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Long story short, I am working on a fresh water flood car it's a 1989. The rear diff is at Ikerds to be rebuilt. While I have the rear end apart I thought I spiff up the aluminum parts in the rear suspension. I checked with a company about getting the parts anodized. To expensive and all would need to be pre-cleaned. Next thought is to media blast and powder coat the parts but what should I use? I have a blast cabinet. I want to clean things up but not damage anything. What have you used and what success did you have? Photos? Any readers replace the bushings? How did you press out the old ones? Thanks!
All the aluminum parts in my 88 I glass beaded, then acrylic clear coated them. This was almost 20 years ago and still lool great. Easy to clean up also.
All the aluminum parts in my 88 I glass beaded, then acrylic clear coated them. This was almost 20 years ago and still lool great. Easy to clean up also.
I just did this a few months ago and just used elbow grease basically.
Had all the links out of the car and front upper and lower control arms/spindle etc, as I was doing a bushing replacement.
Simple green and a scotch-brite pad and some blue paper towels. Used brake cleaner here and there, but they cleaned up well for a 100k mile car.
To replace bushings, i used Super Pro bushings, and just my bench vise for removal for almost all of it. Did use a ball joint press (rental from auto parts store) to push out the lower ball joint and some of the larger bushings. I wont say it was easy and often times my wife was giving me a hand to turn vice handle while i kept the bushing as centered as i could.
A small hydraulic press would have been a huge benefit for the replacement.
I've cleaned all the aluminum suspension parts on my 84 when I did the C5 brakes, front coil overs and 86 knuckles front and rear. A wire wheel on a drill works wonders to clean. If you want a polished look then rotary scotch Brite pads do well. If you media blast you can use aluminum oxide but turn your pressure down. I did 50 psi and it worked ok. A better option is to stop by Tractor supply and get granet blast media. It's not as aggressive as aluminum oxide and it wears out faster. But it won't damage aluminum parts and gives a nice satin finish. I run it at 80 psi or so on aluminum.
I’d say try something even more gentle like walnut shell to blast with, you can always go more aggressive but not the opposite direction. I’ve seen some aluminum surfaces peened with round glass bead but I haven’t ever used these. Of course one could soda blast it too however it’s always a giant mess when I use baking soda.
When I was cleaning up my vettes rear aluminum a few months ago I was using paper towels & lacquer thinner.
Look around on the site or even facebook pages, I’ve seen a lot of pictures of guys doing extensive cleaning with their rear ends removed.
Long story short, I am working on a fresh water flood car it's a 1989. The rear diff is at Ikerds to be rebuilt. While I have the rear end apart I thought I spiff up the aluminum parts in the rear suspension. I checked with a company about getting the parts anodized. To expensive and all would need to be pre-cleaned. Next thought is to media blast and powder coat the parts but what should I use? I have a blast cabinet. I want to clean things up but not damage anything. What have you used and what success did you have? Photos? Any readers replace the bushings? How did you press out the old ones? Thanks!
bead blast and chem film conversion coating (PPG DX-503). i bought a harbor freight 20-ton press for the bushings. the labor rate at the shop was more than what i paid for the press. as i remember, paid around 160$ for the press. handy thing to have around the shop.
bead blast and chem film conversion coating (PPG DX-503). i bought a harbor freight 20-ton press for the bushings. the labor rate at the shop was more than what i paid for the press. as i remember, paid around 160$ for the press. handy thing to have around the shop.
06-25-2024, 01:50 PM
Aluminum Suspension cleanup? Bushing replacement?
