Projects Cleaning an Aluminum Intake?

What's the best method for cleaning an old Aluminum intake? Here are some pics

 

Do you want to make it shiny again?

 

Yes.

 

Glass bead it. Will look like new!

 

no, it won't. You'll need to spend some time sanding that thing, then buffing it. If have never polished aluminum before, do some research first.

 

Watching I have several I need to do as well.

 

First I'd clean it with aluminum cleaner. Then I'd hit it with a red 3m roloc disc. That puts you at around 350 grit. Work your way up. I use a 3" D.A. sander. 400, 600, 1000, 1500, then start polishing. Finish with Never Dull.

 

Be careful with that red disc; those will remove metal. If it was originally polished, you won't need one that coarse. Then move up to a blue disc, then gray. Polish to suit....

 

You may be correct. The manifold looks pretty rough. Aluminum cleaner will reveal its true condition.

 

I may have over exaggerated the sanding process too. Around 600 grit you can start polishing aluminum.

 

Dryer sheets.

It might not do anything but it'll be spring-fresh!

 

Patina? It took a long time to get that way, and a lot of history that be lost with the polishing; JMO. Me, I probably would't even use it, but I also have several aluminum intakes to clean also; one for my bracket car motor, the other a cross ram that just showed up on my doorstep. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I would throw it in the blast cabinet and hit it with plastic blast media to get the cruddy stuff off. Then start polishing.

Dawg

 

i have soda blasted brake calipers and they come up pretty smooth...the soda will not remove metal.....
after soda blasting use various grades of paper......

i recently sanded some finned alloy valve covers to an almost mirror finish then had them ceramic coated and they came up mint...no more polishing for me

 

Every manifold I have bead blasted came out like new, with a little finer finish on it. Now if the OP wants it to look like it was buffed abit after it came from the factory that is a different story.

 

That intake looks to have been painted at some time. I think some light blasting is what will be needed to clean it up. I have read that Pine-sol is a good cleaner if aluminum. I have never tried it, it's on my things to do list. You could give it a soak and see how it comes out.

 

You can see from the pictures that it used to have a smooth polished finish, not a rough cast finish.

It looks to me like it has some paint on it that rubbed onto it from something else, due to careless handling. It wasn't painted originally.

 

Before doing anything else go over it and if there any dings or pits clean them up with a fine tooth file. Take off just enough material to get rid of the imperfection. When the entire piece has the same surface then do your sanding and polishing. Also remove the carb studs and make sure the threads are OK, if not do the repairs befor wasting your time polishing only to "booger" it up later. Good luck.

 

Looks to me like it has sat outside and oxidized and rusted the studs. I would start with a bead blast and then polish.

 

I highly doubt you will get all of the studs out without messing up the threads in the aluminum. If the studs have reasonably useable threads on them, I would leave them in and run a die over them.
Edmunds manifolds had a nice smooth almost polished finish from the factory.

 

I could see blasting the steel parts, to get the rust off them, before working on the aluminum.

A guy could put a fair amount of time into restoring this intake. I think it would be time well spent.

 

^^^^Yes, blast the studs to remove the rust.
If you have never polished aluminum, I would suggest you start wet sanding it with 600 grit sandpaper. If it seems like you are getting it smoother, continue. If it seems like you are not accomplishing much, switch to 400 grit and try that. After the surface seems like it is smooth and even, switch to a finer grits.....400 or 600, 800, and finally 1000. Then switch to some aluminum or mag wheel type polish. Everyone has a favorite brand, but most of them will work good.....good enough unless you are going to the Autoramma (upstairs).....or are generally anal. Basically polishing is the process of putting smaller and smaller scratches in a surface. With 1000 grit, the scratches are very small.....using the aluminum polish just takes it another step.

 

I would suggest soda blasting first. This will leave the surface clean to try a course compound on a buffing wheel. Use penetrating oil on the studs and double nut them to remove.
If it was a raw casting then sandblasting will bring it back to original condition.
There are only a few aluminum intakes that look good after bead blasting, it tends to dull the surface.

 

If those studs are in there as tight as I think they are, I would heat cycle them with a torch.
The process is:
Heat the stud until it starts to turn red.
Let it cool til the color goes out.
Repeat twice more.
Then remove with the double nuts or better yet, a stud remover.

Cycling the heat will allow the aluminum to expand and release it's grip on the stud.

 

...and remove the studs with the manifold at about 300 degrees.

 

All this advice .... and they all forgot the beer. Whatever you do, have some ! Adjust temperature to 34 degrees Fahrenheit, purse lips, raise hand, tilt can. You're welcome.

 

I have great success tumbling manifolds. See if there is someone in your area that offers the service. I have had heads , intakes, headers, water pumps, etc tumbled and they turn out great. Some where between polished and as-cast.

 

I did a test section with wet sanding and found that this piece has many pits that will need to be files or sanded out. I will post some pictures tomorrow. It's going to be a labor intensive project but I have plenty of time. The car it is going on is sitting in the corner of my shop with plywood leaned up against it for the shed roof I am adding to give me more covered storage.
If it ain't one thing, it's another!

 

The smoother you want to go, the more material you have to remove. So keep that in mind if you want to keep the manufacturer's logo nice and crisp. Maybe mask that off for most of the more aggressive polishing and only do the logo area by hand with very fine grit to best control how much material is removed. If you think some oxidation may still remain down in the pores, treat it with some Gibbs Brand to neutralize it so it doesn't keep growing like a mushroom patch. Good luck and have fun.

 

Here are some pictures. I started with 400 wet sanding but that didn't really do anything so I looked around and found a 360 sanding sponge so I hit the intake with it. After several passes I went back to the 400 wet and this is how it looks after about an hour of sanding. I still have a long way to go. The second pictures shows the pitting I mentioned in my last post.
And, can anyone tell me what the numbers and symbols pictured mean? I don't know which way is right so I am posting two pics of them.