Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Steph]

I always chrome plate steel parts that I polish, unless they're stainless, of course. The housing is made of a combination of aluminium and steel which I'll drop off at the electroplaters to be chrome plated. I've started chroming all my aluminium parts if I can. I've been tempted to do the valve cover as well... it's just so easy to maintain when you compare it with aluminium and the chrome finish is HARDER than nails.

Those chrome plated valve covers really pop... I remember when my Dad got his Nissan 280ZX valve cover polished and plated. I couldn't believe how much it lifted the engine bay. That's probably when the disease began.

[Steph]

I'm taking the ttyres off my Watanabe RS8 rims and stripping them back down to the metal again. They suffered a little curb rash (nothing radical, just scratched the finish). A couple are unscathed, but they're not show quality, so I'll redo them as well.

This morning I bought a new set of Watanabe wheel centres. These are a re-release by Watanabe of the original design centre caps. I love the old 'chariot' style wheel centres. Very period.

[Kurt]

Looks good. I hope chroming is cheaper there than here! The small steel bits are reasonable here but anything aluminum or a zinc alloy (pot metal) is expensive. Its no secret, I like my shiny bits too My EL head is steel and is chrome.

[Steph]

My guess is it's no cheaper here, maybe even more expensive considering we have the highest electricity prices in the world. But it is heaps cheaper if you prep and polish the parts yourself. Aluminium parts go straight through the plating process in my experience. Last time I plated my air filter cover (cut from standard 5mm aluminium plate) which was a LOT of work prepping for a mirror finish. All they did was hang and plate it. It came out looking like a mirror. I've never met a plater yet who will plate diecast pieces. They hate them. I had a small diecast piece off a bike carburetor that they refused to do last time. It was aluminium, so it still looks nice all polished up. I just prefer chrome because it never dulls.

[Steph]

I managed to find a seller in Japan who could find and sell me a set of 16 RS Watanabe wheel nuts and a set of 4 RS Watanabe valves to finish off the set.

I'm focusing on restoring the wheels now. Today I had the tires stripped off the rims and I got started on cleaning them up. I used oven cleaner which worked fine. I wouldn't go leaving it on overnight though, as it might ruin the aluminium finish. I already have a few cans of VHT Wheel Paint in silver and a couple of cans of VHT clear coat from their Wheel Paint range. With a fresh coat of paint and all new accessories, these wheels are going to look super JDM. RS Watanabe are one of the premier Japanese wheel manufacturers.

I also went tire shopping and settled on 4 Nankang NS2R 185/60R13. They're semi-slick racing tires. I'm going to wrap them in shrink wrap for storage to preserve the rubber until I'm ready to fit them. I don't want to get caught out with them discontinuing that size, which has happened with heaps of other manufacturers, so I figure I'll buy them now for peace of mind.

[Steph]

This week I've been scrubbing 40 years worth of oxidisation off my wheels. When I bought the wheels originally, I only repainted what you could see (the outsides), and left the insides 'black' (they were out of view). Obviously that would never pass for a show car, so I had to scrub it all off. I was pretty sure I wouldn't wear through the anodising using steel wool, so that's the way I went. I bought several packs of Steelo stainless steel wool buds and went to work. 3 days later, and some 21 buds of steel wool, I had finally cleaned all 4 inner rims. It was like a mega pot scrubbing session! I also stripped the paint off the centres, readying them for paint. It was a super messy job with the high pressure cleaner blasting bits of paint all over the back yard. In the end I had to pressure clean the back pavers and fence to get all the little flecks of paint off. This coming week I'll be repainting them with VHT SP181 Wheel Paint in their 'Aluminum' colour. Then it's off with the rear suspension components so I can ready them for chrome. At which stage I will run out of external things to chrome... then I'll likely move inside the car.

[Steph]

before and after pics

I should also mention that Autosol metal polish was a huge help

[bob78cvcc]

Is the inside of your oven this clean?

[Steph]

Is the inside of your oven this clean?

No... but I plan on cleaning it after I bake all my wheels in it.

After they get painted, each rim gets baked in the oven for an hour on the lowest setting. I've never noticed any residual smell after I've oven-cured parts, but I still clean the oven afterwards to be safe.

I've just this minute finished polishing the 2 brackets that hold the steering rack in place.

They took ages!

[Steph]

I started to prep my wheels for paint and an interesting thing happened...

I decided to polish them. On average it's taking me a week to clean up one wheel. That includes hours of Dremel work removing casting leftovers and poorly fettled areas, followed by many hours of sanding and shaping all the surfaces.

Below if a photo of the first wheel prepped and ready for polishing.

Polished wheels maketh the show car.