Restoring a 68 225 convertible and all the pot metal trim looks bad. Does anyone know a good shop (I'm in KY) that can replate this stuff? I would also like to have the grill done as well. TriCity Plating rechroming my bumpers for me, but they don't mess with the other. Thanks in advance for any help
You should be seated when you get quotes to have pot metal restored....I can tell you that AIH in Iowa charges about $200-225 per 70-2 Skylark headlight bezel and $150-200 per 70-2 Skylark hood trim. Expect them to take 3-4 months to get the parts done.
It might be cheaper to try and replace damaged pot metal pieces, with good 'used' ones that are in better condition. Pitted pot metal pieces require lots of prep work before they can be replated. That is why it is so expensive, and in some instances, some shops won't even attempt replating pot metal pieces! :TU:
My thought was to find replacements as well. I would even buy another whole donor car to get them. I already bought one donor just to get tilt column, AM/FM and a few other things. The problem is all the cars I've looked at have the same problem. The rear fender top trim that's about 8 feet long seems to be bad on all these cars. That's why I thought I might look into replating. Sounds like I need to keep watching and waiting! Thanks for the input.
Back in the late '80's I had a very reputable shop do the front end pot metal on my '67. They sat me down and told me that a good bit of the crisp detail and edges would be lost due to the need for heavy polishing. I had them do it anyway and paid a lot. The hood spear looked horrid afterwards but the headlight eyebrow & hood trim was worth it. Rather than go through it again I've been purchasing good used or NOS parts for less than a "high quality" replate. At least they warned me! Devon
I've used AIH for my front hood lip trim for my 71 and i was very pleased but it cost a little over 400.00 but well worth it and i believe they offer a warranty with there work.:Comp:
As I understand it the pit is due to internal metal defects gassing up, and to "ensure" it doesn't happen again each pit must be drilled out to "good" metal and then filled with braze. Then re-plated with loss of detail. Way too much labor now-a-days....look West for some replacement parts, rust-belt states are no help. And remember, a lot of salted cars moved out West in the 60-80's.
Sorry, is the pot metal those bits such as the hood spears on Rivieras??? and the windshield moldings??? etc
Pot metal is a nickname for the larger, heavier die cast aluminum parts like the hood spear. Windshield moldings are usually stainless steel which require no plating...they can be buffed. Devon
On Rivieras - the hood spear, most of the trim on the front fenders, and hood, tail light bezels, fuel filler door, sail panel emblems (if equipped), exterior, interior door/window handles, power window switch plates - all the rest of the trim is stainless steel, or chromed plastic pieces for the interior. Mid '60s buicks, and other GM models also had complete grills and rear end inserts, along with dash components, that were completely made from pot metal castings which did not stand up well in areas where salt was used for winter driving conditions. Pit marks must be drilled out, filled with copper, and ground/filed smooth before the pieces can be replated. That is why these pieces can be deformed or destroyed in replating attempts, in addition to the added expense, due to the time involved in preparing them for replating. In some cases, it is adviseable, and much less expensive to replace them with 'pit free' southern pieces that are in better condition - if you can find them at a reasonable cost ! Anybody got a 'pit free' right hand tail light bezel (without the vertical bars) for a '68 Riviera ? o No: Sorry for the long post. :TU:
Given the extreme cost to restore pot metal, you would think it would be more cost effective to cast new pieces. Fill in the pits of the old piece with wax or epoxy then use it to create a mold. Ever heard of anyone doing this, whether an individual hobbiest or paying a foundry that does small runs?
I know they repro small emblems, that are pot metal, and one of the members here does Buick centre caps and plastic inserts for ralley wheels (Mitch Romanowski). Not sure how many pieces you would have to sell to recoup setup costs, and some of the pieces are complicated, but it certainly might be worth looking into, given the high cost of restoring these pieces? :dollar: o No: :TU:
Can you do powdercoating with this type of metal? I was thinking about doing the same. Although, I'm not sure how much it would take to get the pits out of some of my pieces.
I was also thinking about trying the Eastwood Chrome paint over a smooth glossy black finish. I've got my big ol chrome air cleaner lid that's pretty rusty to try to finish too..
Check out jewelry shows- no joke! there are setups for casting and moldmaking and plating too. Google "making costume jewelry" for a start,\. Robert
The problem is shrinkage, so you can't necessarily use an existing part to create a new mold. Ideally you would take a perfect part, bolt it down to a CMM (computerized measuring machine). Measure the heck out of the part, then feed the 3D coordinates from the sample to a CAD program. With this you can scale the electronic model to accomodate part shrinkage during the casting process. You may end up doing this three or four times before the shrinkage is accurately compensated for. Once you have a 3D model adjusted properly, pay to have a rapid prototype created from the 3D model. Bingo, you now have a core model that can be used to create a mold. You still have lots of work to do with polish after the casting process though, plenty of opportunity to screw it up again I'm afraid! Then pay for plating. I wouldn't even want to think about cost. You'd have to have a pretty good market available to get your return on investment. Devon
I read about these guys in a British motorcycle magazine last year: www.dialpatterns.co.uk Just to give a flavor of what might be involved, a good friend of mine reproduced the factory in-dash tach housings for 63-64 full-size Chevs. These are die-cast. At a price of around $150 each, he had to sell about 100 to break even. Several others had the same idea, so now he has 2 competitors with the same part, and sales tailed off. He did break even, maybe even made a little, because he was first. Mark
