Chromed manual balance tube

Another pic, this time of an NA balance tube (LHD).


As you can see, there's only the boss and not the 90 degree tube coming from the end.
The two pics in the previous post are that of two balance tubes from TT's (RHD and LHD)

 

I had three different ones after the tt conversion and spent a while trying to figure it out.

As far as I know theres three variations:


-TT manual- has the fat 90 degree to clutch booster. Extra vacc line for recirc
-TT auto- no clutch booster, extra small vacc line for recirc
-NA manual- no clutch booster so its blocked off on the end, and one less vacc line than the tt alternatives

As for the NA auto, i didnt have one so am not sure. But im assuming its the same as NA manual. No clutch booster, no recirc vacc line.

 

No clutch booster hose fitting on the end of the NA Manual balance tube?
Where (or how) did the clutch get it's vaccum assist from?

 

Both of my balance tubes have the same fittings.

Fittings are 2 on one side,1 on the other and nothing on the end(due to no clutch-AUTO)

Current one I have is a RHD TT Auto and the chromed LHD one I purchased is below.

 

I believe the chromed LHD one you have would also work for a LHD 5sp as their vaccum assist would be located on the opposite end and therefore that extra 90 degree tube on the end couldn't be utilized anyway.

 

maybe its the brake booster, im not sure. But either way, my na manual didnt have the large fitting on the end.

 

Is there a gold chrome service available?

 

If you have some, I would mind seeing a few pics of your brake/clutch hoses that connect to the balance tube / plenum.

 

Not through me. And it wouldn't be "gold chrome", it would be gold plating, which may or may not be done in conjunction with bright nickel. For what its worth, this is not done with just gold, but with a salt called gold potassium cyanide, which is electrolytically applied, and is the same process used in gold plating watches, costume jewellery etc. There will be other platers that do it. The mob I work for used to gold plate plastic Toyota badges for export, but the payback didn't match the cost.

 

$70 for me to get it chromed - plus postage from Townsville to me, and then back again. I don't have a stock of spares to work with - as stated earlier in this thread, there simply wasn't enough interest for me to go down that path.

 

Mikey,

If you are doing another lot, I'll send you a balance pipe to get chromed. Need one in the convertible too.

 

Well i'm interested, I have a spare balance pipe so i'm not too worried about how long return times would be.

I do have a few questions though,

Is this a G/B price or individual price (not looking for cheaper, just wondering if i need to wait for others to be interested)

Do I need to remove the paint or give the pipe a sand or anything or is this covered?

Cheers,

Adam

 

Stef, Adam, John, and anyone else interested ....

I will definitely be doing another run of chrome plating. I have an NA P/S reservoir, coil pack brackets, a set of timing cover bolts and various other bits for myself, for others, and for sale.

However, we are close to Christmas, and I will be off to Perth as usual. At this stage, unless anyone has particularly critical timing issues, I am best off leaving it till January. If I can leave it all to be done as part of one big batch, there will most likely be savings - for instance, the balance tube might go from $70 to $55 if I get enough stuff.

My plater does not quote me individual prices per item. I take a box of stuff to him, he checks it out, and might quote $500.00 for the lot. I then work out individual costs roughly based on the size or surface area of each item.

All parts have paint, grease and grime removed as part of the process. As a rule, I have not had any parts polished prior to the chroming process. However, the ends of the balance tube would benefit from this see pics below. Please note that this polishing process does cost extra, and I am not sure how much - or of course you could do it yourself. The $70 maximum quoted above is cleaning and chroming only, no pre-polishing.

The balance tube ends have a rough, stippled surface. The one I sold earlier this year was chromed only - these ends were not polished. The one I replaced it with did have the ends polished, but as this was part of a job lot done for me only, I didn't get the specific cost to polish the ends.

Compare the 2 pics below.





If any further questions, please post here or PM.

Cheers, Mikey.

 

I'm in no hurry whatsoever. I've got plenty of parts so if a lot of bits only cost a bit more than a few bits, I'll send you a lot.

 

.. mikey ...

i could be interested in having a spare balance pipe chromed .. no rush so will keep an eye on this thread ....

.. as with stef, will also check for other bits i have that could do with chroming ...

 

I'm not in a rush at all either, just was curious!

I will likely have more to get chromed than just my balance tube but i'll work that out closer to the time, just make sure to send me a PM a bit before you plan to do the chromage so I can sort my stuff out!

Thanks heaps mike.

Cheers,

Adam

 

Hey Mikey,
If you're looking at selling the NA power steering reservoir, can I have first dibs on it ..I assume there's no difference between auto/manual?

Also I have the following parts as spares, that I was planning on getting chromed:
- CAS
- Plenum
- Coolant hardpipes

Any chance I could get them done in your planned January batch? I assume the plenum and coolant hardpipes will require polishing prior?

 

Renee,

The NA p/s reservoir is for Douggie. However, it is a floating spare I have - after getting that done, once Doug swaps over, I can get his plated for you, and then I can yours plated for .... probably me, 'cos by then I might be ready to lose HICAS. Depending on how quickly Doug wants it done, he may be willing to swap places with you.

The plater I use doesn't plate aluminium, so that rules out the coolant pipes, CAS and plenum, and anyway, to get a good job, yes they would all need polishing first. Quite apart from that, there is no way I would want to drop a CAS into chroming baths; I would just stick to polishing that. Maybe it disassembles so that just the housing could be done though.

Keep on blingin', Mikey.

 

Thanks for that Mikey..
Might have to get my 3 things done at the Bendigo plating place..they charged me $130 to do my intake pipes...so hopefully it wont cost me a fortune ...

Either way, I still need to get a power steering reservoir done..so I'm happy to get Dougies one once he is done with it