Easy off oven cleaner for valve covers

[Moparmat2000]

This friday we picked up a set of 1970s vintage valve covers for my sons engine build. They were solid with minor surface rust, and will get sandblasted. However these things were really grungy. I set them in the sun to get em hot. Then soaked em down with easy off. After about 30-45 mins, I scrubbed them with a grey scotchbrite, and small steel wire brush, then rinsed them out with hot water. Then along with removing brackets these we dont need, I drilled the spot welds to remove the baffles to clean the rest. I will weld the baffles back in after I sandblast. Wear gloves and goggles, this stuff is harsh. But it works, and works very well. an alternate solution if you dont have an air blower handy to dry them is to rinse, then spray on a final rinse solution of trisodium phosphate/water mix and let air dry. No flash rust will form that way.

 

[alpinecrick]

Easy Off will also take off most (cheap) anodizing by soaking it in a container for 5-10 minutes. Not the environmentally friendly stuff, but the old fashioned Easy Off.

 

[Frank Enstein]

Eats anodizing off aluminum too! Leave it on too long and those fancy finned aluminum valve covers will be missing! When I was a kid we would strip the anodizing off our bike rims and then polish them.

 

[Moparmat2000]

I have restored aluminum trim that way. Strip it with easy off, repair, and hand polish. Did a bunch of that on my 60 el camino grille. It was all anodized thin aluminum.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Easy Off will also take off most (cheap) anodizing

That's how the anodizing process begins, the extrusions are dipped in a weak caustic soda tank to open the pores of the aluminum, then dipped in a water bath to stop it, then put in the anodizing tank where the extrusion gets the positive charge and the sacrificial piece is the anode (~16,000Amps @ 24VDC). then dipped in de-ionized water, dipped a couple times in clear water, packed, and shipped. It's been a while since I worked in an extrusion plant with anodizing and "bright dip" (that was with phosphoric and nitric acid mix - nasty stuff).
All you're doing is reversing the process to get back to the original piece.

Our extrusion dies were made of H13 steel so, after extruding and they needed to be corrected we put them in ~90% caustic heated tanks overnight and it would melt all of the aluminum out of them, then they were rinsed and staged for reuse or correction in the Die Shop. We sold the spent caustic to companies like under arm deodorant manufacturers, otherwise we had to pay for hazardous waste disposal - PPE was a must in that area!

Caustic burns are worse than acid!

 

[alpinecrick]

TBI,
The spent caustic goes in anti-perspirant, but not regular deodorant.

Recently there was some articles about people having reactions to anti-perspirant......no wonder!

 

[Frank Enstein]

That's how the anodizing process begins, the extrusions are dipped in a weak caustic soda tank to open the pores of the aluminum, then dipped in a water bath to stop it, then put in the anodizing tank where the extrusion gets the positive charge and the sacrificial piece is the anode (~16,000Amps @ 24VDC). then dipped in de-ionized water, dipped a couple times in clear water, packed, and shipped. It's been a while since I worked in an extrusion plant with anodizing and "bright dip" (that was with phosphoric and nitric acid mix - nasty stuff).
All you're doing is reversing the process to get back to the original piece.

Our extrusion dies were made of H13 steel so, after extruding and they needed to be corrected we put them in ~90% caustic heated tanks overnight and it would melt all of the aluminum out of them, then they were rinsed and staged for reuse or correction in the Die Shop. We sold the spent caustic to companies like under arm deodorant manufacturers, otherwise we had to pay for hazardous waste disposal - PPE was a must in that area!

Caustic burns are worse than acid!

I thought I would like to bright dip some small parts at home.

I was wrong.

 

[someotherguy]

TBI,
The spent caustic goes in anti-perspirant, but not regular deodorant.

Recently there was some articles about people having reactions to anti-perspirant......no wonder!

I knew there was a reason I didn't trust antiperspirant. People are supposed to sweat. It's natural.

Now, deodorant, I use. Gotta. Wife got me some natural stuff that amazingly works great, although it's "vegan and cruelty free" - I suspect it might work better if it had some vegans and cruelty in it.

But hey; you can't have everything. Where would you put it?

Richard

 

[454cid]

it's "vegan and cruelty free" - I suspect it might work better if it had some vegans and cruelty in it.

But hey; you can't have everything. Where would you put it?

LOLOLOL!!!

 

[Caman96]

Years ago I sprayed down an old cast iron bathtub(outside) with a few cans of oven cleaner, waited awhile, hosed it off right down to metal! We also, used it in wood shops to clean saw blades. It’s the best.