I am noticing that my cast aluminum IC is not quite as shiny as it used to be. I have tried in the past to cleanup cast aluminum heads and intakes and have never had much success. Does anyone have any proven methods of cleaning up my IC?

 

i cant even get to mine, due to the oem bumper cover.....

sorry, i am of no help...

bumpski......

 

use a soft sponge but be careful not to bend the fins, they are really soft....then i usually use mag/aluminum polish to make it shinier... hope this helps

 

I would like to find a way to get the dam BUGS out of the fins of the IC

 

i have heard of a radiator comb, but never actually seen one.....

im sure there's a rad. guard you could get (had one on my gsxr, and i could scrub it w/ a rag and keep it spotless, without damaging the fins)

 

radiator comb will scrape stuff out w/o damaging anything, and straighten the fins in case they are bent, about 10 bucks or so. It comes in a circular looking tool w/ varying widths of combs on the outside of the circle so you can get the closest fit. As far as polishing, try Flitz, good stuff.

 

Thanks for the responses. I am really more concerned about the end tanks more that the actual fins themselves. As far as the bugs, a simply blast with the high pressure sprayer at the car wash seems to remove all of the bugs.

 

When I had my Mitsubishi Eclipse turbo, they told me it was ok to use the bug and tar remover aerosol sprays to clean the stock intercooler. I think is was made of cast aluminum, too. The pressure spraying action seemed to really clean the intercooler well and it gleemed and sparkled after cleaning. I used that for the 4 years I had the car with excellent results and no probs that I could tell. I always spray rinsed the intercooler with water after spraying it with the bug and tar remover. It would just depend on whether bug and tar remover would damage the metal of your intercooler. I'm not sure if the metal is the same in all of them or not. Be careful, I don't want to screw up your intercooler.

 

The end tanks are probably pitted and scratched from road debris. Mine started out shiny, and now they have a sand blasted look to them. You might try a 1000 grit sandpaper and do a wet-sanding job on them. Then some Mother's polishing compound.

Once you get them shiny, you might want to try a "clear bra" type material on them to prevent them from scratching again.

Good luck...

 

I suggest you go to an A/C supply store and get a coil cleaner. These come in a few varieties. Some foam up and push out contaminants, others are more acidic. You should use the non-acidic types most of the time, and the acidic types when you need a deep cleaning (about once a year)