Cleaning my cam cover

I

imported_perry

New member
My engine bay has been neglected for several years now. No excuse really, just laziness. I've used CD-2 a couple times, and Simple Green a few times, other than that, not too much.



But now I'd like to really clean things up. Dunno why, guess I'm bored and this should keep me busy for a while. :nixweiss



4 or 5 years ago, I tried painting some highlights on the cover using engine paint and was never really happy with how it came out. I removed the paint using a small wire brush on my Black & Decker Wizard (cordless Dremel clone), which also seemed to kinda polish up the metal as well.



I doubt that it's a good idea to do that to the entire cover that way though. You can see a small area that I did in the top left to try it out, between the spark plug well and the long indentation. Does good, but I'm not sure that it's a good idea to do the entire cover that way. The lower left corner was done with Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish 7 or 8 times, took over an hour, and still doesn't look completely clean. Seems like it'll take forver to do the entire cover this way. I think the top center and left has had the polish applied once or twice. The area around the oil cap hasn't been touched.



Perhaps I need something more abrasive? Should I keep using that wire brush on my Wizard? I don't necessarily want it to be blindingly shiney, just clean. Any suggestions?



Once it is clean, how should I keep it clean in the future?
 

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Well, a polishing wheel on a drilll works well. I suppose it might get it shinier than you want, but hey, what does that hurt. ;)
 
Hmm.. Doing some Googling. Sounds like a scuff polishing wheel is what I would need. I tried felt and it didn't do much good.



SCUFF POLISHERS/ABRASIVE BUFFS: Similar to Scotchbriteâ„¢, these are great for cutting through dirt and grime and leaving the base material with a nice satin finish. They also work well for light sanding. Use them on all kinds of metals, wood, glass, stones, and plastics.
Click to expand...



Link



I'll have to check Lowes & Menard's to see what they have.



Only sucky thing is that I only have one battery for my Wizard, and it only seems to last like 10 minutes.
 
I spoke with my mechanic/cousin tonight, and he suggested wetsanding with 1000 grit, then a Scotchbrite type pad, then the Mother's polish.



I asked him about high temp clear, and he wasn't certain that something existed that would bond to aluminium. I'll have to look through the auto stores and see what I can find.
 
From my many years of restoring cars, I have found that using a clear paint on bare metal does nothing to stop rust or corrosion.



Eastwood sells a product called Diamond Clear made for aluminum, etc. I don't know how well it works though.



Another product for bare polished aluminum is made by Busch..and I think it's called Aluminum Wax. I used it on the diamond plate on my trailer as well as on some trim for the Plymouth and it does seem to slow the corrosion process.
 
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