'65 Commando valve cover cleaning

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Bob Jasinski

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The valve covers on my original 273 Commando are basically in good shape, but are filthy inside with layers of gunk. The aluminum fins are in nice shape, and I understand that they are glued to the top of the cover. Normally I would have the machine shop hot tank the valve covers to clean them, but I think that the hot tank process would loosen the glue and damage the aluminum fins in the process. I have a media blast cabinet, but am not comfortable using it because I see no way of making sure all the blast media could be cleaned out. How have others cleaned these without damaging the fins? Is there a solvent that could be used that would not damage the aluminum or it's bond? My searches have not been fruitful, what have others done?
 
Blasting in a cabinet is a bad idea,it pollutes the cabinet,clogs things and just isnt a great idea.
Oven cleaner, not the stuff you need to turn oven on though.
I used it many times. I clean outside of greasy engine blocks with it too.
 
If they are nice on the outside and don't need to be restored, just degrease and scrape the underside. The build up won't hurt their performance. CUDACHICK us the pro restoring these. I think she uses heat to remove the fins.
 
The oven cleaner sound like a great idea. I don't want to remove the fins unless absolutely necessary, they really are in nice original shape, and then you'd have to re glue them, and that brings up more questions about what glue to use...et cetera. Is there a particular brand of oven cleaner that is recommended? I would just try to keep the oven cleaner on the inside and not get it near the fins. I'll bet it harms aluminum. I'll give brake cleaner a shot too, but that stuff evaporates so fast I question its effectiveness.
 
The oven cleaner sound like a great idea. I don't want to remove the fins unless absolutely necessary, they really are in nice original shape, and then you'd have to re glue them, and that brings up more questions about what glue to use...et cetera. Is there a particular brand of oven cleaner that is recommended? I would just try to keep the oven cleaner on the inside and not get it near the fins. I'll bet it harms aluminum. I'll give brake cleaner a shot too, but that stuff evaporates so fast I question its effectiveness.
Mr muscle. Lemon scented.
Brake cleaner works, will loosen the gooey stuff.
Mostly now is my parts washer and a scrub brush. Rinse with brake cleaner and its clean/ dry.
 
Thank you all. Going to try both oven cleaner and brake cleaner (separately) and see what works best. Might even give my pressure washer a shot. i love this list.
 
Thanks for the mentions Don and Mike. I'm late to the party.

I personally wouldn't use brake cleaner unless you're going to repaint them (because it will probably soften or remove it). If you didn't do anything with them since yesterday @Bob Jasinski call me tomorrow after 10 a.m. central and I'll try to help you out. 731 613 9192
 
My fins on mine were in great shape. The black wrinkle was horrible. I taped off the fins and sandblasted them. Repainted the black wrinkle and they turned out great.
If outside of yours is good, just standard parts washer stuff will clean out insides. It wont loosen glue holding fins on unless there is an existing issue.
 
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