Cleaning up aluminium parts

Please,

what is the best way to clean up aluminium parts, prior to painting - inlet manifolds, crankcases and so on.

Thanks

Snark

Reply to
snark
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Bead blasting not sand, brass wire brush in a drill or chemical soak.

Martin P

Reply to
campingstoveman

A dangerous question this. It all depends on what the components are like, how big, small or detailed they are or how damaged or corroded. Sometimes it's only the corrosion that's sealing them and it's better to leave well alone and simply paint over it. Other times, simply cleaning the ally produces a nice finish. Be very carefull of chemical cleaners on aluminium, some can disolve the metal. I've found the old kitchen scouring powders (Ajax etc) and a scrubbing brush work well on fine detail.

John

Reply to
John

Reminds me of one of the 'Ogri' cartoons from the early days of 'Bike' magazine. Malcolm was trying to be helpful and completely dissolved the ally heads of Ogri's Vincent overnight in Caustic Soda solution ;-)

I'll second the vote for Ajax, although sometimes it can be a bit of a bugger to wash it all off afterwards. Unless you have a pressure washer ;-)

Gyppo

Reply to
J D Craggs

We don't have a dishwasher, so I cannot speak directly for this, but I understand at second hand that cleaning the ali bits with Gunk or other commercial solvent & then putting them through the dish washer with TWO tablets in the machine produces amazing results!

Apparently, the machine does not suffer from this process, but as a married man of some forty years experience, I'd want to try it on a small clean bit that didn't matter AND whilst the wife was out!

Otherwise, Gunk thoroughly, pour a kettle of boiling water over it to remove gunge. Next, brush with a hot & strong solution of any kind of washing powder/solution. Pour remainder over engine/parts etc. Finally, another kettle full of clean boiling water. Leave to dry.

If you've not tried this method, you have a genuinely pleasant surprise in store!

regards,

Kim Siddorn

Teach a child to be polite and courteous and you create an adult that can't merge a car into faster traffic.

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

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