Patcon

I have appreciated chickenman's posts. I suspect he has some experience to offer. Zed that is very dismissive unless you two have met in person... C

I don't like the water idea. The volume of fluid is a good idea and the water is safe, but if your tank doesn't have rust in it now. Flushing with water is very likely to remedy that... Charles

If you are going to drain the tranny, don't until you are sure you can get the fill plug open. They can be difficult to break free if they have not been opened in a while. C

You obviously haven't been reading the zinc oil debate in the other active thread . I don't know that there is a consensus on the correct oil. I would also bleed all the brakes sufficiently to push all the old fluid out of the system. C

Namerow, If you bought just the chromates from Caswell you could get the yellow rainbow effect on your parts. The chromate also makes the zinc surface harder and more durable. I like the zinc source as the anodes can be expensive, and the more anode you have the more even your plating becomes. Charles

Nice car... there is a thread on here, I believe "Blue" started it on waking the sleeping beast. It is very detailed and methodical. As for looks, I don't car for the larger crash bumpers, and I am not a huge fan of cutting good quarters to install fender flairs. Charles

Fuel tank was my first thought... C

This was interesting if you really want to DIY http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?14392-DIY-Zinc-Plating-for-Donor-Nuts-and-Bolts

Here's one other thread and a site someone else setup... http://www.lainefamily.com/CaswellPlating.htm http://ferrarichat.com/forum/boxers-tr-m/373912-diy-zinc-cad-lookalike-plating.html

This was a neat site that somebody made about their plating. There is a barrel plater setup here which is really neat and seems to work really good. Notice the 240z parts in the gallery... http://www.nulltime.com/zincplating/site_map.html

Thanks, That is a good method to start with... C

Do they have any numbers or symbols on the inside. Newer parts have codes on them to identify the material. I don't remember if the original panels do... C

Thanks, Wheee! I have done a lot of reading all over and here. I was hoping to kind of consolidate and condense the info I found here in this thread, and to also come up with a process that works that others could crib off of. motorman7 I think I found his thread and there was also some info at Atlantic Z from Blue. I printed all of that kind of stuff I could find. I was hoping to compare the snippets I found to come up with a consensus for what the process should be. I was wondering about the blue chromate. I don't remember Steve using that when I watched him plate some bolts, but it's been a while and I am lucky if I can remember what day I'm in. I believe I printed a reply from you in another thread that mentioned the blue chromate. I haven't ordered any blue yet; I probably should... I don't know how many use the blue prior to the yellow chromate dip. What did you do for degreasing? Did you use an acid bath just prior to zinc plating? There was one thread I found, I believe on the Caswell site, and a guy named Brian was working for Peter Brock building a BRE tribute car. Does anyone know who Brian is or if he is on this site? It sounded like he had done a lot of plating too.

Thanks Steve, C

Rossiz What's your mailing address? You made that one so pretty, I thought you know... Charles Seriously, beautiful work.

Wow. That is fabulous... C

Steve (nix240) did tons of hardware and metal on his 240z, basically everything that wasn't painted. It takes some experimenting evidently to get your process down and you have to be careful not to contaminate the different baths. I had some hardware done by Norm (Zeddsavers) and it came out real nice but there is shipping and always the chance something gets lost. This way I can plate things as I come to them. It should pay for itself before I am finished. The biggest limitation is the power source. To do large things like the headlight baskets and window regulators you need a lot more power. (.14 A per Squ. inch). Larger power sources can get expensive but they are easily resold when your done. I may just stick to little stuff and have Norm do the few larger things I want done but don't have enough power to handle. I have 5 amps which should be good to 35 inches (counting both sides) I am still trying to figure out prep and whether to acid dip before the Zinc tank. I have a blasting cabinet, vibrating polisher and of course a wire wheel. Just don't know which way to go yet. If I remember right Steve blasted them first then wire wheeled them before plating. Charles

I worked on building a plating station today. Scrap I had around the house. The ply is 1/2" treated, they say not to use OSB or chipboard as it will not hold up. Cut the holes for the buckets 11 1/4" in diameter. Left a space on the left for a crock pot to put SP degreaser in. C

Does this block have a factory deck height? C

If I have read all the posts in this thread correctly. The car ran properly and had been tuned last summer. Dizzy broke and got replaced and problem showed up. If that is the case, then start at the dizzy and don't move on until you are 100% sure that timing, advance and spark are totally correct. Charles

"OH- and stop using the word ISSUE when you are talking about a PROBLEM. Issues and problems are not synonymous" Unless you work for the NSA... C

You would think the FelPro info would be easy to find but Noooo. Not ever on their website. Just silly...Jegs doesn't have it, Summit racing doesn't have it, Rockauto doesn't have it... Charles

Either unplug them from the manifold and put a rubber cap on the manifold port and a hose clamp; on a hose put a bolt in the hose with a hose clamp, golf tees work good in little hoses. Try to remove as many of the possible sources of leaks as possible. If that fixes the weak and erratic idle then add them back one at a time to isolate which one is the problem. Another trick for when the idle slows down after a while when you just let it sit and idle. Add a battery in parallel with the one in the car. Just use jumper cables to a known good battery. Not a battery in another car! See if the extra capacity helps the idle stay where it should.. C

Did you ever plug all the vacuum lines and idle the car. Don't spray the brake booster with starter fluid. Plug the vacuum lines to everything and eliminate possible vacuum leaks. Check the ignition system thoroughly... C

I am getting ready to start using the Copy-Cad system from Caswell. I have been on the Caswell plating forum for help getting the process lined out but their forum seems to be rarely used and many threads have no responses. I have also read through all the threads I found on the forum, I thought this thread could sort of be used to combine the working knowledge of the experienced platers (ajmcforester, motorman7, nix240z and any others) on here and I would add in where I could and my experiences as I go along. I spent a day with Steve (nix240z) with him showing me his process a couple of years ago and I am finally getting around to doing this. I have acquired the power supply and the chemicals came in this week. Some of my bigger questions are: How do you clean dirty hardware? Soak in solvents? Parts cleaner? Carb cleaner? How to you strip rust? Bead blaster? Acid? Vibrating polisher? Do you pickle or acid was to neutralize remainder of rust? Are you baking hardware for hydrogen embrittlement? Thanks, I look forward to some expert direction Charles