Opinions needed. Thinking of having my 72 grill surround and bumpers powder coated

[WIDESIDE72]

I have a 72 cheyenne, swb stepside. It is a "semi custom" with 3/4" static drop (my profile pic) when i first built it, money was tright so i reinstalled the oem grill surround, which I stripped and polished. I also reinstalled the factory chrome bumpers, which were kinda scratched, so i "polished" with wd40 and steel wool. They need rechroming but i am gun shy as the last bumper i had cost way to much, and started peeling shortly thereafter. I am thinking of having the grill surround and bumpers powdercoated "chrome silver". I think it wiuld go with my plum/ ruby color pretty well. Has anyone done this? Any photos? Any input?

[jocko]

Hmm. No photos, sorry. Usually cheaper to buy a bumper than re-chrome it. But some are cheapos in quality also. Is there a reason you want to keep the original bumper with all the other mods you've made? I'm curious to see pics also. One thought on this that would deter me from this move, even if it looks good - durability. Once scratched, not much you can do about it. Chrome won't scratch that easily.

[WIDESIDE72]

I have considered aftermaket bumpers but have never been happy witht the quality of reproduction bumpers. That is why i dont list it as an option. My experience is that they do not fit as well as stock, usually dont have the correct contours and are thinner.

[bs46488]

subscribing, I have the same problem/issue, so I'm curious what people have to say.

[WIDESIDE72]

If i have time, i may make some calls tomorrow and see about cost. That way i can see if that will be a contributing factor to my decision or not.

[un4gvn!]

When powder coating the outer grille, would it warp from the heat to cure the paint? If not, I was going to have my 69 grille coated. There is not a ding or scratch on it. But the anodizing looks like crap. I was always to scared to have it get destroyed by the heat. I hope someone can chime in and offer some advice.

[robs71]

Surround on this truck has been powder coated..no warping

[robs71]

Rear bumper powder coated

[Dieselwrencher]

I think the powder coating is worth a shot. Most of the new after market chrome front bumpers I've seen are thinner than OEM and don't take any bumps to crease them.

[In The Ten Ring]

I have never had anything powder coated but I have a 1972 Chevy. I know powder coating requires cooking in an oven so I doubt the grill surround could take it.

Mine had a few dings, scratches, and the anodizing was crap. I took it to a metal polisher in New Kinsington, Maryland and the guy glass bead blasted it and polished it like a mirror. Now I will have to polish it a few times a year but 10 months inside my living room and it's still shiny as a mirror.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Not happy to hear some re-chrome flakes away. I wonder how common?

Personally, unless I find a better bumper I'm having it re-chromed. My outer grille looks great but it's not perfect. From what I understand, a great option is to strip it down with oven cleaner, sand out any scratches and clear coat. Couldn't tell you what grit sand-paper.

[In The Ten Ring]

I must applaud your plans to rechrome your original bumper. I have reused every part I could from my truck, even down to each bolt that had good threads.

For me, my original bumpers were painted white, so I don't have to worry about chrome/rechrome issues. At one time I wanted to "chrome up" the truck but now, I want to be as OEM as possible. Good luck on your rechrome plan. Godspeed and hit us with before and after pics!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

I must applaud your plans to rechrome your original bumper. I have reused every part I could from my truck, even down to each bolt that had good threads.

For me, my original bumpers were painted white, so I don't have to worry about chrome/rechrome issues. At one time I wanted to "chrome up" the truck but now, I want to be as OEM as possible. Good luck on your rechrome plan. Godspeed and hit us with before and after pics!

Be the last thing I do on this truck. I need to re-chrome the rear as well. Couldn't tell you what it will cost, but $1000 wouldn't shock me at all. This build will be all original nuts and bolts, or 99% of it anyway. I've been lucky, they clean-up like new. I'm hoping to have the hardware finished black zinc phosphate. Hopefully it's within driving distance, I really don't want to mail these. Lots of time invested.

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Be the last thing I do on this truck. I need to re-chrome the rear as well. Couldn't tell you what it will cost, but $1000 wouldn't shock me at all. This build will be all original nuts and bolts, or 99% of it anyway. I've been lucky, they clean-up like new. I'm hoping to have the hardware finished black zinc phosphate. Hopefully it's within driving distance, I really don't want to mail these. Lots of time invested.

I should probably get every bolt redone but then I'd have to mail each one off separately since I'd mix them all up if I sent them off at once.

I have been soaking all the bolts in Evaporust, washing off with the hose, turning on the wire wheel, and spraying with NAPA Rust Treatment. I then put those into a ziplock bag with a label as to where they go. I hope that's a good thing to do. Most weren't rusty anyway, just grimy. A few were really gone though, threads completely lost. A few broke off, like on the passenger side inner fender. Those were tossed also.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by In The Ten Ring

I should probably get every bolt redone but then I'd have to mail each one off separately since I'd mix them all up if I sent them off at once.

I have been soaking all the bolts in Evaporust, washing off with the hose, turning on the wire wheel, and spraying with NAPA Rust Treatment. I then put those into a ziplock bag with a label as to where they go. I hope that's a good thing to do. Most weren't rusty anyway, just grimy. A few were really gone though, threads completely lost. A few broke off, like on the passenger side inner fender. Those were tossed also.

I pretty well do the same thing. If there's any sign of rust I soak em overnight in white vinegar/water, maybe 80/20 mix. I then brush them off a bit, wash and dry. Then I soak them in WD-40. Rust or not, anything that needs to be cleaned soaks in WD-40. I then brush them to perfect, wash, blow dry and put em away for another day. Doesn't take long now that I have a system, the oil really makes it easy, they come out great........

To answer your question, if the part looks good I don't know why your system wouldn't work. Assuming the Evaporust isn't harmful, it's not as if you compromised integrity. There are cheaper solutions though, pardon the pun. That said, I do wonder if the white vinegar is harmful. Doesn't appear to be.

I record the size of every screw and bolt down to thread count. I ended up with about 300 cigarette hard packs . The packs really keep things organized and things are easy to locate if I have to. When I'm ready I'll double-check everything, inventory and throw everything into a pile. It's real tedious, but I'd rather do it than not.

A lot of the hardware is similar. Some know these trucks so well they can look at any screw and know exactly what it's for. I'm not there yet, but I will be. Like I said, very tedious.

[CG]

Scott Sullivans "Cheese Whizz" 55 Chevy brushed all the chrome on his car (painted the bumpers) and it had the look of the chrome powder coat. I think it looked really great.

I think one of our trucks 67-68 or 71-72 that had all the trim, including door handles and window trim chrome powder coated would be a good look, especially if you had a decent paint job. I thought about it on my 4x4. I looked at a lot of pictures and thought it was a good match to my polished mags, tie it all together.