I’ve got an original Edelbrock B4B aluminum intake that came off a running engine many years ago and is absolutely filthy! What’s the best way to restore it to as near to new condition as possible? Hot tank, sand blast, glass bead??
A million years ago I cleaned one with WD40 and followed up with 409+H2O or similar. It won't rust so water is no big deal.
The original Simple Green used to work great for cleaning aluminum intakes. Then they changed the formula and now it sucks.
Not a conventional 'Hot Tank'! The high pH will damage aluminum. Some shops now use ovens to bake the grease into ash. Ultrasonic cleaners can work, but again, be mindfull of the pH. Sand blasting is too coarse of a material, it'll beat up the surface too much. A final blasting with glass beads will leave a nice finish. Well-used glass beads will produce a satin finish, new beads will make it shinier. For initial cleaning, pressure wash and then degreaser will get it ready for glass beading. After it's clean, some guys just spray it with aluminum spray paint for easier maintenance.
This sucks for me...if I can't set the oven temp to 420 or 455 degrees, the oven will not be used. https://www.enginebuildermag.com/1999/12/cleaning-aluminum
Paint stripper and then vapor blasting is what I recommend. A friend in Michigan has a vapor blast cabinet that I have used, and it cleans the part but it doesn't rough up the surface like a dry bead blast media., so any stains or spills clean up easier.
In our maintenance department,they use plastic media. They use it on their paint guns and other parts that are sensitive. Leaves a very nice finish
I have been utilizing glass beading to clean and refresh aluminum intakes. Here is a picture of three different big old Ford intakes that I finished up a couple of weeks ago.
I scrubbed with Total Awesome , then muratic acid to etch. If it won't clean everything, glass bead or plastic media blast. Follow with another cleaning with degreaser. Then bake to thoroughly dry. I use Seymour Hot Spot aluminum paint 16-1201 to restore the correct look. ***You will NEED to have adequate ventilation to use this paint *** It gets quite nasty in the cure process, but it keeps a beautiful texture to surfaces, not smooth like most paints, unless you really put it on thick. I used this over twenty years ago on my Turbo Regal Intake and Valve Covers. Still looks good to this day! Also, 16-2668 does great on cast iron components, like exhaust manifolds!
