No, not really.

 

Advanced Plating still plates Black Chrome, and got back to me this morning with a professionally worded email. They offered to send me a sample of their Black Chrome process. So I sent them pics of the FSTB, and they replied with an estimate of a 32-week turn around at $475 + shipping.

So obviously that's a non-starter. Wow. I mean, if I were building a show car, then money is no object. But this is just a DD garage queen, and an old itch I'm trying to scratch.

Still waiting on a response from CalChrome, but this estimate spooked me, so I'm not feeling optimistic. It also makes me think about what cost I would be willing to accept. $200 + shipping seems about right for plating, since it's just one simple, 3-foot piece of aluminum. Pretty sure my powdercoater would do it for less than that, with no shipping because it's just on the other side of the city.

 

At least they were prompt in their replies and gave you some foundation on anticipated costs. There is some hope. Though, I doubt you will find a vendor that will be much cheaper. To be fair, most folks who are seeking out these type services are those who are restoring older items and the like (and those with wallets deeper than the Titanic is sunk). Plus, with these services being ever more restrictive costs will command a higher premium.

I will let other more in the know chime in, but can't aluminum be anodized to produce the same cosmetic effect?

 

not much car content of late, and I've been busy at work since getting back to the US. But... the freelance pics finally came in...






Worth.Every.Penny.

 

Wow! Yeah, I wouldn't pay that either, even when I was regularly doing car shows. I'm assuming that probably included a set-up charge if this isn't something they do on a regular basis. I know my powder-coated used to charge me a $150 set-up charge if I was doing a custom color, which is pretty much anything other than matte black or gloss black. That's why I had all of the parts on my G powder-coated in batches.

FWIW my buddy said that CalChrome charged him ~$375 per wheel, but that also included stripping the factory finish which can be quite time consuming. They also didn't charge him a set-up charge since this is what they specialize in and they do it all the time. I would hope they could do your strut bar for some where in the $200 - $300 price range since they should only have to strip off the clear coat finish (if it even has a clear coat on it). Hopefully they respond quickly so you can make a decision and get your head straight again.

 

Wow! That had to be a blast, Mike! When I used to regularly do track days, I ran my Eclipse and M3 at Mid-Ohio, IRP and Putnam, but running Nurburgring has always been a dream of mine... on my bucket list for sure!

 

It was a bucket list trip. I've run the Nord a few times before in <checks statute of limitations in Germany> cars the military rented for me, but those were non-performance models of normal street cars so I didn't exactly haul behind around it.

Rent4Ring has full-on track prepped cars. Stock engine AFAIK but full suspension, tire, and safety mods including cage and Sparcos, Ohlins suspension, and track semi-slicks. 1 lap with instructor (well worth the $50) and two with my kiddo (pictured).

I've run VIR and Roebling before in IT-S spec RX7s... VIR is close, but only 4 miles long vs. 11... Been home two weeks and still kinda buzzing from it when I'm not working my tail off.

 

No clear coat. I stripped that off 10 years ago. What's left is just raw, polished aluminum. Yes, I need my head on straight again, LOL.

Mike, I'm so happy for you with that track moment. Bucket list indeed. I've always said I would like to hit up Watkins Glen someday, since it's so close. But I know that I never will, unless it's with someone else's car.

Awesome memories you made there, buddy. Congrats.

 

what people ran is mind boggling - everything from aston martin track-only models to a guy in a rally-spec pickup truck.

Website ain't the best, but racetracker.de collects the pics of freelancers who post around the 'ring and sell their shots... previews are watermarked but worth an hour or so if you've got the time. My session was 7/2 touristefahrten (listed as 2/7/2025 lol)

I'm sure there's track car rentals in the US. I remember Speedsource but I'm sure there's tons of other arrive-and-drive outfits.

While I would drive my G, or many of my prior cars (RX8, I'm looking at you) on a track for a 'track day' I wouldn't be comfortable with full-send without safety gear. Last time I did this in the US I borrowed/codrove an IT spec RX7 FC on VIR that I had helped build - stock engine but nothing else was stock. Much more confidence inspiring than a street car.

Next bucket list is to get a drive in an open wheel car - Formula Atlantic or Formula Mazda would be fun.

 

Looks naked, like its blushing :-)

Per my note to you yesterday, good news on the CA CARB compliant tune front as Eugene has out done himself on this one: https://www.myg37.com/forums/ecu-tun...ml#post4339882

5-10% gains on unmodified Gs. He has essentially taken the OEM tune apart limb by limb and found all the shortcuts Nissan took....then made improvements.

 

CalChrome has an online form for quotes, where you upload pics of the piece you want done. It took them 3 days to get back to me, and in an email last night they said it would be $360 + shipping, with a 4-6 week turn around.

Compared to the one and only real Black Chrome Electroplating service I contacted in Tennessee, obviously the price is better by $115, and the turn-around is absolutely better than 9 months . And from the pics on their website I'm confident the result would be stunning. However (here it comes the feet of clay, LOL), their Hybrid tech is simply a base coat of traditional chrome plating, with two sprayed on top-coats: the first being a thin layer of something probably very much like VHT Nite-Shade, and then a layer of clear-coat. In other words, you end up with a painted surface, not a metallic surface. And if the surface is painted anyway, then I might as well take this up with my local powder-coater.

So now this project has come full circle. And I'm going to get a quote from 2 different powder coaters. The one who did my brake calipers, who has a laser blaster. And the one who I wanted to go with initially, who uses a traditional media blasting. Not that blasting prep is a big deal for this bar, but that's the difference between the two. I liked them both when vetting last year on the brakes.

The big take-away from all this over the last week is that sometime over the last 10 years, traditional for-real Black Chrome Electroplating has died, and the places (place?) that still do it get a premium price for this rare service. Whether that's worth it is up to the consumer, and my little FSTB project isn't worth it.

 

I was channel surfing this morning, and slipped into some automotive "live" broadcast on Amazon. It was an interview with a representative from Advance Plating in Tennessee. They showcased their shop and demonstrated Black Chrome electroplating. I just about fell off my chair. The coincidence in that moment was crazy. I yelled for my wife to come watch, LOL.

She actually started in on "Maybe you should?" But I can't. Not for $475 and a 9 month wait. That's insane.

There's a line that you cross when you spend over your comfort zone on something, regardless what it is or the price. On one side of the line is pride, and the other side is shame. My calipers... that's pride, all day long. But for a silly little bar I only see when opening the hood, well that would be a combo of pride and embarrassment. So it's still a hard no.

 

The oscillation between order and chaos is something we struggle with as humans. As enthusiasts, it's harder as we continue to look for those moments where a little chaos creates a feeling of satisfaction that others do not understand. That's why I really enjoy the journey more than the destination to be honest. Slow infusion of dopamine. I see guys on Reddit all the time that literally do 15 mods in a weekend. Where does one go from there as one is almost setting themselves up for disappointment?

Then, I see Cragars in Black Chrome and I feel nostalgia pulling me hard into Chaos again

 

Electroplating is an art. I recall my old man and I making weekend trips to the chrome shop to pickup parts and drop new ones off for one of the (3) 1965 Impala Supersports (these cars had sooo much chrome, especially the interior) we had in the family and were restoring. We pulled mine out out of a creek bed behind my friend's grandmother's house. Factory Muncie 4MT with a 4:11 rear and double hump heads that I rebuilt (with a 3-angle valve job) in auto shop, we weren't about to let that one slip away. I was too dang poor to get the aging car painted and the proper body work done, so I did my own body work (remember gorilla hair?) and primed most of the car in flat black.

Guess that's why I never caught on to the "murdered" look. Same reason my parents generation loved carpet and thought wood floors were what poor people had in their homes.

However, if that blacked out look generation had integrated more black chrome, it could have been interesting.

 

I had a set of Cragar SS wheels when I was 18. IIRC, I bought them new in the winter, and kept one of them in my bedroom so I could stare at it while waiting for spring. They had a chrome lip, with gold-plated spokes and barrel. Funny thing is, they were 15" wheels, which was normal back then. Looking back on them, can't say as the design was much of anything, kind of eww, if you want my honest opinion. But back in 1982, they were gorgeous.

On my second car I did the same thing all over again, but this time with Keystone Classics. It's not like there were a lot of aftermarket options, LOL. You had to be really deep into the aftermarket in order to find things, and there was no internet. So that meant hours at the speed shops, and magazines.