My polished Victor Jr. was looking a little mogey, so I decided to hit it with some products I had in stock.

1. Simple Green Max: It did OK
2. SuperClean: super useless
3. Armour-All 'Quicksilver' mag wheel cleaner: useless
4. Mothers Chrome Polish: somewhat usefull
5. Mothers Aluminum Polish: it did Ok
6. NeverDull: it helped

The bad staining and pitting will not clean where the aluminum is a bit rough--the places where I couldn't get a polishing tool in due to tight confines. I was thinking about going nuclear, but I don't know any rogue Pakistani physicists. My second option is to ask you. What the hay do I use to get that damn thing clean? (I was thinking Mother's mag wheel powerball) http://www.chevelles.com/forums/images/icons/icon9.gif

I used a product called ZUD to clean my aluminum boat a few years back. It's a powder in a can kind of like Bon Ami. It was pretty effective, I don't know how it would affect the polished surface of your intake.

Find yourself a car show...

Goto the vendor area...

Look for the people that have all the crates of tools....

Somewhere there you will see buffer wheels and scotchbrite pads that are made to fit on a die grinder....

I use mothers on all aluminum parts. I also use mothers on my stainless after I polished it with my die grinder...

keep trying you will master the polishing art soon enough...

Be careful, Simple Green will turn aluminium a dull gray if you leave it on too long, oven cleaner will do the same, looks like oxidized magnesium.

I have used a product called Flitz Metal Poilsh for years and have had excellent results. I too have a polished aluminum manifold on both my cars along with a polished brass tank top on my 66. Stuff is amazing,but lots and lots of elbow grease.

Go to a local tire store and see if they have stuff called "heavy metal polish"

It comes in three "grits" light, medium and heavy. Get the medium, and go to work.

It has polishing rouge in it, like what you would put on a buffing wheel before you'd polish something, and it will do the trick.

Get yourself a mothers detail powerball and soak it in this stuff- then go to work.

Be careful, Simple Green will turn aluminium a dull gray if you leave it on too long, oven cleaner will do the same, looks like oxidized magnesium.

I was thinking of using that on my stock, Cast, original, LS-6 manifold, but I guess that's out. Bead and sandblasting is no good because it will remove the original "sheen," (not to mention, if any glass beads or grains of sand are not completely removed :eek:) and the only thing I found that comes close to working is Black Magic Mag Wheel Cleaner and a Scotchbright pad. There has to be an easier way. Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance! ;)

Aluminum intakes are cast.You can shine them to make them look brighter using cotton cones and balls on a 1/4" drill,but only to a point.Billit aluminum can be polished to a chrome-like finish,either way they both require casual up keep because of oxidation and heat.chrome plated intakes require less trouble keeping them up if you can stand the plating prices.:(

For cast aluminum use cast aluminum mag wheel cleaner by Eagle. Spray in on, brush the bad spots and rinse. Should look like new!

I was thinking of using that on my stock, original, LS-6 manifold, but I guess that's out. Bead and sandblasting is no good because it will remove the original "sheen," (not to mention, if any glass beads or grains of sand are not completely removed :eek:) and the only thing I found that comes close to working is Black Magic Mag Cleaner and a Scotchbright pad. There has to be an easier way. Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance! ;)

I've heard that if you go to a truck wash (as in big rig), they have a chemical they use on the aluminum fuel tanks. It is supposed to work wonders.

I myself experimented on my LS6 intake with several things. I ended up using some aluminum mag wheel cleaner (that contains some type of acid) and a brass bristled brush. It isn't perfect but then again, I wasn't going for a "brand new" look either...

always painted mine the color of the heads and block for stealth.

000 Steel Wool.... Mothers.. and a lot of free time. I Know using this method took some old oxidized aluminum slots mags and made them look like chrome... just took a while.... like forever...

Big D

Hi,
I second or third the mag wheel cleaner. The old school kind that has some acidity to it. I use it on manifolds, valve covers, bellhousings anything that is aluminum.
Rick

Thanks to one and all. Eagle and heavy duty polish with a Mothers powerball look and sound like winners.

000 Steel Wool.... Mothers.. and a lot of free time. I Know using this method took some old oxidized aluminum slots mags and made them look like chrome... just took a while.... like forever...

Big D

My method makes aluminum look like chrome in seconds...

the buffer wheels are the trick. Put them on a die grinder and buff away...use the rouge and then mothers...simple and not much elbow grease...

I now polish my stainless ON THE CAR with the buffer wheels...

I stumbled onto this stuff at a car show called White Diamond polish. Pretty much a liquid but the stuff is amazing on stainless and aluminum. Very little elbow grease; wipe on, wipe off before it dries. With no abrasive in it it doesn't do much for anything pitted but I've tried every polish on the planet and this stuff has worked the best for me. My stuff doesn't get exposed to much crud but this does the best in keeping it looking good. I added some 000 and 0000 steel wool for some stainless trim on an Impala I'm working on and the shine came right back. Every person I've let try it wants to keep the bottle.

I use a product called Autosol Metal Polish I got it from eastwood. I used it on my old cutlass chrome trim after a winter and it cleaned off all the oxidation with little to no effort its amazing stuff. im about to try it on my lt1 valve covers that are slightly pitted

heres a link to the site
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1018&itemType=PRODUCT

Flitz works wel for me.

I wound up pulling mine off and having it bead blasted. The next time I do one it'll be getting powder-coated.

For cast aluminum use cast aluminum mag wheel cleaner by Eagle. Spray in on, brush the bad spots and rinse. Should look like new!

McGuires also makes something called "Hot Wheel" or "Hot Mag Wheel" spray-on cleaner that I swear by for my wheels. BUT - Don't leave it on too long.

I was thinking of using that on my stock, Cast, original, LS-6 manifold, but I guess that's out. Bead and sandblasting is no good because it will remove the original "sheen," (not to mention, if any glass beads or grains of sand are not completely removed :eek:) and the only thing I found that comes close to working is Black Magic Mag Wheel Cleaner and a Scotchbright pad. There has to be an easier way. Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance! ;)

For a cast, non-polished intake soda blast it. I did mine a few months ago and it looked like new when done. Simple siphon blaster and a box of Arm & Hammer baking soda. Removed all the stains and dark spots. Don't have to worry about the soda getting into the engine and chewing it up. Rinse it off and use compressed air to dry it out. Or just blow it off and wipe it with a clean rag.

I blast my manifolds and tranny cases and other aluminum stuff with aluminum oxide. Its a fine powder (like baking soda) that makes the manifold look like it just popped out of the core. My local blaster uses this material for this purpose. It does not peen the metal, it kinda polishes it.

I've heard that if you go to a truck wash (as in big rig), they have a chemical they use on the aluminum fuel tanks. It is supposed to work wonders.

Yes it will make it as clean as it can get but also as dull as it can get!
Saw a kid at the wash accidently get the stuff on a guys polished tanks on his decked out Western Star once! The truck wash had to pay to have them re-polished!

The best/fastest way to polish metal is mechanical. Die grinders with the cotton wheels and polishing compound. I like to use air die grinders because they can be throttled back a little in certain places. If you want to get in the really tight cracks use a dremel tool. I have a rheostat to use with mine that I use from time to time. Polishing aluminum is dirty, expensive, and time consuming. I have done custom work and made dam good money but I don't want to work that hard anymore.
There are guys who make a living polishing aluminum on trailer trucks. Personally, I think the ulitimate work of art is a polished aluminum airplane!

For cast aluminum use cast aluminum mag wheel cleaner by Eagle. Spray in on, brush the bad spots and rinse. Should look like new!

This stuff works great. After you get it clean, grab a rattle can of clear and spray it. It will be much easier to keep clean. :thumbsup:

A long time ago I learned, bought a bunch of tools, and polished and intake, water pump, and alternator case.

The stayed pretty for a week or so.

Without coating with clear paint, they will stain and no amount of surface polishing will clean them.

For uncoated stuff like Draglites, Mothers, a powerball and a bunch of rags works best.

So I quit spending time on it. I am now at the point where I am annoyed that chrome such as air cleaners rusts in a year or two, even with waxing.

Not sure how people with really clean shiny engines keep them that way.

SuperClean

When Larry Morgan was sponsored by Castrol, a friend was in his trailer at the drags and noticed deep grooves etched down the aluminum trailer sides--he asked Larry what happened....leaking bottles of Super Clean ate the hell out of it! I move very quickly if I get any of it on aluminum parts.
I use Wenol metal polish in the red tube; takes a little rubbing, but it can look pretty damn shiny!
I built these handlebar risers from aluminum plate, and Wenol keeps them looking good:
http://images7.fotki.com/v135/photos/4/42437/1665193/newrisers-vi.jpg

This may sound kind of crazy but I have heard others try it. What if you put it in the dishwasher by itself with no other dishes (not just to keep them from getting anything on them, but they block the spray jets)?

Just make sure the wife isnt home.

On already polished aluminum, the best stuff on the planet to keep it that way is Simichrome polish. A small amount on a rag and a little elbow grease will keep it looking like new. For non polished aluminum, the only option is a selection of sanding rolls, flap disks ScotchBrite wheels and a ton of spare time.

Tom

I put aluminum stuff in the dishwasher, it turned black. the Cascade detergent and aluminum don't get along.

I use a product called WENOL (http://www.shinesbrite.com/) The blue box is an ultra soft polish, the red box is little more aggressive compound. Both work well in chrome, stainless, aluminum and anodized aluminum.

If you have a Harley Davidson dealer around they carry a Purple Polish in a plastic bottle. That is all they use on detailing used and new bikes. I use it for chrome, billett, etc. It will also take the blue off of exhaust pipes. About $15 a bottle.:hurray:

The bad staining and pitting will not clean where the aluminum is a bit rough--the places where I couldn't get a polishing tool in due to tight confines. http://www.chevelles.com/forums/images/icons/icon9.gif

There's your problem..."rough surfaces". All the pastes, etc mentioned won't likely do much to those areas unless you can actually get the stuff onto those areas and rub those areas.

Optimally, you would remove the manifold and get a dremel tool, etc and finish out those hard to reach areas...you know, a lot of nitpicky, detail grinding/sanding/polishing until the "still-rough" areas are nice and smooth.

If you can do that, those areas will be much easier to keep clean and rubbing them with some polish will have a real effect since there won't be any more low spots like a cast finish would have in it.

Other than that, you could try to use some sort of short, very stiff bristle brush that at least might make some contact down into the cast areas with some of the polishes mentioned above on the brush.

If your finger or a felt bob, etc can't touch the surface then you likely will never be able to get it completely shiny like the rest of the part.

Try "Magic Eraser" on parts that are smooth. It's a kitchen cleaning sponge that is actually made up of super-fine silica I'm guessing. On the sandpaper scale, it's probably around 5K or finer, but it slowly dissolves itself as you rub a spot. It literally takes any spot off. Not sure if it would be worth doing on a rough surface as the sponge itself wouldn't last long, but it cleans my chrome wheels great!

You can buy a box of the things for a only a few bucks and the wife loves 'em for cleaning sinks and walls too!

BTW - what about clearing an intake after cleaning it? We used to have a horseless carriage and all the brass on it was cleared. It was a b**** to get off after several years, but it kept the brass very shiny for 4-5 years and saved on the brasso...

I put aluminum stuff in the dishwasher, it turned black. the Cascade detergent and aluminum don't get along.

Good to know. I was going off of what I have read from previous posts here on TC. I dont recall if they were using aluminum or cast iron. But I could swear I have seen some doing this with bell housings.

Take it to a shop that does silver plating and let them polish it.

Jon