How to safely clean the front magnesium cradle??
 

I just picked up a C6 Z06 front magnesium cradle assembly with a-arms, steering rack, etc that I may be installing on my C5 track car. The donor vehicle's LS7 threw a rod and sprayed oil onto the cradle....it's a dirty mess and needs to be cleaned.

Are they any cleaning chemicals to avoid when cleaning the magnesium cradle? My go to cleaner/degreaser is Purple Power but it is high in alkaline and I'm not sure if it will react negatively with the magnesium. I know Purple Power and Simple Green can make certain aluminum parts get chalky white or accelerate corrosion. But I've never had to deal with magnesium. Has anybody with a Z06 had to clean the magnesium cradle and what did they use that did not cause any weird reactions?

Thanks in advance.

I used Purple power and Simple Green (same time) no issues !!! (power washed off)
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Take it to a coin wash and use ordinary soap and water or Simple Green and give it a scrub then blast away with high pressure rinse. It will come up nice. I did a back one after a diff exploded. That stuff is thick and stinks but it came out like new.

This maybe a silly question but are all C6's front and rear cradles magnesium or is this a Z06/ZR1 thing ?

engine shampoo and pressure washer is what I always use on my cars and costumers cars.

Only the C6 Z06 and the C6 ZR1 have a magnesium front cradle....rears are aluminum and aluminum front and rear on all the other C5 & C6 models.

What is more interesting to me is you are saying the C5 and C6 subframes are identical dimentionally?

Not exactly......but they can be swapped with the main advantage being about a 12 lbs savings over the aluminum cradle. I don't have my notes here at home, but some of the additional things needed to accomplish this is having to use the C6 Z06 lower control arms, C6 steering rack, etc. It is more complicated than just swapping cradles.....but yes, it is possible.

There is a pretty good thread about this in the forum's Autocross & Road Racing section where Louis Gigliotti from GSpeed is doing this to C5 race cars he builds.

I had all but given up in doing this swap because I couldn't find a Z06 magnesium cradle locally after 6 or 7 months of searching and then last week I found one when I wasn't even looking. Couldn't pass it up.....If I don't use it I'm sure somebody will want it down the road.

yep. Suspension wise, identical. Steering racks are different, and engine mount location is different. That’s it! Bolts right up.

Trackaire, purple power is good if you work fast, or it will etch.

Gspeed, will c6 engine brackets line up? Or is hole drilling mandatory?

your mileage may vary. I can’t say for certain.

I guess I'll be the test subject for everyone and report back for future thread diggers.

This is why C6 is known to some inside GM and some on the hobby as a "C5.5"