Cleaning products that work ?

[Nomad]

Ive tried Castorol Superclean, (worked OK) S100 , some orange degreaser from the dollar store, (worked some too) tested oven cleaner on a scrap piece of aluminum ( no luck )even used the mini steamer of the wifes ,(may need to buy her another one ) the engine is pretty much grease free now but still very dull ,

I am hoping for some miracle in a can . at the auto parts store I started reading some mag cleaner bottles , Eagle One has a rough finish mag cleaner that looks interesting ,Has anyone used this product? and did it work good? it's made up of 4 different nasty acids so protection would be required and a strong hose to rinse off , It's the rough fins that I want to clean, I wish I had a ruined cylinder head so I could test this stuff. ,

I have noticed some bikes have black fins , is that frustration from not being able to clean so they get painted?

what products do you use to really clean the engine ? or the rest of the bike for that matter ? what works ? and what doesn't ? then how do you protect it after it is clean ?


Thank You (<>..<>)

[Spargett]

In leu of painting or bead blasting (best solution), you can only get an engine to look "so" clean. I've seen a few cleaning jobs that looked pretty good with just elbow grease, but I imagine the look you're going for would be with one of the two first solutions.

Other than that, a scotchbrite pad in combination with any degreaser is what works best for me. It's more about the abrasive properties of the pad pulling off the corroded and stained aluminum.

[Gunner_CAF]

I used what Spargett did, lots of elbow grease. I don't think you will find that miracle can, and if you do, don't get any on ya.

I started with engine degreaser. I used the scotch bright pad, and ended up with carb cleaner and a toothbrush for the tight spaces. A abrasive wheel on a drill worked well for the fins. I used a medium wheel made of vinyl bristles.

Gunner