The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Cleaning aluminum manifold

I'm trying to clean the well used Edelbrock aluminum intake manifold from my '56 before I put it on the new engine. I've cleaned all the grease, gasket pookie and paint overspray off it but it still looks dirty and unevenly stained. Any ideas on making it look brighter?

Brake cleaner and a fine brass brush

I just get em pollished... take off that sandcast finish. If you don't want to get it pollished, and you got it degreased pretty well try painting it with cast alluminum spray. That is usually sold with the engine paints at the local parts chains.

Chuck it in the blast cabinet and bring it back to AS NEW CAST finish pretty easily.
after that you can clear coat it with a high temp clear ...now that will make it a darker grey than the AS NEW CAST...but will be easy to clean.you can see my engine with the blasted an cleared Edelbrock at the Gallery.
Just my 2 pennies.
Tim

Charlie, you can use an acid solution used to clean mag wheels or a AC condenser cleaner. This works well and will make it bright again.
Tom

ihad one blasted along time ago.eastwood has a product called aluma blast which is a spray paint that i bought to do my alternator and distributor with but have not done yet.....dave

I would never ever bead or sand blast an internal engine component, and for sure not an aluminum one, the inside of an intake counts. Even if you only blast the outside there will be some that find there way to the inside, and eventually in to the engine.
You may think you can clean all the little bits out, but you can't. They get stuck in the metal and with the heat cycles they work their way out.

I worked on an all aluminum V16 engine that was rebuilt by a "professional" shop. When I had the head off to replace a blown gasket I found about a spoon full of glass beads in little piles where oil had settled. The "rebuilder" had glass beaded the block and heads, and while they looked great on the outside it was ruining the inside.

To clean aluminum parts, or any engine parts I will use walnut hull blasting media in a dedicated blast cabinet that has never had anything but walnuts from new, and never a part that was blasted in the glass bead cabinet first. The walnuts are softer, don't remove much if any metal, don't tend to get stuck in the pores of the metal, and if they do end up in the engine they do less damage than sand or glass beads.

The aluminum cleaning acid and a fine plastic or stainless brush should work well too.

Grigg

I hit mine with a wire rotary brush on my drill.. it wasnt very corroded tho, but had been painted with that aluminum colored paint..

I also wire wheeled my tranny, and it came out looking pretty good.... at least better than it was before.

I had a silver powder coat installed onto my intake and valve covers. It is not as shiny as a polish, but should be a very durable finish. My vette valve covers were polished, but I let them go. I really don't want to take the time to maintain a polished valve cover or intake anymore. Powdercoating seem to be the next logical alternative for me.

Charlie -

Two sugestions. Have it chemically stripped by Metal Rehab in Arlington. Second, have it polished by Rufus Taylor on Blue Smoke Court in Fort Worth. The first suggestion is probably the best. I think it would take it back to the original look. They can tell you. Either way, you'll probably spend then best part of $100.00, maybe a little more.

Now for the "home remedy" suggestion. Find a pot it will fit in and fill it full of a bunch of Joy dish washing detergent and water and boil it for a few days. It will look better, but still be too tough to eat!

Joe

I bought a gallon of Berryman Chem-dip. As the name implies, you are supposed to dip your parts in it. Of course I had nothing big enough to dip a 4bbl manifold in and if I did it would take more than a gallon. So I brushed it on and kept it wet for an hour or so. It helped some but it's still not like new. But it will do for a driver.

I got the manifold on and am almost ready to install the engine.

This is probably not a very valuable reply, but back in the day when aluminum hard hats were OK to wear in the oil industry we used to shine them up by dipping them in a vat of caustic soda that was kept around to clean tools with. A few seconds in the vat and the hat came out plenty shiny. Not sure that this method would be commercially available anymore, but caustic soda should still be around. Maybe the chemical stip places like Metal Rehab as 6Cyliners suggests above would have something similar?

I have a ? for Grigg
If you tape off the Intake like i always do i just blast the stuff you see to bring the NEW LOOK back how would this cause an internal problem ?...i have blasted near 100 OLD ALUMINUM manifolds for folks an myself over the yrs with NO complaints.
I understand your point on not blastin the stuff that goes on or in the oily stuff ...but 15 or 20 minutes of tapin off will bring a NASTY lookin old intake back to new in a short manner ..an saves lottsa $$$
im Confused ???

For $95-125+ shipping, you can send it to Chuck Smith in California. He will give it a finish like new. He did my corvette fuel injection unit and some aluminum valve covers for me. He's cheaper than others and does them daily. Its a vibration polish that a lot of people use the term "reskined". It brings them to a like new finish. It's beautiful.

Yes, lots of people blast intakes on the outside, and most of them probably don't tape off the inside, even if you do the tape never keeps all the beads out.

Personally I avoid blasting engine parts for the reasons mentioned earlier, even an intake.
I will agree with you that is can be done with a relatively small risk if you are careful.

I understand what you are saying about taping off the intake, that and a good washing after should not leave many glass beads inside to be drawn into the cylinders, but there is a chance, and it's easier to just avoid it.

I think it's best not to give people the idea that blasting engine parts is a good idea, someone may start with the intake and keep going...
A good aluminum cleaner and a brush, or walnut blasting is a safer solution.

Grigg

Media blasting with glass beads, or walnut shells, or plasic beads will all leave some residue of the media. This is primarily due to static electricity created by the movement of the media. We have used all three over the last 35 years; and found that a bath in hot soapy water followed by a bath in hot water, followed by a bath in cold water will break the static bond.

We have blasted hundreds of thousands of carburetor parts, as well as aluminum intakes, heads, pistons, etc., etc., etc. with zero problems AFTER we started the post-blast baths.

Media blasting is like any tool; used properly, it will save you time. Improperly, and you get to redo everything, sometimes at great expense.

And I would agree with Grigg that suggesting the use of glass beads is not necessarily a good idea, even though we do use them. Simply purchasing a tool does not necessarily mean one has the experience to use the tool (no offense meant to anyone).

One caviat about using caustic lye on aluminum: some compounds of aluminum will GIVE OFF TOXIC!!!!! FUMES WHEN SUBMERGED IN CAUSTIC LYE! Be very careful if you chose this method.

Jon

Sound advise Grigg,
on the BLAST EVERYTHING !
I didnt want to or state that " A QUICK DROP IN THE BLAST CABINET WILL DO YA " ...I should have mentioned that tapin off of the intake or any part that will contact the inards is a MUST..my BAD on that one .
Im learnin Bro ...
Tim

I clean beer lines for a living. The chemical I use is a sodium hydroxide solution.(caustic). When it comes in contact with aluminum, it does just what Texmo sez. It only takes a few seconds. Rinse with water and wipe, and you have a perfectly clean, shiny, aluminum surface. And carbking is right, try not to breath the fumes!

OK guys, lets take it one step farther for me. I have one that is already on an engine that I had rather not pull the intake off. It really needs a good cleaning and I was thinking about takeing my pressure washer to it. SOOOO, what can I use that will clean the intake and not peel the chrome off the valve covers. (there is no carb on it) Its not that bad but does need cleaning.

Try the wheel cleaners, they are not that nasty and should do pretty job of cleaning. Just keep the hose handy and don't let it set to long. Use a old tooth bruse to scrub with. Joe