So I have my car apart for a swap/restp and i am re-painting underhood with #569 'chestnut metallic brown' with clearcoat. This is the factory color matched with real ppg paint.

 

So...I have scrubbed down the transmission by had with foamy engine brite and dish soap. I got 99$ of grease off of it, except for a few nooks and crannies. Some of the aluminum is shiny, but some is brownish and pitted from oxidization. Basically, the metal is shiny where the grease was, and dull where it wasnt. I sprayed muratic acid on the trans, but it dod not take off the brownish oxidization, and left the bright aluminum textured. I am going to try bleche white tire cleaner and see what that does.

 

My goal was to make the metal shiny and clearcoat for a factory fresh look. But then again, it may be too tedios to go in with a polishing wheel end a dremel. I have the idea of por-15 on the trans to seal it up, make it glossy, and then paint a color.

 

For this sake, maybe just paint it aluminum. I thought of gold to compliment my color scheme(brown with bbs or 80's factory gold color on the lower bodyline down with touched of sti pink here and there)

 

I would avoid painting the trans black, since the car is a darker color anyway, so it would be nice to contrast against the body, but not be so obnoxious it would not look right with the motor.

 

And also, i am looking for dress-up ideas, since i can paint anything under the hood, the brackets and whatnot, but some of the ones that look new with factory plating i would opt to just clearcoat.

 

The hood latch is original natural color, but since it has rust on it, i am por 15ing it, but would chassis black, or some sort of silver color look best.

 

The idea is to look factory fresh, but with some taseteful dress-up as well..

This is an ej swap with xt drivline, but the fit in finish is going to be factory as possible with all subaru oem parts mounted properly everywhere they can.

It's tough to get the paint to stick to aluminum that has been covered in grease for years. I cleaned my RX trans really well when I had it apart and hit it with cast coat. It is already coming off in places on the underside.

 

I wonder if you could have the case powder coated:grin: I'm curious what option you choose and how it works out.

I would consider a powder coat if i had the trans apart and split the case. None day in the future, i dream of swaping in a 4.444 diff with dual range and the xt6 gearset.

 

But for now, the trans is squeaky clean, and the por would stick to the rough texture. If only thay had POR 15 in a spray can.

It would be great to see the follow up on how this works. I would like to pull mine one more time and swap in 1.59 low range gears in place of the RX 1.2. Then I'll get another chance to make it look right.

I saw a guy on NASIOC that cleaned his tranny, diff and driveline and painted them Cherry Blossom Red (STi pink). Not my color of choice but he did a real good thorough job of it with a great write-up on his cleaning and the chemicals he used.

Any chance of being able to use a steam cleaner? Really would be the best way to clean it for any painting.

 

Loved being able to do that with auto parts when I was in the Marines, eons ago....

Yenko Stripes?

Link to Cherry Red Trans on NASOIC

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-aluma-blast-set.html

every trans i have painted i have painted a flat metallic gold that i think looks good...it adds a little understated bling to the engine bay:)

 

 

i get off a local boat builder that uses that type of paint (in different colours obviously lol) to paint the hulls of alloy boats he makes if they are spec'd to be painted.

 

i don't know what exactly paint it is, only that is a etch type paint designed for use specifically on aluminium...i get it in half liter cans marked only with the colour and colour code

since you asked in the title, i would consider leaving it alone. sometimes i put a lot of effort into something only to later on realize how pointless it was, this seems like it could be one of those things.

Well, the trans is clean enough to paint. The idea of painting was originally to clearcoat the natural color so the trans stays shiny, and is easy to clean when it gets dirty.

 

as far as the resto f my questions, regarding the car itself, anyone have any ideas for underhood, brackets, mounts, pulleys, etc?

 

If i chose to paint the trans, i was thinking a gold color, and paint the intake to match. I would leave the block and heads natural color, and either paint or mirror polish the vavle covers(ej222)

Miles, as far as paint goes Ive had amazing results with Duplicolor's line of wheel paints. And you are right, ANY kind of paint on the trans would help it remain cleaner.

 

They used to just have a traditional silver, but they now have a few more colors. They have a cool bronze now. I used it to repaint my vintage road bike, and everyone assumes it is powdercoat.

 

I painted the intake, valve covers, and a few other under-hood parts of my SHO Taurus years ago, and they are still looking top notch. Very hard, scratch resistant, and chemical resistant.

 

SHO

 

Road Bike

From personal experience with making cast aluminum parts look good, I like to just paint my parts "aluminum" color. Seals the pores so it is easier to keep clean, looks shiny, and if some chips off, it doesn't look so bad. If you paint it a different color, chips in the paint show worse and if it starts to flake off, it will look worse than if you had just left it natural.

i read the question and my answer is no way.

My transmission is laying in the yard all chalky looking. I found some duplicolor clear coat and gave it a shot. It took away the powdery white look, and evened out the color of the metal. It did darken it thoug, but is still natural looking, and looks clean in the not covered in dirt and grease sense.

This was a what-the-hey attempt. The can i sed was borrowed, so i might just go get another can and give it a healthy 2nd coat and call it done.

I think it will turn out good, and I like how a can of seafoam makes it into the picture

double up on the duplicolor wheel silver. it's really tough and meant for aluminum and looks super good. paint it wheel silver, then clear it.

Too late, i already installed the trans. I still have to do seals, and i am missing one of the roll pins for the shifter. It may come back out one day.

 

I will consider all the advice for the engine manifold and other bolt-on bits.