Ok, Say You just scored a Sweet Chevelle, with a Sweet motor, and you want to clean it up a bit..... It has an alluminum intake and carb, but they are dirty and corroded from dampness.... What's the best way to clean it? I don't want to take it apart, I just want to clean it in the car. Is there some magic solution I can spray? I don't need it to be perfect, just freshened up a bit. Thanks, Bob
A combination of first electrical contact cleaner, than carb cleaner and high pressure water hose has worked for me. Might have to use a brush on stubborn areas.
"GUNK" carb cleaner for the aluminum intake and a coin operated car wash, maybe a little foamy engine brite, and it will be looking good........ if its really bad.... Dupli-color Cast coat aluminum paint sprayed from 12-16" away ......LUKE
The Dollar Car Wash that I just used the other day had a selection for "engine cleaner". It came out green! It worked quite well on the aluminum manifold I was working on. pigpen
Pink Stuff, Green Stuff, Regular soap if it's strong, Gunk. The secret is to warm the engine first, then the grease just runs.
Thanks, its not so greasy it's more corrosion.... The car has been stored outside for a few winters.... The stuff is crusty from standing, not use.
Heah bad *** car builder. This thread might help. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56802
Believe it or not WD-40 works pretty good for dispersing corrosion on aluminum.I used it in the Navy to keep corrosion from forming on bomb rack mechanisms and drop tanks.Salt water spray really does a number on them.
I don't think that there was a real conclusion to that thread. If anyone has a good answer for cleaning up a corroded aluminum intake while it's still in place, I'd like to hear about it. --Matt
You must have been an AO. They told us in the AE shop that WD40 was corrosive and not to use it. We couldn't get it through the supply system. I don't think that it's really corrosive. They probably didn't want to pay for yet another popular ***shaw item. pigpen
Does it have ammonia in it? The Navy may have been right. They usually were, and picky about their airplanes too! pigpen
Most polishes and cleaners that contain ammoniates or any other form of anhydrous have been banned in military and federally funded establishments for some time. It just takes a long time to trickle down to ground level. Any form of anhydrous is also banned on airframes and any airframe structure or securing system that contains Zinc. Which is how aircraft stripper came about.
polisher, so, what please is the answer to this question? I have not found anything that will clean an aluminum manifold to new as-cast cleanliness, nuttin. is it possible?
I second the motion on Aluminum Mag cleaner.. some eagle one.. may be a bit abrasive but it will strip the corrosion off that manifold.. a little bit of paint off the rocker covers but what heck.. your probably gonna paint em anyway... right?
As far as I know it doesn't contain ammonia.It was being used extensively in the Navy when I was in(64-67)and yes I was a,"BB Stacker".
I was in from '63 to '84. I seem to remember that they banned the WD sometime in the '70's. Forget about the corrosion. Lets go bomb somebody!(Check out www.vf-114.org) pigpen
Those F-4 pics bring back a few memories.The outfit I was in was the All Services Evaluation Group stationed in Patuxent River.About half of our aircraft were Phantoms(F-4A#13,F-4B's and two F-4G Data Link birds)as well as a couple F-8's,A-4's,an A-6 and A-7,OV-1 and OV-10 and several helos).We did mostly weapons systems evaluations although there were several other projects having to do with radar reflections(stealth)and spin recovery techniques.Worked a lot with guys from Wright Pat and China Lake as well as civilian engineers.An interesting time in my life.
Dupont metal prep.....It's for steel but works great on aluminum if you use one of those little br*** brushes....Make sure to rinse off with water before it dries......
I did two different tours at NAS Pt Mugu, part of the Pacific Missle Range. Also velley interestink. Also had to work with Sand Crabs sometimes. One supervisor from Raytheon was queer as a three dollar bill. Gives new meaning to the phrase "Watch Your ***"! pigpen
There's not really a cleaner that removes corrosion unless it's a decent polish. And to ne honest, 95% of them are a waste of money. If you just want to clean it up 00 wire wool will probably do the job in this instance as well as anything. Maybe us a little WD40 on it to make it slip and give the aluminum a nice sheen. That's about the fastest and easiest way to get a finish. The WD40 will tend to make it gather dust though. I use my metal polish and restorer with wire wool on real cruddy aluminum. If I can't use my tools on it. Sometimes it can be easier and more of what you want if you don't want to go crazy and really polish it.
I've used regular oven cleaner on motorcycle engines with decent results. (And no ill effects by the way) Also, there used to be a product out called Aluminum Jelly that worked pretty well. It was made by the same company that made/makes Naval Jelly but didn't work real well on navels, only aluminum. pigpen I just did a search. Aluminum jelly is still avialable. See www.loc***eproducts.com
so I thought I would test a few of these suggestions, the Aluminum Jelly was not very effective niether was the oven cleaner, carb cleaner, metal prep or soap and water best results while not what I would hope for was at least what Bob was asking for, to "freshen up a bit" was with mag wheel cleaner for rough cast wheels. followed the directions, lather, rinse, repeat.
I took a chance and used it on this distributor, being carefull not to get it inside, rinsed it well and dried it real good..
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