Donn 66

I'm trying to clean the aluminum parts for my 66, like the liscense plate bracket and the door sills and the side pipe covers. How do you clean and polish them so they look original and not too glossy. I have polished the stainless steel and it looks fine but when I tried to do the sill plate (bottom side first) it just seemed too bright and shinney! Also how would you go about taking the scratches out?

Kid_Again

...linen buffing wheels with a mild abrasive made for aluminum or plastic will give a warm, deep shine but you have to take it easy and keep the metal temperature at a reasonable level...

..for the side pipe covers, i used 0000 brass wool soaked in wd40 as a cutting aid to get the major crud off...buffed as above for final finish


[Modified by Kid_Again, 6:12 PM 2/14/2002]


[Modified by Kid_Again, 6:13 PM 2/14/2002]

tapio

How about the finned aluminum valve covers?

Thanks in advance.

bowtie racing

Ok ,now its time to do it right or Peramently wrong...

Your licence plate bracket and sidepipe covers are ANODISED,if you try to remove even small scratches by rubbing etc you will takeoff the anodising too.its wery thing layer and impossible dublicate with paint or polishing .
To clean the surface just use any good metalpolish and some elbow,it will bring the natural look back. If you want to reanodised them ,sand all the scratches away with fine paper(#400) and remember to sand ONE DIRECTION only it will maintain the original finish.
Still plates are chormed (at least 63s) and cheap,get new ones..

Valvecovers are cast from factory.If you want totally stock look have them beadblasted with WETGLASS or with nutshells . You get good finish with normal glass media too. ( Local aviation company did mine with wetglass blasting)

Hope this helped

ARed64

You might try Aluminum Jelly. Its sold in most hardware stores.

I also remember reading somewhere about using Pepsi Cola to clean aluminum. Apparently the chemical that holds everything in solution is some type of mild acid. If you lay the aluminum part in a container and pour soda in, it will take off the tarnish. I think you have to leave it for a day or two to saok. The longer you leave it the better. I have never used this method. Perhaps someone else has and can comment on the effectiveness.

SWCDuke

The active ingredient in Aluminum Jelly is phosphoric acid. You can also go to an automotive paint store and buy some "Alumiprep". It's a phosphoric acid solution in liquid form.

These materials should ONLY be used on NON-ANODIZED aluminum surfaces like valve covers and manifolds.

For ANODIZED parts any phosphoric acid based aluminum cleaner will likely attack the anodizing and permanently dull the part or make it blotchy. There's a real good chance the part will end up looking worse For anodized aluminum parts you should consult with a local plating company to see what can be done. Stripping the parts, polishing and reanodizing is an option, but any deep scratches or pits will show through. If available, a new repro part that appears close to OEM is probably the best bet.

Anodized aluminum parts are difficult to restore, especially if they have a lot of surface wear and tear like scratches and pits.

Duke


[Modified by SWCDuke, 7:11 AM 2/15/2002]

Kid_Again

...pepsi, or any carbonated soft drink is a dilute solution of carbonic acid (from the CO2) so it's also a fairly strong acid (being diulte has little to do with acid strength, up to a point) and you need to be careful...didn't know that about the anodized parts but i'm pretty comfortable with my recommendation about how to bring back real aluminum..........you know, i've tried the walnut shells on the valve covers (use lots of that stuff to clean pistol brass) and thought the finish was too dull for me......anyone else have their $.02 on that?

thanks

Donn 66

I spent 20 hour's on the valve covers, use acid and buffed the h#@& out of them, and they came out nice. I tried sand the sill plates and buffing, Time for new one's! :eek: I don't want to make that error on the sidepipe cover's. I've heard of the steel wool thing before but what does the wd40 do?

Kid_Again

...the wd40 acts as a lubricant to help suspend the crud that you pull off the surface... a bit like the fluid used to float away the chips when milling a piece of metal :yesnod:

6T5RUSH

Hey Kid_Again,

Tried your suggestion of WD40 and steel wool on the "spear" trim above the side covers (mine were starting to be blotchy and dull. Didn't have WD40 so used Slick 50 and the steel wool. Worked like a charm. Thanks!

Jim

Jvette73

I find that Mothers aluminum polish works good on non-plated or non-anondized aluminum.

BlueShark29

The aluminum trim on almost all the older cars are anodized with what they call "bright dip". It can be very shiny to dull in apperance depending on the time in the chemical dip and current applied. This is usually done to the thinner aluminum shapes. Almost any metal cleaner does a great job of cleaning this finish, but it will not take out the scratches and dings.
If the part is not reproduced you can massage out dents, and use sandpaper to remove the anodized finish (being careful not to rub a hole in it) and have it re-anodized. There are shops around that specialize in this.
Most Mid-Year Corvette trim is reproduced and would be the best bet for scratch and ding free parts.
I am an engineer for an aluminum window company and we anodize as well as paint all of our shapes. If I feel I can salvage some of my parts, I usually break out the elbow grease and take the part to work and have it anodized ("bright dipped") to the original luster.
I hope this helps !

Kid_Again

:cool:

ragedout

so we could check out our local window co and ask them for help?

68hemi

Nearly a 20 year old thread resurrected.

Regarding the finned aluminum valve covers, most of them had a splotchy finish from the beginning. I have tried everything on many sets over the years and have found that if you want a consistent look on them the best is to paint them with alumablast. I also have a set that I picked up that someone spent a lot of time polishing them to a bright finish and I am going to use them on my 65 when I put the Blueprint 396 in the car.

vettebuyer6369

19 years later?