Paint gearbox or not ?

[Harrier 1]

My front end restoration is coming along and I have started cleaning up the gearbox,I have de greased it and used a wire wheel attachment and it looks way better than it did, but I'm wondering whether to paint it silver to get a really nice finish .

However I'm not sure, as I don't want to paint it and then have the paint start flaking off or dis-colouring after a bit of time has passed ,

That would not be good, any thoughts or recommendations on a good paint to use?

Or should I keep it natural finish :)

 

Thanks

[seanl82 23]

Is it worth seeing if you could get it vapour blasted Daren? Not sure who does it round our area by I'm sure there'll be somewhere. That way it'll look literally factory fresh!

[steveo29 0]

i never paint them as like you say it will look worse when its chipped off later

 

strong alloy wheel clean often brings them up nice

 

if you insist on painting it then use etch primer first and a light coat off wheel silver

[Harrier 1]

i never paint them as like you say it will look worse when its chipped off later

 

strong alloy wheel clean often brings them up nice

 

if you insist on painting it then use etch primer first and a light coat off wheel silver

 

The alloy wheel cleaner sounds worth a try, thanks :)

[Harrier 1]

Is it worth seeing if you could get it vapour blasted Daren? Not sure who does it round our area by I'm sure there'll be somewhere. That way it'll look literally factory fresh!

 

Could look into that too, thanks Sean :)

[seanl82 23]

I painted mine and it looks pretty good I think. Iirc it was Hycote Aluminium but can't be 100% at the moment.

Its not chipped off, but its not completely chemical resistant as I used petrol to get some CV grease off of the bottom when I changed the drive shaft, and it took a bit of the paint with it.

[Yandards 0]

You can get some paint called alumablast from Frost - used it on all my aluminium engine bay components and its holding up well as designed for engine bay use so resistant to oil and grease and good for up to 150 deg C temperature too.

 

It's not mega cheap but the finish looks like freshly blasted aluminium.

 

Some pics of painted bits here: Rocker Cover etc

Edited November 6, 2015 by Yandards

[VAG-hag 0]

You can get some paint called alumablast from Frost - used it on all my aluminium engine bay components and its holding up well as designed for engine bay use so resistant to oil and grease and good for up to 150 deg C temperature too.

 

It's not mega cheap but the finish looks like freshly blasted aluminium.

 

Some pics of painted bits here: Rocker Cover etc

 

Frosts have some awesome stuff!!

 

I was going to vote no Darren but the finish on Yans pics looks great :)

[lilfuzzer 1]

Can't remember what painted mine with as was 5 years ago but seems good still but mind you she only done a couple thou miles

[C5 OEM 0]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDUQFjABahUKEwik3-_fwvzIAhVCXw8KHf-DCtQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvapour-blasting.com%2Fvapour-blasting%2F&usg=AFQjCNHYBVHmwe2VOeb4I9UEV7PyqJARCw

[C5 OEM 0]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAUQjhxqFQoTCOSkp4XD_MgCFYUtDwodc-UB8Q&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sodablastingltd.co.uk%2Flotus-europa-gearbox-casing%2F&psig=AFQjCNGs6BdSywaxtph8g7UGxxpnHs2DTg&ust=1446924229623189

[Harrier 1]

Thanks for the replys chaps, the Alumablast looks very good so I'm going to try it, just ordered some :thumbleft:

[16VG60 1]

Just a thought. We offer two popular finishes on aluminium casings that offer hard wearing service life but are sympathetic to classic finish and style. First is a sandblasted casing finished with powder coat clear lacquer. The other is firstly sandblasted then powder coated silver. We find that the powder coated finishes are supremely hard wearing if the underlying prep is done well, and far superior to paint. Furthermore it looks great in the engine bay.

[Harrier 1]

Just a thought. We offer two popular finishes on aluminium casings that offer hard wearing service life but are sympathetic to classic finish and style. First is a sandblasted casing finished with powder coat clear lacquer. The other is firstly sandblasted then powder coated silver. We find that the powder coated finishes are supremely hard wearing if the underlying prep is done well, and far superior to paint. Furthermore it looks great in the engine bay.

 

Hi John, can this be done with the gearbox intact, or does it need to be disassembled first ?

[16VG60 1]

We could do this with an intact gearbox but I would like to talk it through with you.

[Harrier 1]

We could do this with an intact gearbox but I would like to talk it through with you.

 

Will give you a call this coming week :)

[16VG60 1]

Ok I look forward to hearing from you.