A20 LEE 0 Posted February 5, 2006 i've never looked into the price of chromin is it very expensive? Its hard to say, they quote everything individually so you never get the same price twice. Then theres the prep work. To give you an example, my wishbones cost £60+vat to chrome, £150 if i hadn't done the prep work myself. Its also better to start with brand new parts. I've put about 20hrs into a prepping a secondhand subframe (still not finished), probably only take 5hrs with a new one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TMT McCoy 0 Posted February 6, 2006 Lee so what's your plan 2nd PVW cover in months ? Nice work Lee I'm getting a gear box next weekend to polish up for my VR6 not sure if I'm gonna have it chromed though, it needs a rebuild so I'm gonna have someone take it apart for me. I traded my good gear box I was gonna rebuild anyways for some BBS Splitties and a broken gear box :) Don't know. Now i've done PVW its no big deal anymore, same with shows too. The car won 17 awards last year so there really nothing more to achieve in that respect either. My aim now is to just do it for myself, in my own time rather than rushing stuff. If your polishing a box, i'd say chrome it, it will save you masses of time cleaning it. Mine just been sat in the spare room and needs buffing already. Never been near a road!! I've heard that chroming is about half the cost in the US compared to the UK. You've gotta gold plate the centres of the BBS, thats the big thing for this year. TMT McCoy, thanks man. You've been there and done that so you'll know that feeling of collecting a fresh pile of chroming No problem, Lee. I have so much repect for you and what you've done with that car. It's even more amazing to know that it's a daily driver and it's not garage kept. :wink: It's real easy to catch the chrome bug...lol! You start out buy saying that you're only gonna plate a couple of pieces and before you know it you've gone mad and the whole lot has to be done. Toffee, since you have to break apart the gearbox for a rebuild I would suggest that you just go ahead and chrome it. It's truly gonna be a pain in the arse to keep it polished once it's installed back in the car with all of the ancillaries mounted back on it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gusto 0 Posted February 10, 2006 lee, you got any pics taken from the rear of your car so that you can see the whole thing and how wide the wheels are.?? Just lookin to compare it to mine!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 10, 2006 lee, you got any pics taken from the rear of your car so that you can see the whole thing and how wide the wheels are.?? Just lookin to compare it to mine!! here you go, what do you think?? Reckon i'm phatter ;-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
veeDuB_Rado 0 Posted February 10, 2006 Mmmm, so sexy! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gusto 0 Posted February 10, 2006 Cheers man!! Sometimes think my car looks a bit weird from the back with the wiiiide rims!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
logicaltuning 0 Posted February 10, 2006 you ever thought about this lee? i think it would smooth the back a bit more, without the middle looking to plain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 10, 2006 you ever thought about this lee? i think it would smooth the back a bit more, without the middle looking to plain can see were your going but the lights sit flush to the tailgate so it wouldn't sit flush. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
logicaltuning 0 Posted February 10, 2006 ahhh reet. just a thought, would look good if you could do it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nick 0 Posted February 11, 2006 Thats not your porsche aswell is it...?! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
veeDuB_Rado 0 Posted February 11, 2006 It's his brothers if I remember right... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GIXXERUK 0 Posted February 11, 2006 It's his brothers if I remember right... yeah it is , i'm tempted by a boxster s myself atm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 11, 2006 It's his brothers if I remember right... yeah it is , i'm tempted by a boxster s myself atm yeah, its my brothers car. Only got 30k ish on it and had loads of problems. New abs pump, new wishbones, new window mechanism, clutch, main oil seal, speedo stopped working. Not the cheapest car to run. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StormchargedVR6 0 Posted February 11, 2006 It's his brothers if I remember right... yeah it is , i'm tempted by a boxster s myself atm yeah, its my brothers car. Only got 30k ish on it and had loads of problems. New abs pump, new wishbones, new window mechanism, clutch, main oil seal, speedo stopped working. Not the cheapest car to run. There all the same, would'nt have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
logicaltuning 0 Posted February 13, 2006 went out in a boxster S once, was so unimpressed by its performance :( i had a supra at the time though Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GIXXERUK 0 Posted February 13, 2006 hmm thats a bit sad , i had a carrera 4s for 3 days and loved it and i just thought - boxster s 3.2 how bad can it be ? .... obviously that bad , ok back to the tuscan , elise, focus rs list then and ........back on topic :-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 13, 2006 Finally dropped the gearbox casing off at the chromers today. At first they refused to do it saying it was too complicated and wasn't aluminium. Then pointed out the it would be scrapped if they tired to plate and they would want to scrap an expensive casing. I pointed out that it was only cost me £50 and it would be the hours i've put into it i would be losing not money and he started to think about it. I said that i've seen them done before and was prepared to except they may scrap the casing and he offered me a deal. The jist is he's not sure if he can chrome it but is interested to have ago (i mentioned only one chromer in the UK had done it so far) and offered to do it for £100+VAT (about a fifth of what i was expecting) whether it works or not. Bit of a gamble on both sides. Its back on friday, fingers crossed.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GIXXERUK 0 Posted February 13, 2006 its well worth the gamble at that price Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 13, 2006 its well worth the gamble at that price yeah, still a tough call because it could be used polished. If this doen't work then i've go tp find another casing and start again with the polishing and to be honest, i couldn't face doing a gearbox again. But i'd have to as you've got to keep pushing the standard's up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GIXXERUK 0 Posted February 13, 2006 fingers crossed for you mate , sounds as though he'll do his best as he sees it as a challenge Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhatVR6 0 Posted February 14, 2006 why not just leave it polished? I think polished alloy looks much nicer than chrome anyway. Is it purely for maintance/cleaning reasons? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 14, 2006 why not just leave it polished? I think polished alloy looks much nicer than chrome anyway. Is it purely for maintance/cleaning reasons? i completely agree. Polished ally looks miles better and has a softness about rather than the cold clinical look of chrome plating. But as you say you can easily spend a whole day buffing up polished ally, with chrome i just wipe it with glass cleaner and wipe it off. Do the whole engine it 5mins at a show rather than a whole saturday before a show. Plus its a buzz pick up stuff from the chromers (TMT McCoy will agree with this) knowing you've transformed a manky old car part into a little piece of artwork. Wait while you see that oil filter housing i got of you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhatVR6 0 Posted February 14, 2006 well here's a before shot Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A20 LEE 0 Posted February 15, 2006 Gearbox is back 2 days early!! And it looks bloody awesome, when i got the call i was at the chromers in 30mins as i couldn't wait till friday. Chuffed to bits with it, now got source polish and plate the rest of the gearbox parts and start building it up. Think i'll really be pushing the germans hard now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
STORM 2 0 Posted February 15, 2006 OK Lee, now my wife and dog officially think you are mad as well.... Personally, I have nothing but respect for your dedication and attention to detail..we all know how tedious and timeconsuming some of the stuff you are doing is....well done. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
