Best "at home" way to clean grimy timing cover (for e30 M42)

On my last M42 build I just scrubbed everything by hand, and spent many grimy hours in the sink with every kind of solution, Dawn, etc....

For this build, the engine, timing case, etc are 10x as grimey. I have a shop sink (fiberglass). Any suggested "bath" to soak it in to get all the grime off the outside, oil and coolant residue off the inside, etc?

The timing case is aluminum, btw..

kerosene?

Mineral spirits and sandblaster?

mineral spirits and a paint brush..

then if you are trying to get it to shine, spray it with some aluminum wheel cleaner that's designed for wheels that don't have clearcoat on them.

Dishwasher?

Rumor is oven cleaner works well. I have not tired it so recommend a test.

Scrape major gunkage off w/ gasket scraper, putty knife, screw drivers, picks etc. Good soak in spirits or Dawn/ purple stuff w/ hot water, scrub w/ nylon brush or Scotchbrite pads. Never failed to get parts clean w/ enough persistence.

Used to keep a parts washer w/ solvent but not worth the cost for the small amount of parts I need to clean anymore.

Soak it in a hot bath with auto dishwasher detergent and then take it outside and hit it with a pressure washer? People say the dishwasher works great, so that would be a close proximity to that.

I don't think I would use oven cleaner on aluminum.

Oven cleaner is quick and easy, but it will also take off any clear coat and leave the aluminum dull and oxidized. Quick and easy if you want clean and are going to paint or seal, not so good if you want shiny or polished.

Kerossene works great.

Whats going to give you a hard time is that cosmoline crap BMW uses, not sure yours has it. I had to sandblast my M20 valvecover in order to get rid of it.

for very little money ... Awesome degreaser .. you can find it on line, but even easier it's for sale at Dollar General ... that stuff is indeed AWESOME

http://www.lastotallyawesome.com/html/Products_Degreaser.html

Soak it in a bucket of gasoline, although at todays prices other methods might be better.

I've heard good things about pine sol.

I found the easiest way is to scrape all the gunk and then pay to have one of the machine shops run it through their parts washer.

If I choose to do it manually I scrape off as much a possible and then use Simple Green, a stiff bristle nylon brush and the garden hose or pressure washer.

Get a gallon of Purple Power degreaser.

An old baking sheet, Purple Power and a stiff nylon brush will get it clean.

Even though I have an actual Safety-Kleen brand parts washer sink, I get the worst crud off stuff this way to keep the bulk of the greasy munge out of my hard-won solvent.

After it's clean and dry, bead blast, dishwasher, etch prime and paint :)

wbjones wrote: for very little money ... Awesome degreaser .. you can find it on line, but even easier it's for sale at Dollar General ... that stuff is indeed AWESOME http://www.lastotallyawesome.com/html/Products_Degreaser.html

It might be awesome, but the bike picture on their web page is flipped LR. Totally Fail.

Dr. Hess wrote:

wbjones wrote: for very little money ... Awesome degreaser .. you can find it on line, but even easier it's for sale at Dollar General ... that stuff is indeed AWESOME http://www.lastotallyawesome.com/html/Products_Degreaser.html

It might be awesome, but the bike picture on their web page is flipped LR. Totally Fail.

since I don't know bikes from porch swings ....

it's been 30+ yrs since I rode a bike (Kawasaki Mk III 500 3cyl 2 stroke)

but the stuff IS great even if they know less about bikes than I do