Refinishing an old hood ornament- any old car guys been down this road????

[beezapilot]

The darndest things end up in my shop, a box of old chrome car parts got left by the gate for me. Most of them cleaned up well and are scattered around the mechanical shop, and lookin' good! This little gal is pretty far gone, and I'd like to put a little shine on her. Re-plating is a pretty massive expense to have professionally done. She'll live inside in the future so the finish that I put on will not need to withstand the elements. Being pot metal with scraps of chrome, and should I sand her down and fill the pits with spot putty there will be a variety of surfaces to cover. Any old car guys with suggestions? I'd appreciate the voice of experience before I make a mess of it.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Clean it with some 0000 steel wool and light oil. Might be surprised how well stuff like that cleans up. The pits wont be gone but its old, no harm in a little patina. Had a lot of old classic cars in my family from day one. Cleaned a lot of old chrome & stainless trim.

[bedbugbilly]

She's been rode hard and put away wet but she's still a beauty!

Just curious . . . if you were to "restore" her to looking new and re-chrome, how do they fill the pitting in so it is smooth again?

[Bmi48219]

When I was young I worked for a company that occasionally sent small parts out to be rechromed. I was told the prep work was extensive. The way it was described to me was the piece had to be so highly polished before being replated that it looked plated already.

There are chrome-like spray paints out there. if properly prepped before hand the ornament could look pretty good.

[country gent]

Working and polishing pot metal ( mish metal) and mild fine abrasives. Sanding all those curves is going to be tough to maintain the lines and forms.We used a fordom flex shaft and cupped brush wheel with abrasives to polish these type of things. Here even a dremil tool will work well for this.Run at a speed just below where the cup starts to "flare" out. we mounted the wheel then lightly dressed it with a coarse stone. A light coat of flitz or simichrome on the piece or impregnate the brush with rouge. hold so the brush sits flat on the part, this allows the polish lines to cross over each other speeding the process.

While pot metal wont normally get to a bright mirror finish it will get a nice greyish sheen that can be pleasing as is or a clear coat to give a shine or chromed. I would give it a clear coat after polishing to slow the fade and tarnish.

You might be surprised what a rub down with Never Dull wadding cloth will do. You can wrap a layer around a felt bob and use the demil at a slow speed.

REMEMBER a light touch and let the polish do the work this is a very soft metal and a heavy touch will gouge and remove material.

[Rapidrob]

Glass bead blast at 40 PSI will remove all of the corrosion and not hurt the finish as long as the gun is kept moving.
Home plating is easy to do and inexpensive. Tons of info on YouTube on how to do it.
You can reverse the process as well and remove the old chrome. Plate with copper then nickle would really look nice!
You can plate with a 12 volt battery. I've done it and it works.

[KCSO]

The Chrome spray paint works well and stands up pretty good. Sand fill and paint and it will look like new.

[Beerd]

Rambler ornament?
..

[farmbif]

I would not fill it with putty. maybe try polishing it with cotton wheel and some white polish. trying the least abrasive first you have less chance of causing further damage

[popper]

Probably not chrome plated. Old chrome tends to flake not bubble. Zinc? A neat hood ornament anyway.
Trivia- Briggs motor was a Witt (Brit) design used on powered bicycle and a small Swift 'red bug' car. Sold to Briggs and design used in yard equipment for a century. Removable cylinder head wasn't used until ~1910.

[Ford SD]

The darndest things end up in my shop, a box of old chrome car parts got left by the gate for me. Most of them cleaned up well and are scattered around the mechanical shop, and lookin' good! This little gal is pretty far gone, and I'd like to put a little shine on her. Re-plating is a pretty massive expense to have professionally done. She'll live inside in the future so the finish that I put on will not need to withstand the elements. Being pot metal with scraps of chrome, and should I sand her down and fill the pits with spot putty there will be a variety of surfaces to cover. Any old car guys with suggestions? I'd appreciate the voice of experience before I make a mess of it.

Not something I would work on But I wonder how much would clean up in a ultrasonic cleaner

sand and fill in the holes with something that will take 4-500 degrees and Chrome powder coat it

if you do all the prep work maybe a shop that does powder coating will do PC it for you

[Bmi48219]

From the picture it doesn’t look like the pitting is severe. If you fill in the pits you will have to sand it anyway. I’d just sand / polish what you have smooth then refinish. You might lose a mil or two overall but the actual shape and contours will still look good.

[beezapilot]

Well, it was much like trying to use steel wool on a piece of 60 grit sandpaper, but she eventually smoothed down and picked up a little shine- much better than I would have thought. A little polish and there is patina and shine. She will be the ornament / handle for the lid of my new hull / wad hopper. Oh, yes it is a Rambler hood ornament!

[jsizemore]

On old bicycles a trick to give the chrome parts a little luster is spray them with some light oil and lightly buff with lightly wadded aluminum foil.