Suggestions on restoring an aluminum intake

[toupee]

Hi all,
I have an old aluminum intake that is pretty dirty.  Wondering what the best way I can get it looking like new again is?  There are stains in the aluminum as well as crusty whitish build up caked up on the outside.  I don't have the equipment to or know anyone who can beadblast so I'm looking for something that I might be able to do myself.  Oh, I don't want to paint it... I want the natural look.
Thanks!

[John_Kunkel]

If you can find someone with an aluminum-safe hot tank it might clean the stains but media blasting is the only sure way that I know of.

Even glass beading doesn't look "natural" to me, I've had some manifolds blasted by a quarry that makes headstones and the heavier grit they use looks more natural to me.

[daves68]

Find a machine shop that does shot peening. They use steel shot instead of sand media. The process is really for compacting the surface of metal and closing the pores but it does a #1 job of restoring a cruddy aluminum intake. Makes a smoother finish than sand does.

[375instroke]

Aluminum will corrode and needs protection.  That's what that white stuff is.  Pure aluminum corrodes slower than alloys, but pure aluminum is almost never used.