Restoring Under Hood Small Parts

[John K.]

I am in the process of doing a frame off restoration on my 1963 coupe. All of the under hood small parts are original to the car. They are 47 years old and look it. Has anyone used the Eastwood Tin-Zinc Electroplating System to restore those parts, such as hood latches, hood pins, throttle rod etc. If so, how is the finished product?


John

[Peter B.]

Re: Restoring Under Hood Small Parts

John,

I can't comment on the various plating systems, but this subject has been discussed a lot on the TDB including some great photos of results. Try a search of the archives for "electroplating". Have fun with your restoration.

Pete

[Jack H.]

Re: Restoring Under Hood Small Parts

The basic answer is yes, and you'll find quite a few posts in the archives on this topic. Home plating systems can/do work!

But, there's a learning curve associated with buying the equipment/chemistry and becoming proficient with it. Once you come down that learning curve, you'll find it ESSENTIAL for the quick turn around of one to two items.

But, in your case with a whole car to do, there' an economic tradeoff. Most plating shops that do cad or zinc work, price by the 'bucket'. You'll have enough parts (if you plan efficiently) to gather them all and make a single batch run through a professional plating shop. That'll actually be faster and cheaper than buying a home plating system and coming down the learning curve with it!

However, if you 'screw up' and forget one or two parts and have to have them plated separately at a later time, you'll wish you HAD bought that home plating system!

[Dennis C.]

Re: Restoring Under Hood Small Parts

I am in the process of doing a frame off restoration on my 1963 coupe. All of the under hood small parts are original to the car. They are 47 years old and look it. Has anyone used the Eastwood Tin-Zinc Electroplating System to restore those parts, such as hood latches, hood pins, throttle rod etc. If so, how is the finished product?


John

John,

I have done some plating with the Eastwood kit over the last several months. I recently plated C1 wiper transmission housings during a rebuild and an antenna main housing after replacing the nipple portion. I have found the Eastwood kit recreates the darker Cad plating fairly well.

The Eastwood kit comes with a battery holder for use with two D size batteries as the power source. This is some what limited.

I have just started experimenting with the Copy Cad solution from Caswell. I am looking to plate a handful of rear bumper bolts and thought I needed a slightly brighter finish then I was able to get from the Eastwood solution. I plan on using their brightener solution while doing the plating. I am also thinking about adding an adjustable power supply.

Look for some posts last fall from Jerry Fuccillo about plating and his carburetor restoration. Jerry posted some great information and I found his posts very helpful.

Good Luck.

Dennis