Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi can anyone tell me if morris items that need rechroming is worth it, I often see items on ebay that states need re-chroming. I have quite a few items eg. over-riders,hub caps, handles&hinges + bumper blades, some are ok and others are pitted. My wife say's that the garage is like steptoes back yard and I keep telling her its not junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but one of these days the local scrapman is going to have a field day when I pop off to the big car park in the sky. or should I beat him to it and skip the lot

come on guys no one going to reply tp my question

In general, if you need a chromed part, then re chrome, if you can find a good company. The quality of most new chromed parts is very poor.
If you have a collection of door handles, then trade them in rather than scrap them off. You will not get much but at least its something and keeps original parts in the system.
So sell what you don't want and keep for re chroming the ones you do, plus keep well away from the 'big car park in the sky'.

What is involved in getting your old parts rechromed and how much does it cost?

You need to understand how chroming is done.
The bare metal is polished to almost a mirror shine and then the plating proccess begins.
The most expensive part of the process is the polishing as it's "labour intensive".
It you have an item which need rechroming then the plater will have to remove the old chrome and then start at the begining with polishing first.
If the old part is in poor condition then it's going to cost more before the plating can be done.
If the part is heavilly pitted then it might not even be possible to polish sufficent to replate.
You have to carefully look at parts and then decide if they have reached the state when they aren't worth having rechromed.
A decent plating company will be able to "rescue" most items - but you will end up paying the price for their efforts.
The best items to rechome are those which are JUST starting to get dull / surface rust that hasn't reached the metal under the chrome.
With a common car like a Minor I suspect that in most cases the cost is going to be in far excess of buying new old stock quality parts !
I found this with some parts for my old bike - new genuine chrome items were a fraction of the cost of having the old (not bad condition either) rechromed.

Paul Humphries.

thanks jonathon any names of firms that do rechroming and my original question is it worth it. I'am a hoarder and if I don't get shut of thinks now then I will be taking them up stairs to the ACP (Astral Car Park In the Sky) I've even offered them free and no one wants them do you know of any swop shops Maybe we could have a new topic on the forum To swop

Hi Paul thats what I was thinking is it worth all the hastle in the long run, I know it meens taking genuine 60's and the like parts out of circulation and poor cheap thin repro items instead. But as we all now keeping our beloved toys on the road cost an arm and a leg. I have spent a small fortune on my 2 Morris and still spending and as you all know its never ending. I think I will start a cheaper hobby like looking at the stars os the clouds
Jimmy

Decent rechroming is always going to give you a better "end product" than a cheap import.
Trouble is it's an expensive process so the better the item you want rechromes the cheaper the bill will be.
That means if deep pits then don't bother taking to plater unless you are sentimentally attached to the part. Someone will have a better item, that still needs rechoming, for sale cheap so you can save money overall.
Like I said before a decent plating company can work wonders.
Think of I like this though - if an item is 1/4" thick but has pits 1/16" deep the plater will have to polish out those pits leaving you with a thinner part. It's possible to weld etc the pits on very rare parts but certainly not worth the effort with something like a Minor bumper and such.

BTW I remember seeing the approved thing to clean (not polish) chrome is Brillo pads ! Might seem strange but steel wool is softer than chrome so it doen't harm the finish. The synthetic dishwashing pads, however, will make a terrible mess and shouldn't be used.

Paul Humphries.

jtd, it depends largely on how much you want originality and/or a good quality chrome. It will always be a more expensive route to have re chromed items, due to the cheapness of the current replacement items. From my perspective if we are building a Minor for a customer, then we fit the best available parts, if these are not available or not up to our standard then we source our own, With chrome the last thing we want is a car coming back within 6 months to have the front end dismantled just to replace the poor chromework.
Some traders like B Motif are starting to produce their own chromed parts and offer a 2 year warranty, so atleast this is a start. I hope neiltomlinson can shed a bit more light on this subject as this is his area of expertise.

I hope neil tomlinson can shed a bit more light on this subject as this is his area of expertise.

Speak up then Neil as I am sure your input would be most welcome.

This thread has got me thinking.
The chrome parts that are normally neeed most are bumpers.
They are simple pressings so does anyoen know if there are stainless versions avialable ?
From my way of thinking I cann't see any reason why a factory in China or where ever cann't press and polish out of stainless just as easy as steel then chroming.

Paul Humphries.

Paul, I tried this route with LMC Hadrian, only with other panels not bumpers. The could do it but seemed a bit reluctant, and the needed a minimum quantity to be produced, which made it to expensive for myself to go alone on this avenue. I'm sure if the demand for these items was recorded ans substanciated with deposits, then a bigger 'player' in the minor world could take it on.

Quote:

I hope neil tomlinson can shed a bit more light on this subject as this is his area of expertise

hi all well were do i start You need to understand how chroming is done
first you strip of old chrome .nickle then see what condition the base metal is like
when metal.. brass ..monkey metal is pitted [holes in the metal ] some can be sanded .poished out looking ok ready for rechromeing 30-45 min nickle then 5-7 min chrome
if the base metal is badley pitted this is sanded to a point you can not sand any more to thing etc then copper is put on sanded in between coats to fill any holes like you do filling holes before painting then nickel chrome on top this is a exspencive this is done alot to old cars 1910 rads .bumpers etc
in my opinion you are best to buy cheap NEW chrome parts or very good second hands one then get a plater to work on these you have a good base to start on
i hope i have made this clear
so to answer jtd.75 question if it is badly pitted put it in the bin neil

Thanks Neil, some of the items that I have are not pitted, some are not bad and some are bin jobs.
Jimmy