I learned the hard way that polished and non polished aluminum oxidizes when you leave a car in say an enclosed trailer over the winter. When spring rolls around you find yourself spending countless hours polishing the oxidation off of intakes, carbs, and heads. I found a great preventative! WD-40 sprayed on these parts gives a great coating that doesn't even need to be cleaned off come spring....just a tip to save ya some time!
I used Lemon Pledge. A friend and I made an aluminum clock for him mom 15 years ago, all machined and ultra fine finish. For whatever reason it got put out in the barn for about 5 yeears. We had treated it with lemon pledge before we gave it to her. All it needed was a dusting when she brought it back in the house, it still looks as good as the day we gave it to her. But WD-40 something I always have another good thing to use if for.
Basically you are just putting a light oil coating on the surface, to prevent oxidation. I am sure it is a lot better to wipe down the WD-40 than all the cleaning up oxidation.
Belive it or not, you are using WD-40 for its original purpose. The stuff was developed to keep the skin of Atlas ICBMs from corroding as they waited for the apocalypse.
That is almost true. In 1953, a fledgling company called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, in a small lab in San Diego, California. It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. Convair, an aerospace contractor and customer of Rocket Chemical, used WD-40 to protect the outer skin of the Atlas Missile from rust and corrosion, but it was Not speciaifcally invented for them or that particular purpose. The product worked so well that several employees snuck some WD-40 cans out of the plant to use at home. A few years following WD-40's first industrial use, Rocket Chemical Company founder Norm L****n experimented with putting WD-40 into aerosol cans, reasoning that consumers might find a use for the product at home as some of the employees had. The product made its first appearance on store shelves in San Diego in 1958.
Works great protecting SS appliances like refrigerators too. With two young grandsons at home, you gotta learn these tricks.
My young son walked up to Mom one day and said " Dad's looking for some "Dubble Dee 40". She said you sure it wasn't 40 Double D ?? We been callin it that ever since
The Jalopy Journal
