I neede some advice on the chroming process for some new stromberg carbs I purchased. I brought them to a plating company, they copper plated them then nickle and chrome, the outside looks ok but the inside is a mess the chrome is bubbling and will take a long time to clean up 4 carburators. he said he could chemicaly strip and redo them. do they have to put the copper on them? is there a way to keep the insides clean in the chroming process?
depends on their plating chemistry. the shop i work at can not plate any thing but steel, brass, and copper. our cleaners will disolve other metals. sounds like a prep or cleaning issue. if they are willing to redo them it may be worth the time. just my .02. chris
If he says he can then get him to redo them. The last thing you want is pieces of chrome chipping off and going through your motor!!!
As a general rule carbs are not something you want to subject to the chroming process. Your experience is a good example. Better to detail them with paint, chrome the steel linkage and detail them with stainless fasteners. Frank
Im in the same boat I should chrome the pie wagon carbs ,lucky for me the two out side will be phonys.heres a pic of them chromed in the 60s
The plater has to make "masks" that will block off the guts of the carbs. I had my three Ford 94's on El Tiki done at Advanced Plating in Nashville. They came out great, no plating on the insides and work as good as they did before I sent them.
what do you make the mask from? I know on some parts they use electical tape but that would be a bit dificult on the inside.
When I had the supercharger done for the futurian, I made plates to block off the openings. ask your plater what to make them out of, If I remember correctly I made mine out of aluminum and used stainless hardware. you just need to trace out a gasket on sheet alum, trim to fit, add holes and bolt them on
It'd be best to talk to the specific plater as to how to the method required for masking off the necessary surfaces. Each may have a preferred method based on part geometry. Electrical tape probably isn't it.
Some platers do just like what you have said here Mark. Sometimes they will use pieces of intertube for gaskets with aluminum templates to get things sealed really good. They also use small cork plugs to keep the threads and orrifces from getting any plating in/on them. When we prepped the front axle for plating, we used wood plugs in the zerk fitting holes and machined pieces of polypropelyne on the spindle and wishbones surfaces and I.D.'s
I found rubber and cork plugs from mcmaster-carr for a reasonable price I think that will work on most of the carb and I can make covers for the rest
Yes, same process for the shaft openings. I did not have the base plates on my carbs done because I was looking for some contrast for all the chrome on the carbs and intake. Plus, the throttle shafts did not leak before and I was a little concerned they might after plating. While not cheap, I have to give credit at Advanced Plating for the work they did and to Tom Culbertson for putting them back together. We match marked all parts and bagged everything at disassembly. When everything came back, Tom set everything to nominal. We put the carbs back on the intake and the engine didn't spin a dozen revolutions and fired. We sync'd the carbs with a unisyn and it was a done deal.
As a plater and a rodder I never plate the main bodies regardless of masks or blockers,the cleaners and acids still get in and while not actually plating the insides b,they are eating away at threads ,idle tubes ,butterfly surfaces and fuel areas .they leak forever and wont idle properly .I do plate 94 and 97 bases nuts bolts screws and linkages,and holley fuel bowls.the polished shitmetal parts we cant plate we clear powdercoat
If I remember correctly, the plater who did my carbs on my Olds, said he used a kind of lacquer (?) to paint on portions you didn't want the plating to stick to. Regular solvent then washed it off after plating.
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