Cleaning cam covers (pre-paint) & what paint to use - update: blasted

I've got a spare 16V cam cover lying around, so thought a spruce up would be in order.

I don't fancy painting over crud, but a bead blast seems a bit OTT.

What have others used for cleaning up? Thinners will only get so much off.

Is there anything available which reacts with the alloy and leaves it spangly?

Also any paint recomendations? Halfords, or is it a Frosts thing?

TIA

 

Others have mentioned alloy wheel cleaner for doing gearboxes, similar sort of thing?

 

Some kind of degreaser and a big wire brush

 

i steam cleaned mine,wire brush on a drill to get it down to the ally,used acid8 etch primer then used plasticote super gloss black project paint,takes about a week to harden in room temp but seems fine and iirc it can stand up to 120 deg
bit of a rush job but heres the pic
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Neat and tidy - a few good ideas, thanks all.

Plasticote = Halfords?

 

I've read that soda blasting works really well on ally (yes, baking soda). You need a compressor, and a catering pack of baking soda (and somewhere to make a mess).

 

should imagine so but i got mine from the local hardware shop

 

washing powder and hot'ish water, not the stuff used to kill mice with

let it soak, pour on neat powder to stubborn areas and scrub with a stiff brush.

I recently did a inlet manifold this way and it came up well.

B&Q have a huge range of this stuff, some interesting two tone crackle effect too

 

i.a.n.b painted a cam cover in some paint that he had to bake in the oven, it gave pretty good results

 

radiator paint .

 

If you can post it to me i can media blast it. I've got ally friend media too.

I've some pics of one somewhere i can email you ?

 

I used a file and some wet n dry to get rid of casting joins etc then hard graft with plumbers wire wool and thinners. After that it was a few coats of hammerite smooth black. After years of abuse and being pulled off a few times, the cover is still in pretty good nick. Got a fair few chips now but they are from abuse rather than just coming off.

Gurds

 

cleaned ours up yesterday, just used washing up liquid and hot water and then a old wire brush drill attatchment got it back easily. Just need to paint it now, were going for white I think

 

i initially went for white but didnt look right (to me anyhow)
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i think switch had it in white? and i loved it.... it will set the brown/rust/oil off a treat under the bonnet

 

I just gunked mine and used matt black engine paint from halfords (in a silver and orange tin) still on there and looks pretty good, also polished the raised fins along the tip but never got round to taking the paint back off those to show it off

 

thats what i was going to do but too much work to not see it all for the manifold and leads

 

Barny's going to sort out getting it blasted which is great

Colour - I'm thinking dark silver / anthracite.

 

dishwasher then wire brush.

for painting i has always used plastikote. and as mentioned earlier they have some cool finishes and colours too.

 

Why didn't I think of that? - will do some before & afters!

Then in for blasting.