The warm glow of Nickel: Coolant tubes are plated

Normally the simple plating of a part is not news worthy but in this instance we learned a few things worthy of sharing. Blog followers will remember that a few months back we completed the recreation of the coolant tubes for the engine. The link is below:

http://dino246blog.blogspot.ca/2013/02/a-special-texture-reproducing-coolant.html

 Missing from the images was the tubes in their final nickel finish. We pooled all of our nickel parts in one run so it was not until this week that they were coated. In the case of the tubes, because of their shape and size we were directed to use an electro-less nickel process where the nickel is applied chemically rather than by an electric charge. The electro-less process deposits nickel in greater amounts to the inside while still giving a perfect finish on the outside. This gives the tubes greater corrosion protection but still maintains a perfect to original colour on the outside.