whats better? Polished or chrome?

How ouch should i pay for one?

Is there any disadvantages?

Thanks.

Bird

They are the same thing arnt they?

Chrome can look better, but personally I would stick to Polished. Most Shiney Plenums in the UK are Polished.

 

Chroming is more expensive, as to chrome the plenum first you need to get it polished anyway. Otherwise the finish would be terrible after chroming.

 

Chrome radiates heat more than just polished, so perhaps not so good for engine cooling (no proof of any heating issues though). but biggest problems is that If the chrome finish gets scratched or damaged or even flakes of due to the heat you would have to get the whole thing rechromed again.

 

Whereas with Polishing if its gets scratched..etc it can just be buffed out.

Same look tho a?

Same look tho a?

 

Both shiney, but different shine

I've polished a few for friends on here in the past (and without blowing my own trumpet toooo much, did a bloody good job of 'em) but gave it a rest for a while as it's ridiculously time consuming, people generally don't want to pay for all your effort and I've grown quite attached to the skin on my knuckels again..lol :D ;)

 

I'd definately go down the polishing route rather than chroming for exactly the reasons Dave outlined.

 

In the finest Blue Peter tradition, "here's one I made earlier"

 

(I hardly ever did the TB's and linkage. The above was a one off ;))

That Leigh is a very impressive bit of polishing !

That Leigh is a very impressive bit of polishing !

 

Ta very much Dave! :D :)

Think that one was the one John saw me working on when he was over and I kept threatening to sully his, then VG30DETT'ed Z32, with some...gasp...bling!

 

I'm still glad he didn't hit me...lol!

 

:D ;)

Did you use any power tools on that or is it all done by hand, it took me long enough to get a bit of a shine on the cas, how many hours did you put into the plenum.

whats best for the engine? Leaving it cast or doesn't it make much difference?

Leigh- im only on my mobile but that looks really impressive like.

Anyone have any for sale before i think about buying

A polishing wheel

Did you use any power tools on that or is it all done by hand, it took me long enough to get a bit of a shine on the cas, how many hours did you put into the plenum.

 

Jesus, I wouldn't like to do one entirely by hand! ;)

As far as how many hours...I honestly don't know. A lot! lol. I did it in my spare time over the course of a couple of weeks, putting in about an hour a day, more at the weekends.

I took mine to a metal polisher near me, it cost £80 and only took him a couple of days, it was a mirror finish though and i was well pleased with it. I think BAZZ took his there so you could ask him what his was like and for pics and prices. I'll try and find the pics i took of mine if i still have them.

Here's the one i had done.

Or you can try this :)Polish and then surround with chrome:cool:

thats too much^

Chrome radiates heat more than just polished.

 

Actually not so. If you look at the radiating efficiencies of say a domestic heating radiator then you'll see that a trendy looking chromed radiator radiates about 60% less heat than a non-chromed radiator. I'm pretty sure that's how inefficient chrome radiators are but I believe Robert (Dunk300zxtt) can fill in the details as he's in that business (IIRC).

 

A polished plenum will require more maintenance than a chromed plenum due tot he fact that a polished plenum will tarnish over time. Nothing a bit of Autosol won't solve but still, a pain if you have to keep polishing the plenum every couple of months or so.

 

The quality of chromed items depends entirely on the preparation of the item as well on the amount of chrome applied (measured in microns). If the plenum isn't polished well enough or cleaned/degreased properly then no matter how much chrome you apply it'll eventually start to peel off and in my opinion will look a lot worse than a polished plenum which you need to keep polishing.

 

Just my 2p worth.

 

Dan

Or you can try this :)Polish and then surround with chrome:cool:

 

Vinzzy you show off :rofl:

 

thats too much^

 

I love under vinz's bonnet :D :duffer:

Vinzzy you show off :rofl:

 

 

 

I love under vinz's bonnet :D :duffer:

 

He just likes looking in the mirror at himself lol