i picked up a pair of small block mopar finned cal custom valve covers last weekend. They were in dry storage and in good climate, however, they are oxidized a great deal., you know the white scale and such..., i was wondering what i should use to clean them, then repair them.. i don't have a picture of them, but what can you suggest..?
i suggest mothers aluminum polish and a dremel with a buffing wheel. if you blast them it makes the porus and they don't look very good.
They will have some pitting most likely under the white scale. That white scale is aluminum oxide. I would suggest to use some mechanical type cleaning. Scothcbrite for a start and then finer. Glass beading can give a decent finish. How shiny or polished do you want to get in the final product? Any chemical cleaning will probably just make the pits show up worse. You can scrub them with a soap and water solution to get the bulk scale cleaned off without any detrimental effects. Just make sure to dry them.
I would Bead Blast them, then polish the tops of the fins. Bead Blasting wont make them Porous, but it will make them Look like fresh Cast Aluminum.
tuck..i plan on sending you a whole lot of them soon probably about 20-25 mostly pairs...they will all need to get blasted..these are the only ones that are aluminum.. thanks guys for the advice..i will play around with them alittle, not much room in the closet i call a garage...seriously..it's a closet..ha!
hey thanks for arrangeing the delivery of my other triumph I cant wait... now how many of those damn things do ya need bro you'r nuts tuck
I bead blast between the fins but save yourself some work and stay off the old polished surfaces. It can pit the metal. Get any chips heliarced. Grind the repairs and start polishing. Scotch brite works great to start with. That's how I did mine.
thanks tommy...i will keep this in mind when i comes time to "shine" htat is the nice thing about aluminum..
Toke- The finned air cleaner on my Fairlane used to get pretty ratty on account of the hood scoop. Every few months, I'd take it off, hit it up with a red and then grey scotch brite pad, followed by some aluminum polish (like Mother's or whatever). I've got some of each if you want to test it out on the inside of your cover. Ed
[ QUOTE ] not much room in the closet [/ QUOTE ] And I thought you had come out of the closet a while ago.
i have a very close freind of mine who owns a polishing shop,soo ohio guys may have heard of it,TUT INDUSTRIES CUSTOM POLISHING. i help him out from time to time in the winter when my works slow.if ANYONE in the HAMB needs anything polished that they can't do themselves,get it to me and i'll get it handled for ya.he's buildin a rod himself and i know he'd do good pricewise for a fellow ol' skooler....as far as your valve covers,i found if you glass bead them with glass thats been broke down in the cabinet for a while,it'sa little less agressive if your worried about that,but i would'nt.as far as polishing,if you hit them after beading them with a buffing wheel with a greaseless compound,then buff them on ahigh speed wheel with some rougeing compound, they'll look tits.paint em up and wipe the fins and voila!...im out..quickrod
Im with whoever said bead blast them. Bead blasted all my aluminum and it looks great. If you want to get real fancy, clear powder coat them after blasting. Not having to polish gives me more time to research Michael Jackson.
hey tokyo,got any cal custom finners for sale?i'd love a set for my 283.they dont have to be pretty,just straight,i can handle the rest...let me know...quickrod
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