Back light - rechroming
-
Guy
Back light - rechroming
I'm sure someone out there has had their rear lights rechromed.
I have taken the units off the car but I am struggling with taking the
actual bulb holders out. They look as if they are pressed in place and are
not intended to be removed.
Anybody got any suggestions ??
Thanks
Guy Salmon
I have taken the units off the car but I am struggling with taking the
actual bulb holders out. They look as if they are pressed in place and are
not intended to be removed.
Anybody got any suggestions ??
Thanks
Guy Salmon
-
sportfury1959
- Posts: 417
- Joined: Fri May 28, 2004 11:25 am
- Location: Portugal
Guy,
I have removed the light bulb holders and I also tried to rechrome the taillights. When you remove the light bulb holders you must be really careful and patient, but it is possible. At first I made a little steel cylinder on a turn lathe just big enough to fit in where the bulb used to be. The cylinder stabilizes the walls from collapse while opening the folds. Use a fine sizzle to lift the folds up and do it only a little bit while turning it 360° around. You ought to work like an Swiss watch maker here, but its worthy. If you do it to hard it may bent the housing and later the bulb may not fit in anymore.
I guess you want to rechrome the taillights because the chrome is pitted? I’m afraid, here you will face the bigger problem.
- If you try to remove the old chrome in a chrome bath (with the inversion of the normal chroming procedure) the housing will fall apart and grey dust is all that will be left !!!
- If you rechrome it without removing the old chrome, it hardly will be possible to close the holes in the housing and the pits will remain.
To solve your problem I suggest you go to an galvaniser and ask him for a reliable advice. I did it the wrong way and then I paid a fortune to make a mold and reproduce a pair of taillight housings for my SF.
Take care!
Stefan
I have removed the light bulb holders and I also tried to rechrome the taillights. When you remove the light bulb holders you must be really careful and patient, but it is possible. At first I made a little steel cylinder on a turn lathe just big enough to fit in where the bulb used to be. The cylinder stabilizes the walls from collapse while opening the folds. Use a fine sizzle to lift the folds up and do it only a little bit while turning it 360° around. You ought to work like an Swiss watch maker here, but its worthy. If you do it to hard it may bent the housing and later the bulb may not fit in anymore.
I guess you want to rechrome the taillights because the chrome is pitted? I’m afraid, here you will face the bigger problem.
- If you try to remove the old chrome in a chrome bath (with the inversion of the normal chroming procedure) the housing will fall apart and grey dust is all that will be left !!!
- If you rechrome it without removing the old chrome, it hardly will be possible to close the holes in the housing and the pits will remain.
To solve your problem I suggest you go to an galvaniser and ask him for a reliable advice. I did it the wrong way and then I paid a fortune to make a mold and reproduce a pair of taillight housings for my SF.
Take care!
Stefan
-
Guy
-
sportfury1959
- Posts: 417
- Joined: Fri May 28, 2004 11:25 am
- Location: Portugal
Guy,
That is probably the best you can do! Besides, I still thought about this matter yesterday:
Chroming is an electrolytic process. Removing the chrome is only the inversion of the same process. It came to my mind that this process doesn’t remove only the chrome but also decomposes the metal underneath. Maybe this idea helps!
Let me know how you solved this matter when you are done! I still have a set of untreated taillights in my garage and I want to rework them to have a spare.
Stefan
That is probably the best you can do! Besides, I still thought about this matter yesterday:
Chroming is an electrolytic process. Removing the chrome is only the inversion of the same process. It came to my mind that this process doesn’t remove only the chrome but also decomposes the metal underneath. Maybe this idea helps!
Let me know how you solved this matter when you are done! I still have a set of untreated taillights in my garage and I want to rework them to have a spare.
Stefan
i have also inquired about rechroming my tail lights and i recieved quotes of 700.00 to 900.00 $ . Is there anyone that makes reproductions ?
Stefan, where and how did you get a mold made up to reproduce your tail lights , and around how much is a fortune?
im sure that there are enough fury owners that would want brand new reproduced tail lights.
Stefan, where and how did you get a mold made up to reproduce your tail lights , and around how much is a fortune?
im sure that there are enough fury owners that would want brand new reproduced tail lights.
-
sportfury1959
- Posts: 417
- Joined: Fri May 28, 2004 11:25 am
- Location: Portugal
Curt,
It's about 10 years now that I have my "reproduction" taillights. I went to
an local foundry here in Portugal and showed him the original taillights
with all the pitting. He took the 6 pieces and made a mold for every single
piece with a special quartz-sand for molds. Then the metal was poured into
the cast. After cooling the mold was destroyed to remove the parts. Two
weeks later he gave me the reproductions (not yet chromed) to see if they
fit perfectly on the car. After that the surface was cleaned, polished and
chromed. I don't recall exactly the price I paid for the taillights, because
I made also some other parts, as for example the half-round piece over the
steering column, right between the "horns" of the cluster. But to make a
good guess it must have been between 1.200 $ and 1.500 $.
Regards
Stefan
It's about 10 years now that I have my "reproduction" taillights. I went to
an local foundry here in Portugal and showed him the original taillights
with all the pitting. He took the 6 pieces and made a mold for every single
piece with a special quartz-sand for molds. Then the metal was poured into
the cast. After cooling the mold was destroyed to remove the parts. Two
weeks later he gave me the reproductions (not yet chromed) to see if they
fit perfectly on the car. After that the surface was cleaned, polished and
chromed. I don't recall exactly the price I paid for the taillights, because
I made also some other parts, as for example the half-round piece over the
steering column, right between the "horns" of the cluster. But to make a
good guess it must have been between 1.200 $ and 1.500 $.
Regards
Stefan
Hello guys. True, the taillight housings are made of "pot metal". I was told something inherent in the metal reacts over time to create the blisters and pits.
My first attempt at this went like this: I took my housings to a local plating company. He "stripped" off the chrome, probably by reverse electrolysis. He then put one coating of copper onto them. I got very impatient with their slow progress and took them home. The problem was of course the pits, which need to be drilled out and filled. I bought some of the low-temperature stick solder and tried to fill the holes myself, but I was no good at it. I still have those hideous housings.
Fast forward a few years. Needig tailights now, I found the best housings I could and sent them to a plating company in Canada. I don't know what they did to re-plate them, but they came back to me in less than two weeks, and are beautiful. I tore the original bulbsockets out of the housings. With the re-plated housings, I simply went down to the auto parts store and bought some "springy-fingered" replacement sockets and popped them in.
There may be a way to save the originals..you must remove the contact plate and wires of course, which can be re-installed later, IF you are lucky and the chromeplate isnt so thick that the bulb won't go back into the socket.
Now as for cost..sorry to say I don't keep records, but my guess is $400.
I also would have to think hard to remember the plating company's name.
My first attempt at this went like this: I took my housings to a local plating company. He "stripped" off the chrome, probably by reverse electrolysis. He then put one coating of copper onto them. I got very impatient with their slow progress and took them home. The problem was of course the pits, which need to be drilled out and filled. I bought some of the low-temperature stick solder and tried to fill the holes myself, but I was no good at it. I still have those hideous housings.
Fast forward a few years. Needig tailights now, I found the best housings I could and sent them to a plating company in Canada. I don't know what they did to re-plate them, but they came back to me in less than two weeks, and are beautiful. I tore the original bulbsockets out of the housings. With the re-plated housings, I simply went down to the auto parts store and bought some "springy-fingered" replacement sockets and popped them in.
There may be a way to save the originals..you must remove the contact plate and wires of course, which can be re-installed later, IF you are lucky and the chromeplate isnt so thick that the bulb won't go back into the socket.
Now as for cost..sorry to say I don't keep records, but my guess is $400.
I also would have to think hard to remember the plating company's name.