I did some research on this. Ideally I'd like my donor cast aluminum pieces to look like shiny new aluminum. There is some oxidation and staining on them currently. These are rough cast aluminum parts like the intake manifold, parts of the power steering rack, control arms, etc.

I did some searching and it seems like the best option is to blast them with glass bead media but I don't have a blasting setup. I read some people use Eagle One etching mag wheel cleaner, and some people use a product called Alumabrite, both with various levels of success. A number of people caution about different cleaners on aluminum (simple green, or anything very acid or base I guess) because it may attack too much of the aluminum.

So curious to see what you folks have good experience using?