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Anyone find a degreaser that really works ? I finally found a super nice set of Western Cyclone I wheels but the backs of them have 50 year old baked on gear oil. I can get it off with an sos pad but it'll take a week and a box of them per wheel.
I tried acid wash that does nothing. tried paint remover that didn't work. gas might work I haven't tried that.
When I was cleaning my 390fe, I got a couple cans of some heavy duty oven cleaner. I cant remember exactly but sprayed it on and let it set a while and power washed it off. It worked good for me with the cooked on oil.
I once cleaned an super nasty 289 block in a 55 gallon drum over a fire. I put some scrap angle iron in the bottom as a standoff, to keep direct hit off the block. Water and Simple Green, brought up to a simmer for several hours. It came out stripped clean. You probably know of something better than Simple Green, it was just what I thought of at the time.
Heating up a simple green mixture might be a good idea. since some of the degreasers are hard on aluminum I'm limited, never used simple green but I think it's ok on aluminum. that and the heat might do the trick and clean out the cast pockets as well.
I'm really wondering about the heat though. even boiling a wheel isn't going to hurt it., not that I would. the right detergent and near boiling water might clean it like new. maybe.
I'll second Super Clean degreaser. I learned about it when working on big rigs for cleaning out the cooling systems when an oil cooler goes bad. On really caked and baked grease, I'll spray it down and walk away for an hour, and come back and repeat that a few times until I get it clean. I get it in the 2.5 gallon jug. It is my go-to degreaser for tough jobs.
I think I can do the polishing, actually if possible I'm going to try to save the machine finish on the spokes and center rather than go for a full on polish. it may or may not work.
My main problem is cleaning the pockets that are rough cast and the back of the wheel. if I wasn't lazy hours and hours with an SOS pad would do it but I'm looking for a short cut. I don't think there's a way to completely clean the pockets so I'll paint them a close shade of silver.
Hot tank them. Hot water jets blasting from all angles will do better and quicker than scrubbing ever will. Most machine shops have these for cleaning engines.
