# What product/technique to clean up an alloy cam cover ?



## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Friend of mine has just bought an Alfa GTV and want's me to help him give it a bit of a spruce up, including the engine bay.

Done engine bays before, but from the pictures he sent me, the cam cover looks really bad......










Is there a safe 'wonder' product to use on this that really works, or is it a case of wire brush, wire wool, dremel, etc....any tips gratefully rec'd..

Cheers all...


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## chris l (Mar 5, 2007)

you could remove it and paint it or get it polished up.not sure how easy this is tho


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## Silva1 (Sep 16, 2007)

Bilt-Hamber Deox-C ??


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## Imprez (Sep 26, 2008)

After a thorough clean I'd try buffing it up with a metal polish using a drill polishing kit.


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## Ultimate (Feb 18, 2007)

raceglaze alu-bright should help


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

thanks everyone....I'll look these up and then decide :thumb:


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## Imprez (Sep 26, 2008)

Again, as with the alternator in the other topic maybe you could try Nevr Dull.


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## edsel (Aug 22, 2008)

Imprez said:


> After a thorough clean I'd try buffing it up with a metal polish using a drill polishing kit.


Looks similar to my 53 147, Mines plastic.
I used degreaser in the first instance. Lots of spilt oil around the filler, you have to put a lot of oil in alfa.


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## Garry.L (Jun 4, 2008)

Engine bay on my VX looked similar when I got it......










Firstly I removed the cam cover and polished it up on a buffing machine using Autosol, finish was 'Ok' but casting of the alloy was not the best quality and no amount of polishing would get it perfect.......










As I was not happy with the finish of the above I decided to get the cover powder coated which gives a more durable finish...



















And re-fitted with a few little bling items...


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## springbok (Jun 9, 2008)

Cast aluminium can be very problematic. I tried polishing mine but it just ended up looking a mess.

So this is what I did:


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## edsel (Aug 22, 2008)

springbok said:


> Cast aluminium can be very problematic. I tried polishing mine but it just ended up looking a mess.
> 
> So this is what I did:


Thats not an engine, its a heart  Very nice


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## Neil_M (Apr 5, 2007)

Garry.L + springbok they look fantastic!!


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Here's a belated update on the Alfa. My friend got some RaceGlace Alu-Bright and it did certainly did improve the cover and other metal components, but I think we might explore some other finishes. The powder coated VX220 cover is very nice and the polished bits on the V6 Alfa are just complete car porn......:thumb:

Here's a quick before and after of what we did....



















I'm due to give the car a complete detail soon, so will have another go at the cam cover then. Thanks all.


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## pugben (Jun 23, 2008)

with the alu birght did you leave it 24hrs and cover it in cling film. I am looking to purchase it to do my engine mount and gear box. if i have to i will paint them but hoped for some other alternatives first.


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

The instructions were to apply to the surface and agitate with a brush, leave for several minutes and rinse off...

Have I missed a trick with the cling film approach....????


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## pugben (Jun 23, 2008)

i don't no mate. i have heard that if you paste it on and leave it covered with cling film for 24hrs it should have more chance or working into the metal


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Maybe we'll give that a try and see what happens !!!


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## bratfass (Sep 4, 2008)

I got mine powdercoated in wrinkle-satin black (excuse the dirt ):


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Looks great....another option to consider....!!

Shame you didn't give it a quick wipe over before you took the photo.....how can you drive around with it looking so dirty.....should be ashamed of yourself....


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## craig b (Aug 9, 2008)

About ten years ago i had my cam cover vapor blasted it still looks good now.


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## springbok (Jun 9, 2008)

The trouble with those cast aluminium covers is that once they go "blotchy" you can never get them right, no matter how clean they are. Other than chroming them like I did, powder coating is probably your best bet.


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## amclean (Jul 29, 2008)

springbok said:


> Cast aluminium can be very problematic. I tried polishing mine but it just ended up looking a mess.
> 
> So this is what I did:


Hi Springbok

Alan here from alfa156.net. I want to clean my 3.2 V6 covers, they are a bit grubby, but I don't have the time to do what youve done. The worst are the two fuel rails, how did you get yours to look brand new?

I probably will use a degreaser and a stiff nylon brush to get between the raised ribs, and depending on where that takes me, then I may use an alloy cleaner but not a polish. At least the chrome air pipes are good.

Alan


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## springbok (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi Alan

The two fuel rails are quite finicky but I used Meguiars NXT Metal Polish and a cloth and a LOT of patience and just worked away at them. I found the best method was to cut an old cloth into long strips and thread a strip through and then, holding each end, sort of pull it backwards and forwards. This way you can apply a fair amount of pressure on the section of pipe you are working on. You only have to do this once because once you have the pipes gleaming then its just a matter of a periodic buff.

BTW don't use your best microfibre as the cloths get filthy, a pitch black residue. This is one of those jobs where you really can use an old t-shirt.


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## amclean (Jul 29, 2008)

Ok thanks for the tip mate. Will try this soon. I'll try and take photos along the way, but it may take some time. With 1 and 3 year old boys I don't get much time to do these things and the wife would hardly be understanding if I told her I'm off out to polish some pipes inside the engine bay, ooo err !

Cheers
Alan


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