migrating to nickle

hazelhoff

hazelhoff

Senior Member
I am working on my feb. '29 Tudor to become an Original nickle Ford. Running into problems with the motometer. Dismantling it, the glass tube broke. Apparently is was glued into the housing or something. Anyone know how/where to buy a replacement thermometer ?

Or, should I buy a new one and replace the interior to go into my new nickle housing ? Will it crack again in dismantling ?

Anybody having experience ?

Henk (from Holland)
 
nickel has always been my favorite . its soft , non chipping , looks great . I worked in chrome shops years ago , the 3 processes are 1) copper 2) nickel 3) chrome . this is what triple plating is . the copper has a great look on its own , nickel is the best of the 3 ............... good for you
 
Mistake here, I mean I want to have chrome motometer redone to be nickle. What is the answer if the thermometer has cracked ....

Henk
 
I have my stuff replated in Slowakia. The process being cleaning, nicle, copper, nickle, chrome. They do it the way old folks did.

Henk
 
You use to be able to just buy the thermometer from Vintique , they no longer just sell the thermometer?
I was told it was because people would break the thermometer while trying to install it in their unit ?

Ron
 
The last time I tried to find a replacement thermometer, about a year ago, I was told that none were available, and that proved to be true.

I think Tom Wesenberg put up a post a couple years ago on how to remove the chrome and get down to the nickle, but I can't find that post. Since Tom has nearly 20,000 posts, a search is a little daunting.
 
If you have good nickel under the chrome then just brush muriatic acid over the chrome. On my nice chrome speedometer bezel it took about 1 or 2 minutes for the chrome to turn black. At first I thought I just ruined a nice bezel, but when I rinsed it right away in warn water the beautiful nickel showed nice and bright.

I did this in my basement bathroom. BIG mistake. Do it outside, as the muriatic acid fumes are very corrosive and very bad to breathe.
 
I forgot to mention to be careful which parts you try this on. I wiped out 4 new repro window crank handles when I dipped them into a pan of muriatic acid. The chrome had no nickel under it, and the acid ate away the parent metal.
 
Muriatic acid also comes in various strengths. The Kleen Strip brand is weaker than the Smart 2x. What did you use, Tom?
 
I used the powerful stuff from Fleet Farm. I bought it in the paint department as I recall. That was about 20 years ago.
 
I'm in the same boat. I've restored this flip back dog bone cap for my T but I need a thermometer to complete it. From what I know, the motometers came in several sizes. This one is a midget and all the repos seem to be juniors which are slightly larger. This one is also a "glo-lite" I guess the green glass on the front would glow as the car heated up(?). All of this has been re-plated in nickle.
 

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I read somewhere that the nickle used under chrome is not the same as the nickle used when plating just nickle.
 
It is my understanding the old Nickel was not a electro-plating process, it came out dull. That is why the original front bumpers are dull on the edges and back; the nickel was polished on the face before Chrome-plating the bumpers. If you Chrome on a dull surface it does not shine. The new Nickel plating is a electro-plating process, it therefore comes out bright and does not have to be polished.
Years ago I had some 28 headlights done; the Platter, when I went to pick up the headlights said he did not remember if I wanted them Nickel or Chrome so he had chromed them, he said no problem, put the headlights in a tank, it removed the chrome but did not damage the Nickel. This Platter always tripled plated, Polish, Copper, polish, Nickel, then Chrome if that is what the customer wanted.
Until the EPA got involved, back in the 60's we could get the front and rear bumpers, headlights, taillight, and radiator shell plated for a total cost of $125.00. The last front bumper I had plated, just the two bars, cost me $200.00.

Times have changed !!!!!!!

Ron
 
Occasionally I have seen original replacement Moto-Meter glass thermometers on eBay for sale. The replacements the vendors carry are
for the "thermo-quails" only I believe. At present I am having an original
Moto-Meter chrome plated. The main body (with the thermometer) and the two wreath plates costing $95. For the face plates I'll use the repop Ford ones
from Snyder's. They are beautiful and very hard to detect as not being originals. I'll also be using their replacement wreath plate screws. The design on them is not as detailed as the original screws, but they will do.

Typical Moto-Meters came in 4 different sizes: Standard (the largest),
Universal, Junior & Midget (smallest).

My avatar shows an original NOS Ford sold Junior Moto-Meter with its original box. Got it off eBay a couple of years ago for $50.

Bob-A:D
 
Ron in Quincy said:
It is my understanding the old Nickel was not a electro-plating process, it came out dull. That is why the original front bumpers are dull on the edges and back; the nickel was polished on the face before Chrome-plating the bumpers. If you Chrome on a dull surface it does not shine. The new Nickel plating is a electro-plating process, it therefore comes out bright and does not have to be polished.
Years ago I had some 28 headlights done; the Platter, when I went to pick up the headlights said he did not remember if I wanted them Nickel or Chrome so he had chromed them, he said no problem, put the headlights in a tank, it removed the chrome but did not damage the Nickel. This Platter always tripled plated, Polish, Copper, polish, Nickel, then Chrome if that is what the customer wanted.
Until the EPA got involved, back in the 60's we could get the front and rear bumpers, headlights, taillight, and radiator shell plated for a total cost of $125.00. The last front bumper I had plated, just the two bars, cost me $200.00.

Times have changed !!!!!!!

Ron
Click to expand...
I just recently had parts for my 26 Model T nickle plated and although the plater did a very nice job, I was somewhat disappointed that it looked so much like chrome and not the nickle I've seen in the past. Maybe this is why.
 
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