...clear powdercoating the chassis?
That was going to be my suggestion. There is also a product called Zoops something or other made for use on aluminum wheels. The stuff is supposed to be the cat's meow for protecting aluminum. If it works that good on wheels, I'm sure it will work on any aluminum.
By the way, years ago I worked a lot with aluminum sheet metal. Within days of removing the protective paper, it would oxidize. I think perhaps this is what people are calling "corrosion" in this thread. Raw aluminum shouldn't corrode unless subjected to certain circumstances (like road salt or salt water). That being said, I would try to protect it somehow. The oxidation can be cleaned without a problem, but it's a bitch to stay on top of it.
Eric
BTW, if somebody thinks having a brushed chassis would look like ass, PLEASE tell me - I do NOT want to waste 50hrs on it if it will look like ass.
Alex
By the way, what you described (the steps ending with Scotchbrite) I don't know I would consider brushed. That, to me, is polished, but not to a high gloss. When I worked with aluminum sheet metal, for some jobs it was actually cheaper to brush our own instead of buying brushed sheets (we didn't do a lot of brushed products). We would sand with I think it was 100 git (it was a long time ago). Not that it matters, but we then anodized these parts.
Just some random thoughts that are completely tangential to the thread.
Eric
I was thinking more about this, but are you guys certain corrosion will happen quickly?
I look at brushed kirkham bodies and they arn't corroded.
I look at MK1 FFRs (from the last 90s) with the original aluminum and they arn't corroded (dirty, yes, but not corroded)
I look at the uncoated parts on my cobra (e.g., RD fan shroud) that are subject to all the road slime, and while dirty, 0 corrosion.
I look at spare aluminum pieces from my cobra I have laying on the garage floor and they arn't corroded after 3yrs on the garage floor (wet and humid and whatnot).
Actually the only type of corrosion I've seen referenced to usually are ?filiform? corrosion caused by exposure to chemicals like mercuric acid.