Engine exterior chalk removal...

[ddragon63]

Question... Whats the best product to remove the chalking on the exterior or a non painted engine. Its got some chalking on it from the years of sitting in the wood shed.

An old timer once told me lemon pledge is what he's used for years

I'm not against it but... who would ever thing to spray some household wood cleaner on a motorcycle engine?

[jetmechmarty]

Scrub it with WD40. What you are looking at is corrosion of aluminum. If it was steel, you'd be looking at rust.

[JasonRedbeard]

+1 to Marty. Aluminum oxidizes on contact with air. Normally it does it in a very thin, even layer that you can't really see. After years of sitting without being cleaned, though.....

[crazy steve]

It'll depend on what you want the finished product to look like...

If you want to repolish, you'll almost always have to sand down to clean metal to get the pitting out if the parts are really chalky. If you're planning on paint or powdercoating, then I'd media blast them. Either way, until every last bit of that corrosion is gone, it'll come back quickly. If painting or coating, it really helps to bake the items @ 400 for an hour both before and after blasting to get every bit of moisture out.

Like Marty said, that's the aluminum equivilent of rust, and rust never sleeps...

[ddragon63]

just looking to clean it up a bit. I'll give it a Seamfoam or WD40 clean. So no takers on the Pledge idea huh?

[Rasputin]

Lemon Pledge on your windshield is a wonderful thing. Hides scratches and cleans well. As for the motor, well I am looking at stuff myself. I am about to try Aqua Lum. It is an aluminum cleaner and brightener. Some acid type stuff in it to take the oxidization off. I have to get a few parts back on the old girl before I try it but I have it here when I need it.

[ddragon63]

Lemon Pledge on your windshield is a wonderful thing. Hides scratches and cleans well. As for the motor, well I am looking at stuff myself. I am about to try Aqua Lum. It is an aluminum cleaner and brightener. Some acid type stuff in it to take the oxidization off. I have to get a few parts back on the old girl before I try it but I have it here when I need it.

I carry an Aluminum cleaner "brightener" at work. We sell it to fabricators for cleaning up the weld area of contaminants prior to welding. they also use it as a post weld clean up. maybe I'll try a little of it and report back