There’s an old Harley rider’s saying, “If it don’t go, chrome it.” If you’re like this writer, it’s hard to just leave well enough alone. There is something about being a detail-oriented fanatic. To some it’s considered a curse, to others a blessing… it just depends on your point of reference. So it is only natural for RV enthusiasts to be divided into two groups when looking at a chromed and detailed Cummins ISC. Group one will ask, “Why?” Group two will nod with approval and say, “Cool, why not?”

If you are in the first group, nothing said here will make any sense of the hours of planning, work and expense to make an engine look clean and shiny. Not to mention the countless hours required to maintain that look. So no explanations are offered. However, if you are in the second group, it requires no explanation. It makes perfect sense. The glowing mass of engineering marvel, which rumbles to life and carries us to destinations which only our imaginations can conceive, belongs coated in an artful display of chrome and paint. Encased and immortalized, a shrine to its own. After all, what is art?

So what is the process that makes an engine look like this? It’s really quite simple. Start by finding a great chrome plater. Not just any plater. One who can do steel and aluminum. Show quality triple plating. Start by attending some car shows, air shows, and boat shows. If you want a perfect job, ask a fanatic where he got his work done. This means a shop that has a very talented polisher to strip and polish the metal surface to be plated.

If you don’t have this important element all the other steps are for naught. Then, a clean and careful application of copper, followed by nickel, and finally chrome. Only to be polished again to the beautiful shine that makes chrome, chrome.

Once you have a plater, it’s just a matter of making a decision of which parts to plate. If you don’t mind eight to twelve weeks downtime, just take the parts off the engine and send them to the plater. If there are travel plans in the near future, it will mean buying duplicate parts. We went the way of choice two. Of course, the newly chromed parts will look out of place reattached by bolts and nuts that are painted, so they all go along to the chrome plater’s shop. Always include a few extra nuts and bolts, small items get lost and damaged easier than you can imagine.

The thing is, once the process starts, it never stops. The chromed coolant inlets and outlets need new hoses — blue would look nice. Oh, and don’t forget new stainless steel clamps to go with those. And hey, the clamps sure look a lot nicer if the stainless steel is polished. Speaking of polished stainless steel, some parts are just not practical to chrome plate. Take the engine boost tubes and radiator fan shroud, for example. They are too large for most plater’s tanks, and it would be a sin to just leave them painted. Hey, not a problem. We’ll just use the old parts as templates and make new parts from stainless steel, then polish the metal to a chrome-like finish. Sound time consuming and expensive? You have no idea. Let’s just say, for the record, it’s way too expensive for your wife to know about, if you want to stay married.

Cast iron doesn’t plate well and paint on an exhaust manifold, not to mention a turbo housing, won’t last. What to do? Thermal barrier coatings have been used in the racing world for decades and have a proven track record (pun intended). They are offered in a variety of colors, so get creative. We have experience that tells us silver holds up the best and gives a clean finished look to the rusting appearance of cast iron.

Don’t forget to color-match the hydraulic lines and fittings with the rest of the newly designed canvas. (I warned you, it never stops — ever.)

Even after all the chroming, polishing and coating is completed, there’s still hours and hours of cleaning and detailing that follows. However, if you’re like me, that sort of thing is enjoyable. More than once, as I was in the process of cleaning the engine at a RV park, someone from group one stopped and asked, “How do you keep it so clean?”

Repeat after me, “Wax on… wax off.”