Vapor Blasting
 

Has anyone used vapor blasting to clean aluminum parts like intake manifolds and valve covers.

Chuck Burg just used it (happily) on his Dad's original '67 L78 Chevelle intake.....

I had a friend vapor blast my aluminum valve covers. I had already bead blasted them with glass bead. The vapor blast darkened them just a bit and created a better fingerprint-resistant finish.

We use it extensively in our shop, lots of examples on my build thread (eg post #343) https://www.camaros.net/threads/1969...337897/page-18
It works well on aluminum but not normally to clean it as vapor blasting is a finishing process. Mostly we first solvent tank the part to remove grease, then dry media blast before vapor blasting for the best results.

https://live.staticflickr.com/896/41...7d2d4ddb_z.jpg

I believe David Beem does vapor blasting.

Hi Lloyd, have you ever tried process on an intake? If I was starting our 68 process or one like it I’d definitely be looking at making the investment. Not cheap but a great piece of equipment.

This thread will provide you some pictures of some tumbled intakes as well as intakes that were vapor blasted. Take your pic.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=163882

Hi Chick, if you have a look at Post #343 on my build thread there's an example of an intake I vapour blasted for a buddy with a 69 Z. It appears shinier in the photo than in person due to the lighting. I also did a set of valve covers for a friend who has a '70 Z and compared them with a set I sent out for reskinning - can't tell them apart. We also have a tumbler in the shop and a variety of ceramic media that works well on parts like intakes that don't have fine crevasses that the tumbler media can't reach.

As previously mentioned, I used it on my dad's intake manifold and thermostat housing. Inexpensive and amazing. The vapor honing actually seals the aluminum on a molecular level making it more impervious to stains. Highly recommended!

I can reskin the aluminum intakes they look factory