restoration contact Richard Fortier. I had all of my shielding done by him and he will walk you through all of the details about what is and is not "correct". The plating process is key and you won't find anyone else that knows more than Richard about parts restoration. He advertises in Driveline.

[Mike F.]

Re: Should I restore my ignition shielding?

I would leave yours original and just buy some better condition originals on ebay or a swap meet. There are thousands available.

[Michael L.]

Re: Should I restore my ignition shielding?

Thanks for the advice guys. I will start hunting for some good quality originals.

[Jeff P.]

Re: Should I restore my ignition shielding?

Michael, this is just my 2 cents. I sent all my pieces out to librandis in Pa. I wanted to use all the original pieces I could. They are over-restored and look awsume. I will get points taken off when it's time to judge but I really don't care. Jeff.