Cleaning Magnesium Calipers

[Earley Motorsports]

Hi all. I have some magnesium brake calipers and master cylinders that have been sitting for a while. What is a good solution to put these in and let them soak for a while to clean them up before re-kitting them? They are Airheart brand. Thanks for any help.

[Steve Demeter]

are they corroded or just dirty.

if just dirty, they should come pretty clean in the normal parts washer solvent with perhaps a bit of elbow grease.

[Earley Motorsports]

Mainly just dirty but with a little of bit "gelled" brake fluid in spots. I know you can't use distilled or rain water on them because that will corrode them. Being as rare as they are I don't want to mess them up.

[stownsen914]

I cleaned up some old AP calipers (aluminum I believe) and also master cylinders that had crusted brake fluid from many years of sitting. I read somewhere that denatured alcohol is good to dissolve crusted on brake fluid, and I had good luck with it cleaning up my parts. I have heard that methanol can be corrosive to aluminum (denatured alcohol can have some methanol), so I was careful not to soak my parts too long. I didn't notice any issue with overnight soaking. Again this was aluminum, not magnesium. Maybe try wetting a contaminated spot on a caliper instead of soaking to see if it works and to confirm no damage?

Scott

[RobLav]

I've never seen a magnesium brake caliper... but I used to clean up mag intakes on mechanical fuel injection Porsches with paint remover. It doesn't take long... don't let them sit in it.

[Earley Motorsports]

Thanks for the responses thus far. Here is one of the calipers for reference.

[R. Pare]

Cleaning mag is different than cleaning any other metal. Plenty of links available on it:

https://www.pfonline.com/articles/cleaning-magnesium

https://www.finishing.com/160/30.shtml

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...rotection.html

http://www.flight-mechanic.com/corro...nesium-alloys/

[stownsen914]

One thing that occurred to me after I wrote earlier. Some folks (including me) have tried Pine Sol as a parts cleaner. It works nicely. But don't try it on magnesium parts. Apparently it dissolves magnesium somewhat aggressively!

[Earley Motorsports]

Thank you for the links. I will follow these up.

Cleaning mag is different than cleaning any other metal. Plenty of links available on it:

https://www.pfonline.com/articles/cleaning-magnesium

https://www.finishing.com/160/30.shtml

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...rotection.html

http://www.flight-mechanic.com/corro...nesium-alloys/