Aluminum engine restoration

[synegy]

I sprayed an oven cleaner on the Honda engine block and seriously damaged the original silver luster on the aluminum intake manifold. I've searched for days on the internet but I haven't found any site that shows how to restore the engine finish to the factory new. HOW do you make an aluminum engine look like a factory sparkling silver new? Do you powder coat silver paint or electroplating it? Your expertise is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[amerdunbar]

It all depends on how in depth you want to get. If you're tearing down the engine, while it's disassembled, you could get it beadblasted and powdercoated. If you're just trying to freshen it up, they sell ceramic high temp paint at your local car parts shop that will stick pretty good, but probably won't match the original finish 100%.

[synegy]

Thanks for the quick reply.
Will the beadblasting alone create a factory silver shine?
I should've mentioned that mine is an Acura Honda engine. So it's no fancy motorcycle engine. I tried to scratch the engine block with a sharp screw driver but I didn't see no paint peeling off. So that's how I assumed that the engine could've been electroplated. It looked almost as if the color of the aluminum body is the aluminum itself. But then again, the color looked too even and consistent to be beadblasted alone.

[amerdunbar]

Just bead blasting will give a rough, silvery look to it that will corrode and stain really quickly if left as is. I haven't worked on aluminum car engines enough to know what's on yours, but my guess is the block has some type of anodize seal to protect it. The intake manifold, on the other hand, is probably silver powder coated. Are you just trying to fix the finish on the intake manifold? What type of finish do you want? Did you just dull it, or has it started peeling?

[KCV6]

Most cast aluminium engine components come out of the casting nice and shiny and that is how they are left. Over time they discolour and stain.

There is no method of part restoring short of hand polishing the rough cast finish with something like autosol and then de-greasing. I have fond using a brass wire brush shines the casting surface up nicely, but you can still tell it has been done.

In all honesty, degrease clean off any bad casting marks, send the bits to a bead blaster and then get it powder coated in any one of the amazing finishes you can get now. Powder coating is relatively inexpensive and incredibly durable.

Cheers Mark

[synegy]

Thanks all for your advices.

The damage on the engine finish looks like as if the oven cleaner fluid has etched the aluminum. No paint was peeling off at all. Even sanding the spot off didn't help at all but only made them look unaturally brighter and shiny compared to other surface area.

Here are the sample photos what I want my engine to look like.

http://www.boomplustoys.net/images/J...e_Manifold.jpg

http://www.prostreetonline.com/pso/p...ox/bloxim3.jpg

http://mlbz521.scorchgaming.com/Prel...ntakeafter.jpg

http://www.civictyper.ca/Civic/K20A%...20Manifold.jpg

http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?t=108068

The last link shows good contrast between the new and the old. Mine has more ugly dark silverish looks on many different spots though. I'm not an expert on the aluminum finish but from what I've seen, the aluminum doesn't look like it's powder coated at all. No paint was peeling from mine when scratched. As you can see from the links, the silverly color looks almost bare natural, but also it looks too even to be bare. There must be some kind of electroplating treatment the factories must do to make them look clean and nice. I prefer the factory look than polishing ones.

[seanc]

Oven cleaner = sodium hydroxide

sodium hydroxide = very good aluminum dissolver!

So you have etched the part, and will have to sand/polish it back to a smooth surface.