Cleaning Serial Number Plate

[Chuck W.]

Looking for some ideas on how to clean the embossed aluminum serial number plate on my CJ3B. I have tried carefully scrubbing with an old tooth brush, and even lightly scrubbing the edges with a scotch-brite pad, but this is as good as I have been able to it. Ideas?

[squidtone]

Very late response here,
But if you have a cheezy Sears sandblast kit, you can use baking soda as a medium. I've used this stuff when "sand" blasting carburetors. It's very gentle, but will clean aluminum very nicely.
I stick the suction tube right in a big bag of baking soda (big bag of baking soda purchased cheaply from Costco, BJ's, whatever). Of course do a test on something first!
I bought my sandblast kit from sears for 50 bucks some years ago, maybe harbor freight has them now?
Good luck!

[Chuck W.]

Thanks for the reply! This plate is so thin and fragile, I decided to just clean it as well as I could and reinstall it like it is. Funny story, about a week or two after I installed the plate, I was sitting down taking a break, and I was looking at the jeep, I thought, that serial number plate looks much better than I thought, much shiner. I looked closer and realized I had installed it backwards! I turned it back around and now it looks OK, not as shiny as the back side!

[ojgrsoi]

Did you happen to try the baking soda with the tooth brush.  I know I am late to the party.

[Chuck W.]

Thanks, I did, indeed, try baking soda, polished the aluminum but didn't remove the dark areas. Acetone seemed to do the best, followed with a good coat of car wax.