117 Engine Dress-Up

[Strife]

Over the last few months, my car was down waiting for some stuff to come back from chrome plating ,and I took advantage of some fairly nice weather to get it going again. I also polished numerous parts, like the water pump, alternator (upgraded it to 80A along the way), and alternator arm. It will never be in a concours now, but I like it. The thumbnail has size limitations; better pix are on a link to my MB web page.

Along the way, I had practiced on my old OEM water pump, with 82K miles on it. It wasn't leaking when I had replaced it. It came out pretty well. If anyone wants this, PM me (free+shipping). No warranty, not leaking, might leak tomorrow, might leak in 50K miles...

[Roncallo]

Strife

Can you tell me what parts you are having rechromed. I having a difficult time identifying the platings used on different trim pieces. My understanding is that most of the trim is anodized aluminum, but it looks like the trim aroung the trunk lock and above the tail lights is chrome as well as the rings around the headlights. I also think the side view mirror housings might be chrome. Performance Producct sells stainless steel bumber covers, so I wasnt sure if the original bumbers are stainless or chrome. As my car is right now I want to get all the trim above the tail lights and trunk lock re-chromed and everything else re-polished or re-anodized if possible. Also can you give me a hint as to cost of re-chrome verses part replacement.

John Roncallo

[Strife]

My exterior chrome is in good shape and doesn't really need rechroming, although the chrome pieces where the hardtop pins go are scratched a little. I've buffed quite a bit of the anodized almuinum on the car, although the windshield area had pits that were very deep and I'm replacing those pieces (along with the windshield). The original front and rear bumper covers are stainless steel and respond to buffing (with special stainless steel compound) very well, although eventually I'll have to replace the front because of a few dents. THe cover on top of the windshield is stainless also, but I replaced it (with great difficulty) due to dents from the PO, not scratches or corrosion.

I had some engine parts plated, namely, the accellerator servo bracket, the front engine lift, the alternator support arm, the heat shields, the alternator pulley+fan, the P/S pulley, and the water pump pulley. I took the opportunity to "re-regulate" the (upgraded, used) alternator, and to replace the rubber on the servo mount.

The water pump and top outlet/thermostat cover, alternator, valve covers, alternator support mount, distributor, fan, and air cleaner are aluminum and I buffed them on a buffing machine and/or drill with the details done with a cable-operatred dremel-type tool and small buffing "bits". I would not recommend ever attempting polishing the fan! Some of the abovementioned parts are very easy, and some are very difficult due to the roughness of the casting, shape, etc.

The lid the power steering pump is probably zinc, and polished up incredibly well. I wanted to put it on a lathe, but I don't have one; I basically screwed it onto a drill press and sanded it before buffing to smooth it out. This would up looking like it was chromed, and you can shave in it!

I got a very good and possibly not repeatable deal on the chrome. It's pretty laborious to buff and polish bad pieces; it takes extra copper plating steps to fill in corrosion. I bought new heat shields for this reason - the old ones weren't in great shape. And removing old chrome is a difficult and expensive step; I didn't have to do this with my engine pieces. So, it might be a tough call. Also consider that you don't get "48-hour service" from chrome platers - your car will be down for a while (in my case, ~1.5 months!). I purchased spares (where possible) to have plated, but still, I couldn't find/afford spares of everything.

[Roncallo]

Thanks for sharing your experiance.

John Roncallo