Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Another trial and some results.

The colours are a bit odd - the dark carb top wasn't that dark.

The technique I adopted:
Cleaner on - leave for 5 mins
Wash off - the surface has a light grey etched appearance.
Brush gently with soft brass wire brush (after lots of trial and error)
repeat until satisfied.

Wear safety gear the acid is nasty
Don't over do it the hard surface gets removed form the alloy, but it dosn't get any brighter.

I did this and it worked great! http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-t ... a_blaster/

Gale

Nice article Mr.Gale - Do you have any pictures of the surface finish you achieved?

I'm trying to avoid a "Blasted" appearance - I want to achieve an "It's been so well looked after from new" Patina.

I've used a stainless steel scouring pad on my Webers to great effect. No chemicals, just elbow grease. I'm sure it would do a great job on the differential as well.

Also I've used aluminum foil and Coca-Cola on items such as the metal on my Sprint interior door handles. It gets rid of a lot of that rust and leaves a nice polish. (If you're on a diet, Diet Coke works too... "add lightness.")

Gary
'71 Sprint FHC
Miami, Florida

looks pretty clean already .... mine were BROWN

Yes - Mine were brown and black too! At this stage they had already been cleaned of anything that half a gallon of breake/carb cleaner would remove.

Alu Magic arrived over the weekend so i will be trying that later.

Gary - I have used plenty of elbow grease, the chemicals are for the final finish.... The active ingredient in coca-cola and Wheel cleaner is Phosphoric acid... Scouring pads are a bit abrasive for my liking.

a bit late to the party but I recently used Brasso on my carb covers and they came up very well. I'll be overhauling them soon and will do the lower body then. I'll also do the jet inspection cover and anything else I see. I wonder if there's anything that will keep the oxidation from returning.

In the upper right corner of the photo you cn see the broken Thackeray washer that is one of the prompts for me to remove the carbs and start from scratch with set-up.

I just cleaned a set of stromberg carburettors with a siphon gun and Arm and Hammer washing soda. It worked great. No chemicals from the carb cleaner spray cans, just very fine dust from the soda blast. It did not remove the annodized finish from the linkage, just the dirt and built up gum on everything. I do have pictures of before and after but will have to submit them in a later post. I just took a regular fluid siphon air gun with the 4' plastic pick up tube and ran the tube right into the box. Just set the carb on a piece of cardboard outside my shop and loosened up some of the soda and sucked it up with the gun. It doesn't change the texture of the metal and leaves a reasonable patina. I am glad I didn't have to smell up the shop with carb cleaners. A small wire brush, water and air remove the soda residue. Plus any soda on the clothing helps in the washer! The soda just washes off the driveway also.
Greg

Hi have you tried blasting them with baking powder, if you have a compressor and blow gun you can make one yourself with a piece of tube have a look on YouTube .
It cleans them really well and if you leave any residue it dissolves harmlessly in water or petrol etc. I have done this and it actually works. John