blank

MM,

1. Don't know of anyone personally who has tried re-plating a nickel-plated liner. You might try to talk to Bob Oge and see if he's tried it and what he found out.

2. I've seen two ABN liners that gave up. One was on a Stunt Hanger purchase that the guy said was new. He got the boxes confused. This .25 engine was not new and was slightly gummed up. Looking thru the exhaust port, noted that the plating had peeled in one spot. Probably 3/16" wide and maybe 3/8" long. Approximate, since this was a few years ago. When it flaked, it jammed and scored the piston. I just scrapped that one and purchased a replacement. Can't say what was the cause of the failure. The second one was a brand-new-from-the-hobby-shop purchase--a famed OS .46LA-S. That engine was never right. Liner didn't peel and flake so much as it wore thru in a very short amount of time. I was pretty disgusted with it, so I just cleaned up the bore a bit around the edges of the plating and the metal smearing. It ran better afterwards, but that engine was just an unhappy set of parts. Have had no issues with any of the other 4 or 5 LA's I've been running. All the way from the .15, .25, .40 and 46.

3. You might have to strip the original nickel plating and start over from the bare liner. And you'll have to make room for the chrome, and have the custom fixtures to get the throw you need....  I think you said you had the equipment to accurately hone the bore? If you are working with damaged parts, you might best go for an optimum thickness of thin dense chrome and then lap the piston to fit?

Good luck with this if you decide to pursue it. There might be a lot of parts out there to resuscitate. More than just the ones in my junk barrel....

The Divot

If it won't attack the zinc in brass--which surprises me--then it sounds like it's worth a try.

Dave