[panelman]

There is a YT vid with a guy using a wire brush with cleaner to clean his aluminum intake!

Won't that brush scratch it up??

 

[tekctrl]

There is a YT vid with a guy using a wire brush with cleaner to clean his aluminum intake!

Won't that brush scratch it up??

OMG! Bad Idea! I have a set of aluminum wheels that someone 'cleaned up' with a wire brush on the end of an electric drill and they were torn up. I spent an entire day with varying grits of sandpaper to get the scratches out. Just because someone posted a video on the 'net does not make it a good idea.

 

[Shadetree55]

cleaned mine with NAPA aluminum brightener boat wash then painted it lol with VHT black. The polished off the black on the edelbrock script.

 

[Postman57]

Perhaps figure out a way to “dip” it. Berryman’s or something similar? Or pay a shop with a parts cleaning vat to do it. A wire brush will remove aluminum, and that could be problematic.

 

[panelman]

This is the vid with the brush:

 

[itsnotabelaire]

Porous cast crap, sure do use a wire wheel. If I don’t have access to my sandblaster

 

[Postman57]

In my head, when I read “wire brush” I saw a drill attachment. It surely seems to work on the video. I’d likely still be inclined to use a softer bristle, like nylon.

 

[56ls408]

You can have it bead blasted or you can have it hot tanked then use Alumablast paint by Seymour ends up looking like brand new aluminum but keep the gas off it.

 

[55 Rescue Dog]

I cleaned up this engine using a small cup brush on my mini angle air grinder, with WD-40 to clean up and shine the aluminum and have cleaned up many cast parts that way.

 

[Taskforce 55]

Use brass brushes.. softer and doesn't cause rust. Steel brush particles that don't get cleaned off can cause rust Spots.

 

[angs1957]

I would have thought that there are better product/ways to do this.

 

[lostn50s]

Fine small brass hand brushes work well with "Alumabrite". It takes a while but the results are great.

 

[panelman]

Use brass brushes.. softer and doesn't cause rust. Steel brush particles that don't get cleaned off can cause rust Spots.

Thank you for that. Good to know there's a softer option!

I get that some kind of brush would help, but I totally could not see how the intake wouldn't get scratched up.

 

[KRUNK !!!!]

tranny shops have a hot water/solution blast tank to clean aluminum.... the shop I know of here charges me 15 bucks to clean it....and it turns out like new.... it only takes about an hour to clean it too

 

[KRUNK !!!!]

BTW in years past...I used easy off over cleaner and toilet brushes to clean a few old aluminum intakes

 

[Robert Haas]

Yea old school was heavy duty oven cleaners. Worked awesome to get grime, fuel stains and baked on grease off. Now we use a hot tank full of carb dip and let it soak over night. pull it out and rinse off and it looks brand new, maybe better then new. Bead blasting is another option for when you are in a hurry but it can leave blast patterns that look terrible.

 

[panelman]

All great suggestions- I just wanted something that I could do while the part is mounted on the engine. I cleaned it up quite a bit last year, but it didn't really "pop". So, I thought I'd hit it again with a new process.