Ignition shielding flash chrome revisited

[Jeffrey S.]

A few weeks back there was a rather long thread dealing with the meaning of "flash chrome" and how it was used on ignition shielding. At the time the consensus was that those pieces received no copper but got nickel and chrome only. I am in the process of restoring my original shielding lid for my '69 and part of the process is to strip the old chrome from the bare lid. I submersed the part in a solution of 1 part sulfuric (battery) acid 3 parts water and used an electrostripping process in which I reverse the polarity of DC power so that the piece becomes the anode and a piece of scrap steel becomes the cathode. What I discovered was that the nickel/chrome was very thin-it was removed within minutes and under that was a layer of copper. Apparantly the part WAS "triple chrome" plated even though the nickel and chrome was very thin.
Jeff

[Patrick H.]

Re: Ignition shielding flash chrome revisited

A few weeks back there was a rather long thread dealing with the meaning of "flash chrome" and how it was used on ignition shielding. At the time the consensus was that those pieces received no copper but got nickel and chrome only. I am in the process of restoring my original shielding lid for my '69 and part of the process is to strip the old chrome from the bare lid. I submersed the part in a solution of 1 part sulfuric (battery) acid 3 parts water and used an electrostripping process in which I reverse the polarity of DC power so that the piece becomes the anode and a piece of scrap steel becomes the cathode. What I discovered was that the nickel/chrome was very thin-it was removed within minutes and under that was a layer of copper. Apparantly the part WAS "triple chrome" plated even though the nickel and chrome was very thin.
Jeff

I have several originals here, and there is often a bit of a thin copper layer noted on various locations of the inside of the vertical shielding. At least, it has that copper appearance and I'm not sure what else it would ever have been. Unfortunately it's virtually impossible to get a good picture of it.

Patrick

[Dennis A.]

Re: Ignition shielding flash chrome revisited

I only know of trim mouldings being "flash Chrome" plated.... Ignition Shields seemed to have much more shine...