Chrome console top plates need refinishing-powder coat?

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lee g

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Has anyone tried to strip the chrome off of the top plates on a console and powder coat with the chrome colored powder coat. I have access to a powder coat gun and a oven but how do I get the old chrome off. It has started to dull and has a few pits
 
I have. Here you go lee.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=178080&highlight=cuda+console

Chances are yours isn't chrome, it's pot metal. If you've never tried to powder coat it before, I'd suggest practicing on something else -- lots of something elses in fact :-D -- because it is its own 'animal.'

I've got another console top in line right now as timing would have it, and it's in better shape -- I expect it will turn out even nicer.
 
Thanks Ulf! That one up there was the first I'd ever tried. It's not perfect by any small stretch ... but it looks a lot better than what I started with. :-D
 
Thanks CudaChick. Nice work. My console tops are not pitted as badly as the ones in your pics. I have read about using muratic acid to strip the chrome but I don't have any experience with it. Just really wanting to get it looking nice so I can replace the wood look decal. I will do some more research.
 
If it indead Chrome, muratic acid will strip it. But then you have the Bright Nickel that will be hard to strip. Under that should be a thicker kayer of Copper, which will require somelse to strip it. Plating shops will use electrical current in sulfuric acid. The top on my 68 consel is non magnetic which says it pot metal as mentioned above. Your best bet is taking it to a plating shop that does pot metal.
I started as a plater in the 60s and spent the last 30 years running plating shops of all kinds specializing in precious metal, so I speak from experiance..
 
Thanks. DougA. All the chrome shops around me have pretty much shutdown. I have one last person to check with.
 
lee g said:
Thanks CudaChick. Nice work. My console tops are not pitted as badly as the ones in your pics. I have read about using muratic acid to strip the chrome but I don't have any experience with it. Just really wanting to get it looking nice so I can replace the wood look decal. I will do some more research.
Click to expand...

Thank you Lee! That one I did before was more suitable for the scrap pile than a resto attempt so I approached it more as an experiment -- and it worked (but I've had lots of experience being one of the few coaters out there who'll even touch pot metal). Like you, I've never used acid either so I can't offer any help there.

I had to laugh at your conclusion. When I bought my Cuda on April 9, 1991 (in three days it'll be 22 years of ownership :-D), that woodgrain decal on my console was the first 'modification' I made to my new car. "Oh, that fugly thing has GOT to go!" as I pulled it off with a flourish. As it turned out, it was one of the easier jobs I've had working on my hot rod ...... lol

View attachment April 9, 1991.jpg
 
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