Ultimate engine detailing challenge

B

BoxsterCharlie

New member
I said I like challenges--I got one! This picture shows a heavily corroded engine cover I'd like to detail. Believe it or not, this is AFTER I did the usual cleaning regime.



I'm thinking electric drill with wire brush attachment, or steel wool. Tell me if there is some miracle chemical that could save me this work, though.



Or I'm thinking maybe doing that and then painting the cover with some high-temp paint.



Anyone had experience with something this bad? This aluminum is a b*tch!



-Charlie
 
By the way, sorry for the fuzzy image. 4kb is one hell of an image size restriction! Hopefully that is upped after that my 30 posts are registered.
 
DO NOT use a wire wheel it will leave deep scratch's! You can use steel wool to clean most of the corrosion off but then you will have to use finer grades just like sanding. Once you have used the finest grade you can get then use a polish like Semichrome you can get it at most motorcyle shops. Good luck and plan to spend most of a day working the valve cover back into shape, it looks pretty abused.:shocked
 
If it were me I'd use a chemical stripper safe for aluminum and some medium steel wool. Once completely stripped you can go nuts - polish, chrome, paint, anodize, etc.
 
Paint it! Duplicolor makes an aluminum colored hightemp engine paint that looks nice and will be much easier to clean than just the bare aluminum.



This is my Alfa V6 with the valvecovers painted with duplicolor aluminum colored paint. The picture was taken after the paint was on there for about 2 years... and it used to be more metallic looking, but I uses some engine degreaser that made it dull :mad:

alfav6.jpg




I got sick of the silver... so now it's RRRRREDD!! :D

vcnew.jpg
 
I'm going to have a go at it with steel wool...then I'm probably going to go the paint route. Those are some great pictures of the Alfa engine--that red in particular looks like so right!



BTW my "regular treatment" consisted of degreaser spray on a warm engine and scrubbing with a nylon brush. Definitely not good enough to remove 7 years of total neglect!
 
By the replies I'm seeing, it seems as though some kind of chemical solution isn't possible? Hmmm, I'm surprised! I was hoping to have a go at the oxidation of aluminum components under my hood, with some type of "magic goop".



In the mean time, I found this page with interesting info:



Oxidized Aluminum



I'll update my findings and post more links as I happen across them.
 
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