Cleaning And Painting Gearbox

[mowflow 67]

While the gearbox is out I degreased it and started cleaning it. The plan was to paint it but after a bit of reading I'm thinking maybe just wire wool it then either wipe it over with wd40 or even just lacquer the bare metal. Anyone got any experience or advice on this?

[hoodygoodwood 70 3 Cars]

I wanted to paint my engine and gearbox while they were out of my Goodwood , advice from others varies massively but I would always paint them personally as the ali will go white and dusty in no time otherwise .I degreased the block/box first with white spirit and then spent hours going over it with wire brush attachments in an electric drill . This removed loads of surface rust and crud and gave a nice keyed finish for the paint to stick to .I masked off the appropriate areas so the dust did not get into the workings .Once that was finished I cleaned the metal surfaces with thinners till you could eat your dinner off it - some of this was done in my kitchen , the wife was delighted !

I then used Simoniz engine block paint ( rattle cans ) and put a good coat ( or 2 ? ) on , I made the mistake of doing the block in my garage and it was a bit damp and it soon started to bubble up . My fault for being impatient , wait for a hot dry day . I used silver for the box and black for the engine block . the end result is excellent especially if you do a good job with the wire brushing .I have never used the paint that you brush on , but I have just bought a small tin to do my calipers with .

I would consider vapour blasting as I have seen good results on peoples forum posts but have never done it myself and its probably costly .

My 309 has been back together 10 months or so and I have had no flaking at all , still looks great .

I sandblasted some of the other castings - alternator mount and top engine mount and sprayed them at the same time .

For the cost of 2 cans of paint at £7 each and £10 worth of wire brushes it will make a massive improvement to the under bonnet area and get a comment or two out of your MOT man .

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

 

Never had any issue's with Powder coating them like in the pic above, all bolts redone as well so they can come up nice, not the cheapest option thou but you can soda blast them for around £100.00

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

I prepped similar to Miles(hoodygoodwood), I then used Hycote engine enamel (code UK437) Aluminium (or Aluminum if your across the pond) then baked in the oven at 240 degrees for 90 minutes, the finish was fantastic. More importantly I broke one of the parts I painted so decided to see how easy it would be to get the paint off, it was well bonded to the surface and withstood petrol, white spirit and mild mechanical impacts.

 

Here is a pic of my painted block.

 

http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/mrfirepro/media/205%20projects/7%20feb%2014/P1030258_666x500.jpg.html

 

I was that impressed with it I ended up using it on anything that I painted, that could be oven baked.

 

Only real problem was wife was horrified when she found out what I was using "her" oven for (her words not mine)

 

A few more parts

http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/mrfirepro/media/205%20projects/7%20feb%2014/P1030113_666x500.jpg.html

http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/mrfirepro/media/205%20projects/7%20feb%2014/P1030110_666x500.jpg.html

 

Sorry for the quality of my crap photography.

 

Best price I found was on ebay (£6.99 iirc)

Edited May 31, 2014 by mrfirepro

[hoodygoodwood 70 3 Cars]

That Hycote engine enamel looks good I might give it a go on my current project , when I get around to the engine build .

I also sprayed my cam cover with the same Simoniz silver and it came up nicely , not too bright .

[mowflow 67]

Nice work lads. I had a bit of scrub at part of the box tonight with a bit of wire wool and I now realise my plan may have been a bit flawed. It did very little but did take the white spots off. It would take a s*it load of scrubbing to get anywhere near decent looking.

 

Does the hycote stuff have to go in an oven? Not sure my gearbox will fit in my oven. Something I can spray without arsing about with 2k and full hazmat suits would be ideal.

 

The spiralling costs of this "hobby"mean I need to limit the things that I send for blasting, coating etc to the essentials. In other words. If theirs another way of doing it I'll try it first.

 

What wire brushes are people using on these parts? The gearbox and parts like the engine mount seem to have so many little crevices that fill with grime. I've been over the box with degreaser and various brushes several times then I spent hours on it with a steam cleaner and more brushing before hitting with degreaser again. Looking over it tonight there's still some bloody grime in those crevices.

 

On a side note. Is there a way of replacing the shaft seal (the one inside the box held with 3 bolts) without removing the clutch fork thingy? I've read about how people go about replacing that fork and I'd really rather not start arsing about with drilling pins out and retapping things.

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Get some ally cleaner from a chemical place (acid). Its what they spray on your wheels at hand car washes and stains em usually.

 

Very powerful stuff but no it wont burn thru the hull like in the alien films.

 

I buy a squirty bottle to apply it. Then jetwash off after a while. (dont let it dry out)

 

Keep rinse and repeating till all the crap has gone then get it dry and paint away.

 

Don't leave it more than a day or so after treatment though as the ally will start to fur up pretty fast.