Engine Alloy parts restoring help Needed

[slowcar]

Hi  i have just bought a RHD 280Sl and want to add some life to the valve cover,head and intake manifold.
Is there a spray on type product?
Also what is the correct finish to the wood work,Matt ,Gloss ?
Thanks
John

[Khurram Darugar]

Get them bead blasted and coated with either clear powder coat or heat resistant clear coat.
Kay

[mdsalemi]

Any kind of xxx-blasting of an aluminum or other soft-metal product such as the valve cover will result in a texture that you may not want because it was not there or isn't original.  Aluminum is easily cleaned and brightened chemically; do a search in your location for "aluminum cleaners" or "aluminum brighteners", or go to an industrial supply house and you'll find what you need.

[Khurram Darugar]

Michael,
I will bow to youre judgement on this.
With the following caveat.

I did not have much success with degreasers.
Bead blasting or something complilmentary to aluminum resulted in the correct finish in my case.  At least i think it is!    Everything came out looking new and with a matt finish
Kay

[garymand]

$.02: The surface of the cover is very smooth but not polished.  Don't blast it as the texture will roughen the finish.  Typically it is just oxidized and lightly stained, blasting isn't needed.  Mine is just degreased and given a coat of WD40.  I don't like the polished shiny thing, that''s too far from original.  I like the patina.  The manifold cleans up perfectly with just degreaser.  I don't have a better protectant than just WD once in a while.  It even looks good on the injection lines.  Natural beauty of original surfaces.

If you degrease and don't coat with WD, everything shows the oxidation.  JMO...

[280SE Guy]

I would think this is the finish you would be looking to achieve:



Regards,

280SE Guy


Edit: This is the original untouched finish.

[garymand]

ahh, a fine example! even the tiewraps are accurate.

[Garry]

It depends entirely  on what material you use in the preening of the cover and manifolds to get it right. The material must be considerably softer that the casting material.

[garymand]

Yes, that's what I was getting at: You can see the roughness on the cover from it being blasted.  Its not smooth like it was stock.  BTW, There are a couple of clamps missing on the FI pipes.   

[drmb]

That roughness is nothing to do with the blasting,230sl's have rough cast covers not smooth like 280sl's.

[Benz Dr.]

A lot has to do with what kind of blaster you use, how much pressure, and how far away you keep the blaster nozzel from your work. Some aluminium pieces can't be cleaned with chemicals. You can remove grease and stuff like that in a mild caustic solution - too strong and it will make quick work of alloy metals. I give that sort of thing to my machine shop.
Stuff that gets a light sand blast can be pollished with a soft wire brush. Having your parts completely free of any grease or moisture is really important if you have to blast any parts because sand will stick to those wet or greasy areas. I always let things sit for a few weeks after blasting and then I try to shake any sand out of them with an air wand.  Very important around valve covers and cylinder heads. You may swear you have every spec of sand out of them and find a hand full two weeks later - then you just swear...... 

[Garry]

I actually have used Walnut shell and it works well on everything.

Garry

[andyburns]

There is massive variation in finish depending on the media used.  If you take your parts down to a local bead blaster they will likely have very coarse general purpose media which almost has a 'fluffing' effect on the alloy.  I have been using AD or AE stock which gives a really nice finish.  Another aspect which dictates results is the operator skill.  If you sit in one place hammering the surface you will get an uneven result as well.  The trick is to keep the media moving over the surface in even motions.  I have also tried other tricks like using a very very fine scotch pad to slightly linish the alloy after it comes out of the booth.  I think there are a number of way to get the same result. 

[slowcar]

Thanks for all the input.

The second question is what is the correct finish for the dash wood? How to get it there?
Thanks

[stickandrudderman]

I have my alloy parts vapour blasted.
The wood can be anything you want it to be unless you want it to be original, in which case it will be what is commonly referred to as light or dark oak (although I don't think either are actually oak!) They were the only two choices.
I offer my customers a much wider choice and walnut in high gloss is a popular choice.

[280SE Guy]

Here are a couple of pics of an original finish on W108. I believe this is the walnut wood although there was a couple of different woods used depending on the optional wood selected at time of the order.







Please tell us what model do you have?

Regards,

280SE Guy

[stickandrudderman]

Please tell us what model do you have?

From the OP:

Hi  i have just bought a RHD 280Sl

[wharlan]

I was in the same bay recently and used P21 metal polishing soap with very good results.  It restores the finish to a clean but not over restored look inexpensively and with little risk.  It is available from car care online: http://store.carcareonline.com/p21smetalpolishingsoap-106ozjar.aspx

Hope this helps

Will