Selene - Nev's NB SE

[Nevyn72]

so for the cost benefit i think you did quite well.

This is pretty much the crux of the matter Dave, I really had my heart set on Chrome but couldn't justify spending ridiculous amounts of money on it given it's not even going to be remotely approaching 'show car' status.

At the end of the process, by installing it myself, I'll have my chrome bar for roughly the same cost as I was quoted having a powder coated one installed by MX5+ themselves.
It's far too easy to end up spending inappropriate amounts of money on what is basically a 10 year old car......

[Tristan_ACT]

It's far too easy to end up spending inappropriate amounts of money on what is basically a 10 year old car......

Truth!!! lol

Also my two cents, looks great mate.

[Nevyn72]

Ok, so now some follow-up thoughts on Chroming the roll-bar.....

If you wish to do something similar to what I have done you have three things you need to consider;

1) The finish is determined by the prep work you do!
If you want that classic Chrome 'mirror' finish you will need to do a LOT of prep work......If you have the tools and skills it's going to take quite some time as you will need to sand then linish then polish every single bit of the bar. The plating is only very thin so the finish you hand over will the finish you will end up with so it's got to gleam.
Otherwise you could get the shop to do it, but it will have to be done entirely by hand so very labour intensive and it's going to cost a lot of $$$$.

2) Electroplating such a large and complex piece will result in an uneven coverage of chrome, nothing you can do about it unfortunately, electrons will travel by the most direct path so some parts of the bar will always be in 'shadow' and hence not plated properly. These areas will have to be subsequently treated in some manner to protect from corrosion.
The shop told me the only way around this is to plate smaller, less complex components and weld or bolt them together later on which was not an option with this piece.

3) Electroplating fluid will seep into otherwise sealed parts of structure!
I had to drill some holes today to drain this fluid out of welded shut sections of the tubing. This will be followed up with periods of work with compressed air to properly dry out the chambers before I can properly clean the bar before installation.
It would be best if these holes could be pre-drilled before the plating is done in the first place thus minimising the amount of time the fluid is in contact with untreated surfaces.


While I am happy with the finished product I have, given my expectations weren't very high, many would not be.
You will need to consider carefully the above three limitations I encountered if you wanted to chrome a bar yourself and decide if you could live with the result.

Two potential work arounds would be;
- a simpler design of bar -> easier to prep & more even coverage of chrome.
- A stainless steel bar -> no chroming, just polishing but likely much more expensive.


I'll post pictures when the bar is installed, hopefully in the next couple of weeks when I'm on holidays.

[Lokiel]

Thanks for the brutally honest and comprehensive evaluation/write-up.

This is something I originally wanted to do but due to the cost involved deemed that it wasn't worth it since I wanted a showroom finish.

Your first picture of the rollbar looks great and it's only the closeups that you really note the blemishes so I'm guessing it's going to look quite good mounted on the car (so hurry up and mount it already).

[Nevyn72]

A couple more deliveries today!

The Nopro washer bottle relocation kit finally turned up, I suppose the delay was to be expected with most of the World shutting down over Xmas/New Year.....
Now I only need one more item for the hot side engine bay alterations, a replacement oil catch-can. C'mon Dann where's your solution? May need to look for an alternative if he takes too much longer.

The Chrome fuel filler lid also arrived, at least this time they sent right one!

I'm now on holidays and have a window of a few days before other commitments take over.....
So today I'll head out for some materials & tool purchases to help do some work on the car, I'll also finish prepping the roll-bar for install. I want to give the whole thing a really good polish as I won't be able get at a lot of areas when it's installed. I also want to seal up the areas which didn't get good chrome coverage with a clear coat so hopefully I won't get corrosion down the track.

Then tomorrow it's time to tackle the install of the roll-bar, should be fun...... Will have to charge up the camera methinks....

[MX5noob]

Wow, you car has transformed in the space of just over a month! Kudos for tackling the work yourself too- I wish I had the time!

I like the MX5 Plus rollbars too- but shipping it down here and getting someone to paint and install them is something I don't have time for- I think I'll just order a BD.

[Nevyn72]

Wow, you car has transformed in the space of just over a month! Kudos for tackling the work yourself too- I wish I had the time!

I like the MX5 Plus rollbars too- but shipping it down here and getting someone to paint and install them is something I don't have time for- I think I'll just order a BD.

Hahaha.... not quite, I haven't actually done much yet..... but I've accumulated a lot of parts ready to be installed with even more inbound.....

Don't rule out the MX5+ bar, they can send it down to you pre-powder coated and any competent panel beater will be able to install it for you..... for a price!

[Nevyn72]

Well that was a great way to waste most of the day!

Trying to find someone who had a right angle adapter fitting for a drill.....

My two new least favorite phrases are now;
"Sorry, we're out of stock"
"Sorry we don't stock that anymore"

Will have to get the rest of the stuff tomorrow morning, need to get the bar prepped this afternoon so it's ready for tomorrow.....

[Nevyn72]

.
.
The bar has now been all masked up and clear coated in the areas where the chroming hadn't taken properly.





Going to have to clean it all up again to get rid of the residue from the masking tape, amazing how well it shows on the chrome.....
And that's another thing I've learned about a chrome bar, it's going to be a real bugger to keep clean!

I gave up on the polishing early on as every area that I did wasn't really any shinier but promptly got finger marks all over it when handled.
Given it's going to handled a fair bit during the install I'll just clean and polish it as best as I can when it's in.

That's it for today, tomorrow should be interesting when I try to get the beastie actually installed!

[Nevyn72]

After 7 hours of frustration, aggravation, dodgy instructions, nasty surprises and creative solutions the roll bar is finally in!

Too nackered to say much else at the moment, will write it up with more pictures in the next couple of days.
Now it's time for Pizza and a relax!

Here's a couple of quick pics, but the beastie desperately needs a clean......

EDIT: Let's try a different way to post those pictures.....

[shuey]

It looks good!
Any pics of the work in progress?

Gargh… I want one too

[Nevyn72]

It looks good!
Any pics of the work in progress?

Gargh… I want one too

Yep! Lots.... I'll post them with my write-up including all the tricks, traps and deficiencies of the instructions relating to an install on an NB.
The instructions seem to be written for a NA and there are actually quite a few differences, not to mention all the things that aren't even mentioned for the install process....

[ManiacLachy]

Looks awesome!

[MadMikey]

Would love to hear those tips Nev. I kinda feel too embarrased to admit that my mx5+ bar has been sitting for over a year (!!!) in my lounge room just waiting to get installed, I'm usually bad with these types of installs so I've been quite unmotivated with it.

[Nevyn72]

Would love to hear those tips Nev. I kinda feel too embarrased to admit that my mx5+ bar has been sitting for over a year (!!!) in my lounge room just waiting to get installed, I'm usually bad with these types of installs so I've been quite unmotivated with it.

Here you go.....

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=61936

Hope it doesn't scare you off as the results are well worth the effort!