MTFCA Forum

Now that I have my steering gear case and control arms separated, I found pitting in the cover and control arms. Is this something that can be smoothed out by a nickel plating company or should I look for an un-pitted set. The gear case is brass so there is no problem with that. Also, I need any recommendations as to who does a good job of nickel plating. Thank you for the help.

Imagine you can find a good plater in any large city nearby, check websites, see if they do customs cars, rods and stuff, and call and ask.

Locally nearest bigger town is Daytona, and with all the auto stuff there, some good shops. Last sets of steering cases and caps were done by Spacecoast Plating. Top notch work, only couple of weeks too. Good email contact, was able to get quote over the net by sending them pictures.


What was sent....

What was received....

Daniel,

The short answer is YES, the pitting can be repaired. The basic process is that the pits are filled with ordinary solder, the solder fill is filed and sanded smooth, then copper plated, polished, and finally, nickeled. Think of the solder as bondo for body work.

You can either do the pit filling and smoothing yourself, or pay a good plating shop. It's only money.

Dan they did a great job for you there. Was there any pitting?

Daniel

Daniel

They filled all the pits with undercoat plating of copper and then high polish before the layer of nickel.

If you look at the top photo, before parts, Click in and zoom the photo up, and see the neck of the silver painted cap, you can see deep pits. Those were not visible after plating. That painted cap was a $2 swap item, now looks NOS.

You have to determine how fine a job you want. Now if your parts are very heavy pitted, I mean ugly, you may want to find something better.
Quality plating costs $$.

Dick is correct about using soft solder to fill pits, and it would work well on control levers. However, on flat sheetmetal like a radiator shell, the metal polisher needs to know it has been used. The heat generated by the buff on a wide flat surface is enough to 'pull' soft solder, and a well finished surface can show the pits again, though not as deep. Don't ask me how I know this.

Allan from down under.

Surveying
Cant find a shop drop me a note my plater here is old school and will listen and follow my instructions
Got alot of guys in central California giving my stuff
And comes back impressive