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MG MGB Technical - Windscreen question

Hey Folks, I am wanting to clean up the metal portion of the windscreen from the 73. It appears to be brushed aluminum? It has surface corrision and lots of black RTV cement where the rubber has perished and split. What should I use? Chemical?, sandpaper?, steel wool?, buffer, wire wheel? Any suggestions are apreciated. Tom
Tom

The windshield frame is anodized. You may want to try 000 steel wool or a fine grade of scotchbrite if it's very heavy followed by rubbing compound. If it's not heavy try the rubbing compound only. If the spot you cleaned when finished is very brite compared to the rest of the frame then the anodizing has been worn thru or corroded away. If you have it off the car you can strip the anodizing off with oven cleaner and then polish the aluminum but it is a lot of work.
John H

My parts guy/restorer says they never have much luck re-anodising old frames. Apparently the aluminium gets porous over time and it won't take properly. They have been powder coating theirs apparently.

Mine is well dinged up so I was wondering about stripping the anodising and sanding out the scratches and dings then sending it off to be finished somehow.

Simon
Simon Jansen

Not the best picture attached but this is the windshield on my C. It was stripped with oven cleaner, wetsanded with 220 grit progressing to 1500 grit and then compounded on a cloth wheel. there are some pits in the aluminum but they are small and I am happy with the result. Need to polish it with Simichrome every couple months.

J Heisenfeldt

Thanks for that pic. Can you polish it as you have done then clearcoat (or cleal powder coat?) it or something to reduce tarnishing?
Simon Jansen

Simon,

Like JH, I stripped and polished the frame on my MGC. With the frame disassembled, I used household paint stripper to remove the anodized material. Then used progressively finer "wet" sandpaper to take the surface imperfections out, followed polishing rouges and a high speed drill (2800 rpm) to complete the polishing. Now, Mother's Aluminum Polish once a month keeps the metal bright. This is a lot of work, but the results are great. I had one guy at a car show tell me how nice it was that the original chrome was still on the frame.

Chuck
Chuck Hassler

This thread was discussed between 30/01/2008 and 31/01/2008

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