Reskinning Alumninium

[Joel Falk]

Hello all,

I have some general questions on how this process works and what it involves. When parts are reskinned, is some coating added back to the part or is it a less abrasive method of cleaning the surface?

I have a set of valve covers that appear to have been media blasted in the past. Can can these covers that have previously been blasted still be restored by this process, or should I start looking for donors?

Thanks,
Joel

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Joel

That's the million dollar question that I've been trying to figure out for quite some time now. From what I have learned so far nothing is added to the surface.

I believe the part is tumbled or possibly placed in a large ultra sonic cleaner...maybe even wet blasted but I have no idea of the media used with which ever process is used. One thing for certain is that it is easy to do and doesn't require many man hours once the secret is learned because it is reasonably priced to have something done. The equipment to do it on the other hand might be expensive. There are several people that do it(even some guy that restores old Arctic Cat smow machines) but no one is saying how they do it...again, because it is probably a simple process.

It's kind of a quest for me to figure out how this is done though...the longer it takes me to figure it out the more curious I get!

To your second question I don't think reskinning will remove glass bead marks. However it might make them far less noticable...not sure. If you end up sending them out make sure you ask if they can clean up the glass bead marks.

On another note I have an article that I printed off on using over thinned aluminum paint to tint old aluminum. I was very sceptical but wanted to try it so I gave it a shot on my transmission case and the results were quite good. I would say that it looks as good as my intake that I sent out for reskinning. It's a pretty long article so I'll try and find it again on the net and post the link.

Greg

[Dick W.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Do a Google search on Wheelabrator equipment and you will get an idea of what the equipment is. Very pricey new, and hard to find used. It is not for the backyard hobbist.

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Here is that link I was talking about. The last posting on page four is what I tried on my case.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=118085

[Jim S.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

As I understand it , the reskinning process is actually tumbling the part in a ceramic media. I don't have any ideas on what type of ceramic midia, or for how long .

Jim

[Joel Falk]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Thanks Greg, I found that article as well and it seemed so simple that it almost couldn't work. I am glad to hear you have had good results with it and will give it a shot as well.

I've also seen this Wheelabrator mentioned, so it may be worth looking into that as well.

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

I don't know how durable that method will be and I wouldn't use it on an intake because it would probably discolor in the heat riser area in short time. I also wonder if gas will take the tint off after it has cured for a while... Do as that posting says and you'll be fine.

I was curious to see how this tint was thickness wise so I hooked up an ohm meter to check for continuity all over the case and got full continuity at every place I tried so I know that the tint is very very thin!

I'll try and get time to post some pics tonight.

[Randy R.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

I have used the method of using thinned dull aluminum paint to color the valve covers and the intake manifold. The engine has not been started so I can not verify the durablility but they look good.

Randy

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Dick

I just checked out Wheelabrador's site and they are actually a manufacture of all kinds of equipment. I thought that wheelabrador was a process but it is not. They have machines for Air Blast, Peening, Wheel Blast, Wet Blast, and a Vibratory Cleaner so it's hard to tell which method is used. Any idea which method is used?

Here is a link to their site if anyone is interested.

http://www.wheelabratorgroup.com/?CMP=KNC-GPC&attr=r.2/l.1/&r=2&l=1

[Dick W.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

I cannot remember which process is used. Several years ago I was interested in doing the refinishing. There was a NCRS member that sold the equipment. After a discussion with him about having to take a mortgage on my house or my first born child, I gave up on the idea. The price was about $20k in the early to mid '90's

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Joel

Here are the pics of my "tint job". The first two are to show how close it turned out as compared to the "virgin" casting inside the transmission.

With a flash...

And without a flash...

Lighting makes a big difference and as you can see the flashed one looks perfect but you can see a slight contrast without the flash. Still alot better than it was though.

These next four are of the finished M40 assy.




On a side note, here is the oil pan before:

Being derusted:

And after:

A little wire brushing with muriatic acid, sanding, bead blasting and rubbing with never dull brought it back to almost as good as new.

One word of caution...I cleaned my case with oven cleaner because for some reason you can't get Eagle 1 mag wheel ETCHING cleaner in this country anymore. I'm sure the reason ranks up there with why I can't get a can of Pre-Lube 6 or a simple spray bomb shipped across the border so I had to make do with the oven cleaner. However the oven cleaner I found out will attack paint as in my once mint ID tag on the side of the case. Just be carefull if you use oven cleaner that you don't wreck some thing by accident.

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

$20k eh Dick.....that would take a lot of intake manifolds to pay for that one!

[daniel cavendish]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Greg, excuse my ignorance but what is the battery charger for? Does it help with de-rusting? Tranny looks great!

[Greg L.]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Daniel

That exactly what it does! Here is a link on how to set it all up and it works very very well...saves a lot of time too. Much cleaner than blasting, saver than soaking in muriatic acid and does not remove ANY base metal. Almost to good to be true but it is. I'm pretty sure it only works on ferrus metal though. I quickly set this up in about five minuites just do the pan but the solution last pretty much for ever...just re add water as the level goes down like an old battery. There are plenty of other sites out there on electrolytic rust removal so if you don't like this link just do a google search and you will find others.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

[daniel cavendish]

Re: Reskinning Alumninium

Thanks Greg. It looks interesting (a little scary). I'll check some of the other sites and maybe build up some nerve to try it.