Cleaning aluminium

Im in the process of restoring a Bedford K, Can anyone tell me the best way to clean aluminum parts, Eg the carby, fuel pump the fuel cap and the fuel tank sensor.

google search a product called por15 The stockists of this product have a huge range of "stuff" good stuff too

A weak solution of caustic soda cleans aluminium parts fast! .. but don't leave them in contact with the solution for hours or days, or it will dissolve the parts!
Also, caustic soda is not safe to handle with bare hands, you need gloves and eye protection against splashes.

You can buy aluminium cleaner or mag wheel cleaner in spray bottles, this is a weak solution of phosphoric acid.
You can also buy "Ranex" rust-buster, which is concentrated phosphoric acid .. which you can dilute and use as an aluminium cleaner.

If you do a search on here for "cleaner" (searching all posts), you will find previous discussions about aluminium cleaner choices and preferences.

www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1309654606/7#7

If you want to get a nice shiny finish, after you have "cleaned" it as described above, try using fine grade wet and dry paper (400 first, then 800) wet, or some very fine grade steel wool (OOOO) and a cream alloy polish like Mother's. Finish off by buffing it up with terry towelling or similar.

hi dave most carbie and fuel pumps will be diecast not straight aluminum an engine reconditioner may have some clues as from memory the stuff they soak pistons in is the stuff usually available from most fuel depots or repco back in the seventies there was a carbie acid i will do som looking for you cheers don

Thanks fellas for the advice....

I can recall a brothers mate in the 1950's, stripped his alloy head flathead Ford V8 down, and asked about how to clean the heads up.
Someone suggested caustic soda .. so he made up a tub full of nice strong caustic solution, and tossed them in it for a couple of days!
When he came back, the heads were nowhere to be found!! He ranted and raved about someone stealing his heads .. then someone asked about how strong the solution was, and how long had he left them in it??
When he told them .. he was dutifully informed that it was quite likely that no-one had stolen his heads .. but that frothy scum floating on the caustic solution, was what was left of his heads!! .. : :'( :'(

defiantly not caustic caustic is only suitable on fe [ferric metals or iron ] you would need the correct cleaner or onetraks mate the head thief will be paying you a visit in the knight

going down to the big smoke tomorrow, i think ill go to repco and get some mag wheel cleaner.....

Chemtec Blitz works well. Get a plastic pump bottle and spray it on. Let it foam up and hose off. Ten minutes is usually enough. Repeat if really dirty or get into it with a kitchen scourer. Make sure you wear gloves.