How To
Tuner Joe
Thu Feb 13 2014 20:26:20 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
The ultimate fixer-upper. Courtesy of Barn Finds:
There are few cars I dream of owning more than an Aston Martin DB4, so naturally when I saw this barn find that Gulling Motor Cars recently discovered, I knew it had to be featured. It is not listed on their site, but we just received an email with the photos. The asking price is sky high, but it is the kind of barn find that many of us dream of. It is a super rare, ultra valuable and highly desirable sports car that was stashed in an actual barn and forgotten for decades. Aston Martin values keep climbing and unless Gullwing were to move the decimal point a few spots, I guess I will just have to keep dreaming and hoping that I will stumble across one in an old barn myself.
The barn hasn’t been friendly to this Aston, it is covered in dirt and grime. It also has plenty of dents and scratches from barn life. For unexplained reasons, this makes it more interesting to look at. It’s like a train wreck that you want to look away from, but just can’t take your eyes off of. I’m not sure if David Brown would be proud of this sight or enraged that one of his beauties had been left in such conditions. From the little information that Gullwing provided, this was imported from the UK in the ’70s by the previous owner. The 85 year old gentleman claims to have only driven it for a few years and then parked in the barn. Who in their right mind could park something as beautiful as a DB4 and never drive it again? Perhaps there were mechanical issues that lead to its exile to the barn or perhaps the owner simply grew tired of it?
If you have $325k to spend on a car though, it’s doubtful that condition is much of a concern though. Obviously it will take someone with deep pockets to bring this one back to life, but given the desirability there is doubt that there are a few collectors out there who would love to get their hands on it. Whether I will ever get the chance to drive a DB4, I don’t know, but for the time being I will keep dreaming of the day when I can open that aluminum clad door and take a seat behind the wood rimmed steering wheel. Does anyone here share my dream or is there a different car that you lust after?
Tuner Joe
Tue Mar 19 2013 17:51:14 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
I read about this kit on the HAMB forum. Has anyone used a home chrome plating system with any success? Prices start in the low hundreds and go way up. This one is $6.99. Following from the Caswell website...
The Look and Strength Of Real Chrome Without Environmental Issues or High Current Requirements. REPROCHROME®, a unique Cobalt/Tungsten alloy that contains no chrome, nickel or toxic materials. REPROCHROME® duplicates a chrome plate in color, durability and corrosion resistance, without the need for a fume control system or a high powered rectifier. Safer and easier to operate than a regular chrome plating system. REPROCHROME® is not EPA or OSHA regulated.
REPROCHROME® requires just 0.07 amps per square inch of part surface area to plate at approx 5V DC, instead of the 1-1.5 amps required of a regular chrome system, making plating larger parts a real possibility for small scale platers. REPROCHROME® has excellent throwing power and easily plates into recesses and low areas that regular chrome has trouble with. Get help choosing the right DC power supply here.
REPROCHROME® will plate directly over copper, brass, nickel and most ferrous and non-ferrous metals. However, for maximum shine and durability, we recommend using it in a Triple Plate system consisting of copper, nickel and REPROCHROME® plating steps.
Our REPROCHROME® Triple Chrome plating Kit contains all the tanks, chemicals, anodes etc that you need to plate a brilliant chrome finish over copper, nickel, brass, steel, aluminum, pot-metal, zinc, cobalt, silver, lead, pewter, and most other metal parts. Plastic or non-metallic parts can be plated by spraying the part with conductive paint, dipping in tinning solution, then proceeding with acid copper, nickel and REPROCHROME® plating. Check the "You Must Supply" box to the right to see what else you will need to operate the kit.
The biggest requirement would be a DC power source, such as a plating rectifier. Because of the low amperage requirements of all these plating systems, even a smallish rectifier, such as our 25 amp model, will allow you to plate parts up to 2.5 sq ft in area (for example a valve cover) Get Help Working Out Part Surface Areas
You can also run the kits from a DC battery (car or motorcycle), battery charger, or other DC power source, provided you are comfortable building an amperage control device.
The kit contains Acid Copper, Flash Copper™, Nickel and REPROCHROME® plating systems. The typical steps to plate a steel part would be:
Polish part to a high shine
Degrease the part in the included degreaser
Plate with Flash Copper
Plate with Nickel
Plate with REPROCHROME®
The included Acid Copper system also allows you to fill in pits or scratches in the metal, as a type of high-build filler.
1.5 Gallon Kit
8 x 2 Gal Plating tanks with lids
2 x 6" x 8" Nickel anodes & bandages
4 x 4" x 8 Copper anodes & bandages
2 x 4" x 8" Stainless Steel Anodes
1 Pack Nickel Crystals w/Brightener (Makes 1.5 Gals)
1 Pack Copper Crystals (Makes 1.5 Gals)
1 x 1.5oz Copper Brightener A
1 x 4oz Copper Brightener B
1 x 1.5 Gal REPROCHROME® Starter
1 x 4oz REPROCHROME® Brightener
1 x 1.5 gal Flash Copper™ Chemicals (A, B, C)
1 Pack SP Degreaser (Makes 4 Gals)
1 Qt Aluminum Deoxidizer (Makes 2 Gals)
1 Qt Zincate (Makes 1 Gal)
1 x 200W Glass Heater
4 x Filter/pumps
1 Pack Pickle #4 (Makes 2 Gals)
The Caswell Plating Manual
Free Technical Support
NO HEATERS INCLUDED
The included Caswell Plating Manual contains complete operating instructions for all systems, as well as extensive surface prep and restoration techniques.
The copper plating step will take approx 30-60 mins depending on desired thickness. Nickel plating also takes 30-60 minutes. The REPROCHROME® takes between 1-2 minutes.
The nickel and copper kits plate their metal from the anodes (sheets of nickel and copper included with the kit). Each anode will plate approx 30-40 sq ft of parts before they need to be replaced. Replacement anodes are available at a low cost. The solutions require only distilled water additions to replenish water lost to evaporation.
The REPROCHROME® system plates its metal from the REPROCHROME® solution. Additions of REPROCHROME® starter should be made periodically to replenish the metal and maintain uniform and consistent color. REPROCHROME® brightener additions should also be performed periodically at the rate of 0.4floz per gal of starter (3ml per 1000ml)
The kit includes zincate solution, which allows aluminum items to be plated, as well as desmut solution, which is helpful if your aluminum contains a high amount of zinc, which is commonly found in parts from Japanese motorcycles. The kit also includes Pickle #4, which allows plating onto lead and pewter alloys.
Contains Hazardous Goods. Shipping restrictions apply. Ground shipping only to the Continental USA. Please call +1 315 946 1213 or contact us for rates to other locations.
Tuner Joe
Fri Jan 11 2013 22:08:36 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
FatlaceTV | Formula D Tech Day. Formula Drift 2012 season is about to commence. A public tech day was held in Irvine California at Source Interlink Media (Import Tuner, Super Street, and Modified Magazines). This ended up being a bit of a meet as well. Here is a quick highlight of some of the cars that came for inspection.
