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MG MGB Technical - Frost Plating Kits

I am working to get my MGB up from condition 2 to condition 1 and I am trying to get all those rusty nut, bolts and set screws looking a lot better. Rather than taking them all down to the local platers, I have seen the Frost plating kits and they seem like quite a good idea. Has anyone had any experience of these?

Cheers, David.
David JM

David. I used a kit from Plate and Paint in WA when I was doing my Magnette. I got good results in the end, but the cleaning and preparation is a long hard task. everything has to be spotlessly clean. Lots of sand blasting and polishing and de-greasing is required.

The actual plating is easy. Basically all you do is put the item in the solution and apply the correct power to it and it plates itself.

I used copper plate first then nickel, but the copper is only to get a very high shine on the metal before the nickel goes on. With nuts and bolts you probably wouldn't need to copper plate first.

I worked out in the end that it would have been cheaper to buy all new nuts and bolts and have the other items plated by a pro.

Tony
Tony Oliver

Tony. Nickel will not plate directly to steel. Hence, the parts must be copper coated before plating with nickel if an electrical process is to be used. Electroless nickel plating can be done, the only form with will plate nickel directly to steel, but it is an expensive process to set up for one time use.

There are several of these small plating kits available. They work fairly well for small parts, but poorly for larger parts. If one only has some nuts and bolts to plate, and does not count time as a factor, such a kit might work out well.

Les
Les Bengtson

Les, you are so right. I forgot that bit. Copper first nickel second. In my defence it was two years ago and I have had one or two glasses of good Australian red wine since then.

Cheers
Tony
Tony Oliver

David, if you don't care about originality, why not use stainless steel fasteners ? With a flapper wheel in an angle grinder or a linishing disc, you can remove the lettering off the top of the bolts & polish them at the same time which gives them a "chrome" appearance.It might make the purists shudder, but it's all in the eyes of the beholder. Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Thought the originals were Zink? The do it yourself zink plating kits work well. I did all the washers, bolts and fasteners 3 years ago and they are holding up well. Still need to clean and degrease really well. It time is not an issue doing yourself is not bad, but taking a load to your plating company is a lot easier.
Bruce-C

Thank you everyone,
It is actually the zinc plated finish that I am after. I'm currently living in rural England, and the local plater is not as accessible as when I lived in Melbourne, Aust. I think that I'll order one and give it a go!
David JM

This thread was discussed between 18/05/2008 and 30/05/2008

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