100% Road Princess

We have a portable chemmy loo also

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it lives on the Jimny roof rack when we travel, but you need to avoid hard braking nevertheless

I believe I have done it, I hold here in my mortal hand a nugget of purest green!

Attempt number 4 of the DIY nickel plating kit has resulted in a finish I am happy with.
Right had one is the best finish by far, no surface imperfections and it's now we'll adhered to the base metal. I could polish it bright (like Chrome), but intend to do some salt spray tests over the next few days to see if the rust resistance is good enough.


I have too much time on my hands

Nice one, Dumbledore....

Well done

Fitted Koni Heavy Track rear shocks today to the Jimny. In a side by side comparison with the Suzuki OEM shock I am happy to report that both compressed and extended length is exactly the same, which it should be for a OEM replacement product.
Compression is slightly faster than OEM but rebound is slower, so I have adjusted to give a similar compression rate.
Very happy with the quality from a visual point of view, and they fit perfect.

Even though I believed both Suzuki shocks were good, only lacking when towing, it obvious that one has failed totally, they should extend to full length when unloaded. No visible signs of oil leaks etc, but totally finished @ 50000 miles.
It goes some way to explain why suspension upgrades feel so good, usually by the time you do it your original equipment is past it's best.
8
Obviously it's a vast improvement over the stock system

Failed shock still compressed compared to fully extended.


All nice and fitted ready for waxoyl.

I started to put my home assembled plating kit to good use today, the rusty fittings on the Jimny all have a nice new layer of nickel. Here are the no longer rusty rear door lock screws and cone washers.


So was it worth the effort and cost on the Jimny ?
Cost NO - it's cheaper and easier to just go and get new screws even at Suzuki's inflated prices.

The main problem is getting the part to be plated clean, no rust, no grease. In order to achieve this you really need to get the rusty part blast cleaned first, something a lot of kits don't mention. So to achieve this I have purchased a parts tumbler with grit, so my total outlay including the original £38 is now £98.

So those three screws have cost £32.66 each

So was it worth the effort and cost for me?
Yes
In the current "stuck at home environment" it's kept me amused and every rusty bolt and nut on the Jimny is a viable target. It' will also to allow me to plate items on my classic bike restorations, in many cases you simply can't purchase a new item, so in this instance it's going the only option I have.

If anyone else ever feels the need to go down the same route more than happy to share the plating secrets I have discovered.

Stay safe and have fun.
Mike

Mike you can use similar methods for cleaning rust off, using washing powder or vinegar. Surely, the washing powder would degrease as well

LINK HERE

...And HERE

Great work.... think it's all about having a go sometimes and see what happens

I am 100% with you Max in thinking electrolytic cleaning would work, but I tried it and on its own and still had surface imperfections in the nickel .It still forms part of my cleaning process though, using soda crystals, but with some additional steps.
1) Tumble in grit
2) Electrolytic degrease
3) Acid dip
5) Plating
Must be many ways to achieve this but at the moment this appears to work for me. As a plus I can also use the tumbler for stone polishing (it's actually a cheap lapidary machine), another bonus hobby in these strange times.
Mike

I've been zinc plating for 4 years or so......cleaning is key for that.

Sodium Hydrogensulphate and Sodium Fluoride from Gateros plating
Variable current helped a huge amount.......still haven't got the olive green passivate to be classed as anything like good.
Not sure if zinc plating is the same as Nickel.... the Zn plated parts come out gleaming.

Link to Product

Thanks for the link Keithy.
I've been using cheap brick cleaner (it's acid), but I suspect it's not strong enough on its own, hence the tumbler. I'll certainly get some of the cleaner on order and give it a try. Nickel is a dull grey, but you can get it to shine, I just can't at the moment. Not a big problem on the parts I have plated, but I would like a shine if I can achieve it. Temperature may be my problem, I can't get the solution hot enough at the moment with my fish tank heater
Need to short out the thermostat or something.
Thanks
Mike

So today I replaced the fog lights that had ironically gone foggy !
As my Jimny is mainly fighting for space on urban roads I wanted to fit Daylight Running Lights (DRL) to assist other road users to spot me, so I obtained a set of combined DRL and Fogs to do both.
The DRL Fogs came via Car Mod Shop LTD in Sidmouth, a quick email confirmed they would fit the Jimny, which they did!

Old foggy fog lights


The new combined DRL and Fog actually fitted the Jimny holder with a minor modification. I had to remove the old fog idiot tab (prevents installation upside down), I cut it off, but once remove the new went straight in the holder. The fitted plug on the DRL (fog) is a direct fit into the Suzuki loom, you just need to get the marked polarity the correct way around. Black is earth, coloured cable is fog supply. The supplied extras single cable for the DRL light was integrated into the front loom, so it's all nice and tidy.


I've not connected the DRL element at this time, but I plan to use a single changeover relay with the normally close contact fed from the heater fuse. I believe this an IGN2 function, ie it is only active when the car ignition is in the position for running, but not connected during starting, when off, or in Aux postion. This will be the feed to the DRL light, but I'll check my assumption before I connect it. The coil of the relay will tap into the side light, so when the lights are on the relay will energise and disconnect the DRL feed.

The cheap DRL controller I had purchased would not function with my combination Fog /DRL as it is switching the negative feed, but it's something you can only determine once purchased, as no instructions are provided. It was cheap enough to be gutted for the waterproof connectors, so it has its use.

New Fog / DRL installed. Just waiting for it to go darker so I can adjust the beam position.