Cleaning/surface conditioning alloy parts?

[911hillclimber]

Need to clean Appleby calipers, (alum) and Girling Master cylinders and a lot of Villiers engine parts/castings.

I'm trying to find something to do this chemically, not by blasting.
Thinking of the Frost Alum Cleaner solution.

any experiences?

I just want a clean part with a uniform 'colour' without wire brushes and the suchlike to keep the as-cast surface finish.
The parts have no white corrosion, just oil stained and grubby.
Thanks, Graham.

[steve cowell]

Graham,I have used Gunk "Green" on some of engine cases and have quite shocked how good it is Halfords sell it

[Rob Logan]

Cheapskate answer but have found to be very effective.In your local Poundland (also good source for brake cleaner) or other 99p shop try and find in their tools/hardware section,Alloy wheel cleaner.Its an aerosol and what to do is wash with degreaser, shake off excess, and spray part to be cleaned.Should be like shaving foam, then attack with toothbrush and rinse with hot water. Try it and see Cheers Rob

[911hillclimber]

Thank to you both. Good ideads, will try.
Focused on getting tyres off spun and alloy wheels at the moment....

[911hillclimber]

Tried the Frost alloy cleaner tonight on my grubby Zip wheels.

Not too bad, but 6/10 to be honest.
It smells slightly acidic and a familiar smell too but not very convincing.
Would work well after degreasing and other prepping of the surface.

Did nothing to the grime on my Appleby caliper castings.

Wire brush worked well....

[jerry thurston]

Wheels...

For spun alloy wheels I've been using the grey scotchbright rubbing down sheets (via Halfords) wrapped around the spindle of a rotary porting machine, plenty of WD40 or similar for lubrication.
It leaves a nice smooth matt grey finish which can be polished with a little application.