I went out and started my truck. backed it out into the sun light. when I looked at the engine my shinny edelbrock had turned white. it looks like oxidation. how can I clean it without taking it apart
Is it polished? If so any aluminum polish will work to clean it up. My heads, valve covers and intake are all polished aluminum. Their a real pain in the a$$ to keep up with. I usually use mothers. I bought some fancy stuff from a car show once but it was over priced. Mothers works fine.
After polishing, use Zoopseal. I Zoopsealed the polished aluminum wheels, valve covers, and dry sump tank on my dirt late model once per season, and it stayed shiny and never oxidized or blushed.
hey,I have a set of 22.5 wheels on my duelle and the best thing I found to get ride of oxadation is a concentrate alluimun cleaner for pontune boats,you can find it at most boat suppy stores,mix it half cleaner half water in a spray bottle,when you spray it on the part your cleaning should start to turn white[foamy]it helps to use a fine grain brillow pad to cut,but this will only work if the part was polished to begin with,other wise it will just clean it and turn the allunium back that brite silver color,ohya in case you dont know ,wear some gloves,I hope this helped;;;;;;dave
I know what aluminum can do if it sits for some time so I always clear coat my cast intakes so it will not turn on me. My 51 Ford that I am selling/fixing to finish and give to my daughter has been sitting for 2 years and I noticed the intake looks like it did when I installed it but the rest of the aluminum including the carb needs to be cleaned (turning white also) I am going to the boat shop and see if I can get that pontoon boat cleaner that has been mentioned. Sounds like it will do the job perfectly and if you have an as cast intake it might be the ticket for cleaning it.
When we rebuild carbs we often use a product called PigSpit. It is most often found at Harley. It is a spray that doesn't attract dust, but brings color back to metal and paint. Most motorcycles guys use it to detail the engines and all the little stuff that is hard to get to. It takes a couple of minutes to dry/evaporate but it doesn't leave a nasty film like when you buy a used car from a car lot and the guys clearcoat the engine compartment. Good luck, and hope this helps!
The white stuff is oxidation, you need to remove it, and carb cleaner only removes grease/oil/varnish type stuff. If you want to use any type of aluminum wheel cleaner, you should make darn sure what it is first, some of them are caustic and will make it even worse Posts like this remind me why I like AZ so much...aluminum stays nice looking here, we don't get that white stuff like you do in humid areas
It actually cleaned any coating left on the carb and made way for the oxidation. Now you need to clean it good and seal it. A lot of mag wheel cleaners will take any coating off and promote oxidation. Learned this the hard way on some M/C wheels.
What iv'e always done is find a good quality aluminum polish to remove any oxidation then get a liquid wax and wax your polished aluminum to protect it. works extremely well.
Just remember if it turns green, you have to cut it off, because it's gangrene and will spread... and if it's red, make sure it's not lipstick.
put plain old vinegar in a spray bottle & spray away,(doesn't take much) let it sit then wash it off.When it dries hit it with some clear, it'll never turn white again. JimV
I love Simichrome...we use it all the time in the plastic injection molding industry...call all the local cycle shops and find who sells it...for those hard to reach spots on your carb, nothing beats Simichrome on a Q-Tip...
I went on line found pig spit it talked about black crinkle paint, plastic and leather. I didn't see anything about aluminum.
I found www.pigspit.com to be their actual site. It shows using it on just about everything. If the carb is oxidized it will not remove the oxidation, but if it is dull the stuff brightens up parts really well.
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