Yesterday I finished my intake manifold for my car and on the under side I have 2 spots where the tungsten touched the puddle. Now the weld there is darker than the rest of the bead. I know its on the bottom and nobody can see it but it will drive me crazy knowing that its there. I really am not a fan of polishing, is there any other way to clean it without scratching it up. I just want the clean aluminum look like the rest of the manifold. I tried acetone but it didn't really do anything.

Any help would be great, Thanks!

 

pickling paste?? I've used it on stainless, I think they make some form of acid for cleaning aluminum. Nasty **** to work with, does a nice job though

 

I use concrete cleaner to clean old aluminum manifolds. Definetly won't make it all shiny but it will make the part a uniform color. I believe it's just Hydrochloric Acid.

 

I dunno about cleaning it, But I can tell you the concrete cleaner punkin is talking about is called muriatic acid and its a 30% concentration of HCL. If you use this it would not be a bad idea to give the intake a cleaning with bakingsoda and water to nutralize any acid that might be hanging around after you are finished....dont forget your safety glasses!

 

awesome thanks guys!

 

YES!!, as muriatic acid is chemicaly reacted with metal and you do not want to breathe the vapors it puts off so make sure you are outside when you do this. Its best to have a good size container to submerse it in and have something attached to dip it into and pull it out of when youre done

 

muriatic acid wont clean the metal it will eat it away. At least thats what i believe. I would not use it

 

Unless you know, not believe, try to keep the unfound logic to yourself.

I've yet to have a piece of material vanish after cleaning it with any sort of acid I've used (muriatic, concrete cleaner, etc.). Even sheet metal has stayed intact without any pitting after letting the acid sit for hours.

 

mixing aluminum with HCL is fun...................... espeically when its enclosed in a coke bottle for about 15 seconds. lol! about dirty welds though i just carefully buff the spots off.


mike

 

ok well when i throw a peice in to clean it to gave the whole peice a dull finish and looked like it has sat outside for 35 years. It definitely does not looked polished and clean IMO

 

just hit it with a metal brush or a scotch-bright pad/sand paper if you are too **** for that then scrap the manifold.. every time you pop your hood you will remember you dipped the tungsten and contaminated your welds.

 

That's why I posted - "Definitely won't make it all shiny but it will make the part a uniform color."