The Virginia Muscle Car

The manifold had a smooth finish instead of the more common sand cast finish. The aluminum color was dark and with deep stains and 50 yrs of Al oxide corrosion into the metal, as in the above picture. So some cleaning was in order.

First tried "Oven-Off" cleaner -a reported manifold cleaning method- no effect; far too much tarnish. Next, as the below pictures show, I bead blasted with glass bead media which leaves the metal surface clean but with slightly rough finish, w/grey-white Al color. The bead blast takes maybe .001+ off of the metal surface but really cleans the metal. Air pressure was kept low to prevent removing too much metal. I then polished with 1.5'' brass wire brush & Dremel tool. Then polished w/ 5'' cloth wheel, but this step could have been skipped. I don't think any chemical cleaners could have cleaned these parts; bead blasting took under 10 min and was very effective.