Cleaning aluminum tips needed...

Yesterday I went to the local ac supply house and asked for something to clean aluminum. He gave me something called nubrite, I was looking for aluma brite and was told this will do the same thing. So I tested it on the exhaust pipe clamps and either they are not aluminum (maybe pig iron) because all it did was turn them a dark grey, with a lot of oxidized metal on them. I still had to hand polish, the cleaner just took off the white oxidation and left the dark grey oxidation. Does anyone know of something I can spray on the head and cases to remove the oxidation and make them shiny again?

Certainly not an expert, but, to my knowlege, "hands on" is the only way to do it...For the covers...1400 wet/dry paper, 2000 wet/dry, rubbing compound, Mothers Aluminium Polish, buff, VOILA! mirror finish! For cases, &c, Simple Green degreaser with polyester "wire" wheels (Ace hardware) on a drill

I'm hoping to find an easy way to clean the fins of the motor. It seems a spray of some kind would be great to find. The cases wouldn't be too bad hand rubbing, but the fins...looks daunting...

I have used simple green and also some aluminum wheel cleaner in a store that you spray on and rinse off after 15 seconds. But you cant beat doing it by hand. Here is a set of polished aluminum cases. NO I didnt polish them I bought them. Much easyer :lol:

But what what they cost I could go buy a kz 400 :sick:

But they look GREAT and will be easy to maintain. Ed

For between the fins, a tampico brush might work - the long type that kinda looks like a refrigerator coil brush & typically used to clean spoked wheels (search Amazon.com). Some guys use long strips of blue jeans to do the fins. I guess use either w a polish.

A brass brush will not scar or damage aluminum, if not rubbed hard. Anything can damage the fins... I used these, from HF, and air to clean up my 650 fins... oh, and time.

Before:

After:

I am not sure how clean you want your fins but I have found that a majority can be cleaned up by using Marvel Mystery Oil on a cloth. Use a small stick or something to get the cloth between the fins. This will take a lot of it off but you can take it further from there and minimize time. That has been my experience. Hope this helps.

We used to clean the aluminum floor panels in the hyperbaric(recompression) chamber in the Navy with Coca-Cola. I am dead serious. It will make the aluminum look awesome. Try an area before ya go hog wild. Make sure to rinse well...

My engine looks like the photo that Seymour posted. I have an aluminum cleaner (for air conditioners) that will remove all oxidation but leaves the aluminum with a dark grey coating. I'm looking for a chemical spray that can leave the aluminum looking shiny...anyone know of anything like that? I have read about Aluma Brite but have not tried it. It was recommended to me by an old timer bike mechanic. Here is a video of a guy who used air conditioner coil cleaner to clean aluminum...go to about 5:00 minutes and you will see the difference after polishing...


Has anyone tried any of this method (chemical cleaning)?

How long did you soak the aluminum in coca cola?

Or how about this stuff?

There is no spray on chemical that is going to make aluminum look polished. Polishing is the act of smoothing the surface of the metal, and those spray on cleaners contain acid (Phosphoric acid in Coke) act by removing the top coat of metal and leaving the surface rough.
Polishing is an abrasive process that levels out the peaks and valleys and leaves the surface smooth, AKA polished..
If I can't power polish it, then it gets painted, and if it's polished it still gets painted with the POR-15 clearcoat for aluminum, so no more polishing.

Years ago when I was a lot younger and dumber, I thought it would be fun to be an outlaw trucker. So I bought me a big shiny truck and a big shiny refrigerated trailer, with 18 aluminum wheels, two 150 gallon aluminum fuel tanks, and aluminum battery boxes and steps, all polished.
I paid $150 every two weeks to someone to polish them, that's $300 a month to keep them shiny. I dreamed of a spray on chemical that could polish them.

Edit:
Those cleaners are used to clean the metal and remove any corrosion "prior" to polishing. And yes I've tried them all.