Cleaning housings/rotors/plates, also identification
 

A mixture of dawn dish soap and water? Straight water? I luckily kept my sons old baby bath and parts fit perfectly in there!

And anybody got a link to help identify the rotors and housings?

Gracias

I'm not an expert on this, but I can share what I used to clean mine.

For the irons, I used purple degreaser cut with water and a stiff plastic bristle brush. A toothbrush might work but it'll be a lot slower. Make sure the water is warm or do this with the iron in direct sunlight, so it softens the gunk. Afterwards I dried all the water I could reasonably reach with a towel, then blew it out with compressed air in the shade, then dried again with a towel for any droplets that were blown out. Then you can leave it in direct sunlight to dry. Don't leave it wet; it will rust almost immediately.

For the housings, I originally used a similar process as above but with much more water than the previous mix. I don't recommend this; keep the purple stuff far away from the housings. Even cut, it discolours the aluminum on the outside and makes a lot more work for later. I don't think it hurts the chrome but I certainly wouldn't use it again. Warm water and dish detergent seems like a safe bet. There is also a different type of degreaser, the canned "engine degreaser" type stuff. I think it's napthalene based, but as far as I could tell it didn't discolour anything. It does however kill grass and soften asphalt, so take care with it. It might be a viable alternative if the dish soap isn't cutting it.

For the rotors, I would use the "engine degreaser" stuff I already mentioned. The purple degreaser might eat away the yellow coating, and the hard carbon on the rotors doesn't seem to dissolve with dish soap. I spent a long time cleaning my first set of rotors with soap, and probably 1/4 the time cleaning the second set with the "engine degreaser". It leaves a slick coating on the rotors, so use dish detergent to finish the cleaning.

As far as tools, I already mentioned stiff-bristle plastic brushes. Picks are a good idea, and those brass "pipe-cleaner" type brushes are good for all of the little channels. Definitely get gloves and goggles, even dish detergent is hard on your hands if given enough time.

Good luck :)

i end up using a razor blade to scrape the big gunk off, and then your choice of soap and water. if you can use hot water, its better.

you want a stiff brush, bathroom brush for the big stuff, and a toothbrush for the corners. brake cleaner also works, but its $$ so its best for passages and a final clean

and lots of elbow grease...