cleaning aluminium engine parts

That's some serious damage. Looks like the header. I have a beater so I never mess with it. Heck my beater is my product test and practicing car. Your probably looking at some serious cutting with a aluminum polish and a lot of time. BF makes aluminum polish. That is not gonna be fixed in a weekend and machine work. 90% of engines that have a cover on them the block and headers under them are just unfinished metal. The plastic cover is much cheaper make and install then it is to polish metal to make it look good.
If your mechanically auto inclined and can be without the car I would take it off and bring it to get cleaned up and powder coated.Then throw some Hi-Temp wax on it before you reinstall it. Otherwise That is going to be hours and hours of work. If I detail an engine that is in good shape they usually have a plastic cover over the block. I will take the cover off the block wipe the black down with APC wipe it down with a damp towel. I detail the engine and put a coat of hi-temp wax on it before I put the cover back on. My only concern is to keep the damage from getting worse and keep it protected.
I always detail my personal engines twice a year. Spring then fall. Up keep is everything.
 
inDetail said:
That's some serious damage. Looks like the header. I have a beater so I never mess with it. Heck my beater is my product test and practicing car. Your probably looking at some serious cutting with a aluminum polish and a lot of time. BF makes aluminum polish. That is not gonna be fixed in a weekend and machine work. 90% of engines that have a cover on them the block and headers under them are just unfinished metal. The plastic cover is much cheaper make and install then it is to polish metal to make it look good.
If your mechanically auto inclined and can be without the car I would take it off and bring it to get cleaned up and powder coated.Then throw some Hi-Temp wax on it before you reinstall it. Otherwise That is going to be hours and hours of work. If I detail an engine that is in good shape they usually have a plastic cover over the block. I will take the cover off the block wipe the black down with APC wipe it down with a damp towel. I detail the engine and put a coat of hi-temp wax on it before I put the cover back on. My only concern is to keep the damage from getting worse and keep it protected.
I always detail my personal engines twice a year. Spring then fall. Up keep is everything.
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The part in picture is the intake manifold from a 6A12 engine

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Is not really damaged, I know because in some parts I clean with a dish sponge, the green one and removes, but I dont want to do all that work :xyxthumbs:

thank you
 
Acid will leave its own fingerprints behind on your end results. I believe that I see rust and pitting in the photo. I could be mistaken. Cast al. is a rough surface...add in the pits and I doubt that you will achieve perfection.
 
x2, with it being cast Aluminum it will always collect stuff and let it settle out making it look bad. Unless you removed it, sanded and polished it to make the surface very smooth, you will be fighting a loosing battle.

Acid will just make it white, if thats what you want then you could try it, I would suggest using a sponge or something to apply it so it does not contact things you do not want it to touch.
 
Try some APC and a stiff brush.

Not saying that is what you are looking for, but I too have a boatload of cast aluminum 'stuff' on my engine and this work well for me to keep it looking good.

Oh, I do use CD2 Engine Detailer to try and keep it looking good.

Bill
 
I tried with APC, and it cleans the aluminium but do not remove the stains, even if I use a wire brush. I guess I will paint it.
 
It's gonna take a lot of work.
Iron X or Iron X paste?
Maybe someone can chime in. I don't know how easy it would be for you to control it from touching other parts close to the aluminum without damaging them.
Being that it's rough surface you may get away with an APC and a steel bristle brush or fine steel wool and a metal compound.
 
I use non acid wheel cleaner and it works great, I don't use anything stronger because it might stain the plastics
 
andrew8729 said:
Any luck?
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I can not find purple power here, so I tried with APC again, and some wheel cleaners, but no luck, I even tried with muriatic acid, on a small part, but I did not see any change..

so I used a wire brush, in the area that is visible, and it is better but not totally clean :S

thanks for ask
 
Tough stuff, prob easier at this point to just remove it hit it with a wire wheel and or sandpaper (with the proper protection) and paint. Or you could make a project out of it and practice aluminum polishing! It would look pretty!
 
I will post some pictures later. Some parts look like it work but no yhe one I want..

repuesta automatica
 
this are the sad results
as you can see, this part has the stains after a lot of products, wheel cleaner, vinager, apc..

I even used a wire brush in the part that you can see darker
but after you used water to rinse came back
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and this other part is down the engine, I used the same products and looks cleaner, but what I really want is the upper part look good

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Looks easy enough to remove, don't know if you have a steam cleaner but you could try that as well, but other than that I think I would just remove sand and paint.
 
andrew8729 said:
Looks easy enough to remove, don't know if you have a steam cleaner but you could try that as well, but other than that I think I would just remove sand and paint.
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yes I have a steam cleaner, a small one but good enough to clean my engine, and is the option I still did not try.

an option that I saw is soda blast, but I have to take it out to do it, last option.
 
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