I'm returning a 340 motor back to stock. The previous owner chromed the valve covers, pulleys and air cleaner lid some 30 years ago. I thought I would simply sandblast the chrome off. I tried it tonight and the chrome is surprisenly tough. It can be done but it's going to be a lot of work. Is there a home brew that will remove it? Should I take it to a chrome shop and have it stripped? Pretty pricey? Anybody been down this road? Thanks.

Soak in Drano.

I have a motorcycle shop and have parts dechromed occasionally.Pretty cheap at a chrome plating shop,especially compared to having parts plated.For example,a set of handlebars is around $15-$20 to have stripped.Just be courteous and degrease your covers before taking them to be stripped.You would either have to pay more or take them back and clean them anyway!

Agreed..A chrome plating shop has the proper chemicals to strip them without damage..

Thanks for the replies. I'll take them to a chrome shop.

As choming is a process that uses electricity, I'd think that dechroming would do the same.

Brute force methods like sandblasting will probably ruin the substrate, in your case, valve covers etc.

R.

I had a friend that dechromed bearings for the rail road, and it involved a strong soap solution, AND a electrical current.

The chrome shop here charged me well over $100 to remove the chrome off my Hemi Valvecovers, they told me they couldn't remove the nickel plating or copper however. I don't know if they're just a bunch of procks or if that's true. Anyway it wasn't worth it, I can tell you that.

Sheldon

I did these for a customer last week it was $50 to remove the chrome and the powder coaters charged $80 to wrinkle coat them

I had a set of Hemi valve covers de-chromed here in Spokane last week. They had a really thick plate job from back in the day. It cost $120.00 for the pair to get them to bare steel, the Nickel removal was the largest part of the removal cost. You can just have the chrome stripped for less and safely paint the Nickel as paint will stick to it pretty well. I wanted to get this set back to basics for a high end restoration, otherwise I would have left the Nickel.

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I did these for a customer last week it was $50 to remove the chrome and the powder coaters charged $80 to wrinkle coat them

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I wonder if your customer realizes that he has two passenger sides there?

haha your right scott. never even paid attention. not paid to think. just to blast.

Chris: I probably asked you about that and then forgot, sorry man, I'll use you next time.

Sheldon

no worries Sheldon.