I have a mopar M-1 intake that i just port matched & was wondering what some of you used out here to clean it & make it look nice again.
I really don't ant to bead blast it if someone has used a product that really works good.

I used Simple Green barbecue cleaner and a nylon cup brush on my drill. Simple Green and a high-pressure rinse really gets a lot of stuff off with not a whole lot of effort.

I used Mothers mag wheel cleaner , the etching type , spray it on , let it sit for about 20mins then hose it off , repeat as needed .

CLR can clean it too, if cheaper than the wheel cleaners out there.

I used oven cleaner. Just dont leave it on to long. You can always apply a second, third or fourth coat, just rinse and repeat. That with a stiff nylon brush and it came out nice. Went to bolt it on and forgot about the end seal pins. Crack. 3 hours wasted.

Cast aluimunm spray on wheel cleaner works great also

Agreed! CLR, oven cleaner, SimpleGreen straight, bare aluminum mag cleaner(hydroFluoric acid)(maybe not available anymore))...any of these work great on bare aluminum....be careful with these if still installed on your engine, will affect other materials. Still will not be as effective as bead blasting.

Eagle One mag wheel cleaner if you can still get it.

Might be too picky but I'd tape up the ports/flange if glassbeading to keep the beads from possible embedding in inside crevices then heat releasing them later on

Bead blasting ruins the surface and if it is a restorer part ruins the value. The open surface now holds dirt and oil. I have used bead blasting and high temp clear to give a different look but once you open that surface up it's never the same.

R.

Easiest and most effective thing by far is to clean it up as good as you can, hot tank it if it has 20 coats of paint on it then hit it w/ something like this, then clear coat it. It will look good for a long time and it wont "soak" up oil and grease like natural aluminum.

this is the outcome....

How about this intake? was pretty dirty looked like was left in a barn for years
i took it to a monument place let them blast it
i had all ports duct taped up nice
brung home took air hose to it then painted it with some metalic gray/silver the last coat i held back bout a foot and half to give a over spray effect it looks like i took it stright out of the box

Differnt intake i did same way

Ever thought about taking it to your local machine shop and having them soak it over night in their cold tank? Works wonders and won't harm the aluminum.

I use a weak Muratic acid solution and then rinse with water. I've tryed using clear acrylic enamel to seal them afterwards but have found that it tends to yellow out in time. Dave