Could you get it shot / sand blasted? Not sure of the repocusions of all that sand but a friend got his inlet manifold done as a test, it came out liek new.
Textured paint, with a satin black top coat. Think, Ferrari rocker cover texture...but black. A few other choice engine parts will have the same finish. Perfectly innocent comment. Must be your dirty mind...
It needs stripped completely to be blasted. I wouldn't risk trying to tape or seal it up, sand dust gets everywhere. Before and after pics of a rod change Syncro box... The case is cleaned in kerosene to remove grime, then dried off, then sand blasted with medium play sand, then glass bead blasted with 80 grit glass bead. The glass bead smooths the finish, it doesn't look as "sparkly". It all gets rinsed and dried a few times to ensure the sand is out. Be sure to thread bolts into any holes you want to keep sand out of Personally I like the look of the raw blasted aluminum.
Ahhh. Sand blasting look like it might be a goer. I'm not sure what kerosene is but I'm assuming I can clean the box with parrafin? So how do I block areas such as the shifter tower, input shaft & output shaft holes? Would I be safer to leave the races in until it has been blasted etc?
Parrafin? Why on earth would you want to clean the trans with wax? Ahh... fun with words. Yeah, I think our kerosene is parrafin over there. Parrafin here is a wax, a solid block. Parrafin solids I think you call it. You want the clear thin watery stuff that smells funny and cleans well. It is slightly oily, but if it is clean, it'll evaporate away in a matter of days. When I blast them, they're assembled cases, and I seal them up with old seals and rubber cut to fit. It stops MOST of the sand, but not all of it. Anything in the trans like bearings and races and so on will get sand on them, so I strip them fully, put the empty case together (bolts in all the internal hols like for the reverse lever brackets, and the clamping bolts for the output shaft bearing plate), and then seal all the holes with rubber sheeting cut into a circle, that's placed in the hole, and then an old seal is driven in over it. If you can't seal it, you just spend more time trying to clean it of all the sand. It won't kill it to have sand in it, only if you leave the sand in it If you are replacing the bearings, then you could leave the old races in to protect the case where the bearings fit Sand blasting will make it like new, but the finish will have a sparkle to it, from the many facets from the sand moving the aluminum surface. To make it matte or dull, but still clean and new like, glass bead will knock those sharp shiny and sparkly edges from the surface. I clean it with sand, then go over it again quickly with glass bead to smooth it. Brian
Looks like the box is gettin blasted then. I'll go buy some paraffin from our local B&Q and get the box cleaned up next week. I just have to figure out a coating now - Thinking about powdercoat but what do you use to mask off gasket/mating faces etc?
Hmmm.... if I were to powdercoat one, I'd probably do it as an assembled unit... the 3 case chunks would be bolted together. I would fill all 14 bolt holes that close the case to the bellhousing, and the 6 bolts for the 5th housing, to keep powder out of them. That would leave the holes for the flanges, input shaft, release arm, selector, detent bolts, reverse switch, drain plugs and the trans vent. I think that's all of them. The green end cap could seal the 5th housing. For the seals, for blasting I use rubber and an old seal, but that won't work for cooking the trans. They sell special masking tape for powder coat use, 3M makes it, I'm sure I've seen plastic sheet for the same purpose as well... at any rate, plug the holes with the special plastic or tape, the bolt holes would be filled, and that should do the trick. You could even sacrifice a paper gasket set to put between the case chunks so they don't bond themselves together and come apart easy and clean.
Hammerite will probably be okay but its the prep that makes the difference. A better bet may be radiator enamel - I ended up cleaning the casing with paraffin (bought 5l of space heater stuff from B&Q for peanuts), heaviy wire brushing with a drill then another clean. Etch primed and then silver radiator enamle from B&Q - still looks excellent 40k and almost 2 years later with no chipping/flaking either. I'll post up pics shortly. in the meantime here's some pics post build:
G60 dubs, that looks awesome, and good advice on the paint and cleaning process. thanks Trev, come on get your finger out! lol!
I have painted a few gearboxes over the years, about four years ago I used hammerite silver smooth, ok finish, looked good once done and in the bay, I was happy with the result, four years later and it still looks good, but areas are starting the flake and would fall of soon, cleaning a painted box can be as easy as wiping it down, but if it's been left to long its not easy to get clean and using a wire brush is out of the question. I have sprayed a box before with good quality paint and a few coats of lacquer, lots of prep, and two years down the line it was looking ropey. I now leave boxes cleaned bare metal, they look good and are easy to clean with chemicals and or wire brushes, nothing really stains them unlike paint.
Some good advice there from Smudge too methinks I was always concerned re the finish a few years down the road - Keeping a painted box clean with the occasional jetwash is probably a must. I was going to take some photos tonight but my Golfy is sitting dejected in a garage somewhere waiting for an insurance assesement after some half asleep turkey T-Boned me at a roundabout this morning.... hopefully just a mangled tierod and tracking required (wildly hopes!) ^ It still looks that good too!
I degreased mine and just plastered it with spray hammerite, masked everything up first obviously. Looks spot on, depends how perfect a finish you want thought I suppose.
