hey guys what works for cleaning dirty aluminum that can be sprayed or whiped off?My valvecovers are a mess and i need to clean them.

I used good old Special Green

Oven cleaner.... spray it on, bake em, then clean it off after. I did an intake that way and it worked great. IIRC though, you need a non-caustic type, as that stuff eats aluminum.

Carb cleaner to degrease them, then good ol Wenol and lot of elbow grease to pretty them back up.

these are rough cast valve covers. no polish required.

i am thinking i will try the same spray on wheel cleaner that i use on my centerlines? from Eagle one?

we used acid to cleabn our dump trailers and rims. it has worked good on intakes.

For Rough cast non coated finish, use an Aluminum wheel wash. It is an acid wash that will "whiten" the finish and must be rinsed off well or else it will stain. Eagle One or Mothers will work well.

For a coated, painted or polished finish, Eagle One A2Z or All Finish Wheel Cleaner is good. I believe Mothers Wheel Mist is similar and both are not supposed to harm the finish. Just be sure to rinse it off well.

yeah these are rough cast non coated finish covers

hey guys what works for cleaning dirty aluminum that can be sprayed or whiped off?My valvecovers are a mess and i need to clean them.

Eagle A-Z aluminum wheel cleaner. The stuff in the orange spray bottle. This stuff will sting your nose if you get the overspray in your nose. Just spray on, wait a few minutes, and rinse off. It's well worth the few bucks for the bottle

ok i will see if i can get it here. Shouldnt be a problem
Will it eat the rubber gromets in the valve covers?

ok i will see if i can get it here. Shouldnt be a problem
Will it eat the rubber gromets in the valve covers?

Only if you let it sit on there way too long. Follow the directions on the bottle.

Mothers has an aluminum wheel cleaner that'll work for you too.

I don't have the mag in front of me but either Hot Rod or Car Craft did a test with some new product on an aluminum manifold with great results. I'm going to look into it myself.

Right on. Good to see lots of different ideas in this thread. thanks for all the replies everyone.

I use a product called 'white lightin' on non coated/polished alum. parts. It's a mild acid based cleaner. I get it local at a little mom & pop auto store by the gal. jug.

Works great on my WS6 snowflake alum wheels. Just spray it on, let it sit for a couple of min. then hose off.