cleaning alum heads

I got some alum heads that oven cleaner was used on to try to clean up. Now that area is darker in color. Any way to clean that up to make them all purdy again?

Spray em down with the hose

take them to a machine shop, they will clean and check them for you for a price.

You have several options.
Tell us a little more about your situation. Are they off the car? Are you looking to go cheap or done right? How well do you want them done?

They are not installed. I’m just looking to cheaply pretty them up to throw them on ebay.

I have cleaned at least 3 neon heads with lemon-scented oven cleaner in my shower. Just don’t let it sit on there for more than a few minutes, as it is corrosive. It REALLY cleans them up nice. I never had any problems from it either, and still made 400+ whp on a head made for a car that makes 110 crank stock, so it is definitely a cheap alternative to taking it to a machine shop.

The dark is because it was let to sit and corrode away. Honestly I am not sure on how to fix that aside from blasting it (if it is cast alum) or taking a heavy polish to it if it is aluminum tube.

Put them in the dish washer.

blast them with glass bead.

Glass bead or soda

Lol, now you just use the shower area to clean it or you actually showered with the part? Cuz I’d like to think I’m not the only one who has gone with the 2nd method. :roflpicard:

As for soda blasting or bead blasting, would the heads need to be dissassembled and then throughly cleaned after?

Soda can wash away with water, but I don’t know if I would do an assembled head. Glass bead would require a complete tear down and cleaning after to remove the stray glass. That is the beauty of sodium bicarbonate

are there seals and valves in the head?

Glass bead an aluminum head that’s assembled??? Have you seen what a glass bead does if it gets in the combustion chamber? I have and it’s not pretty.

We teardown and have them soda blasted so you know it will all come out and you never have to worry about a stray glass bead coming out of the head once it’s in a car and gets heat cycled.