Gearbox painted?

Was the gearbox painted? Not the outer polished ally cover, but the box itself?

Some were....and some were not....apparently!

There are certainly traces of silver paint on my MkIII's gearbox case.

I was scrubbing mine down prior to teardown, and it sure looks like silver paint coming off. (My fav degreaser is dishsoap and hot water.)
Given it is aluminium, why paint it? Steel is painted for corrosion control, ally don't need it.
I have a very early MK2

I'm pretty sure that my Mk3 had silver painted gearbox shell and crankcases. These bikes were of course being sold for all-year-round use including salty roads and corrosion on the cases was the sort of thing that road testers liked to mention.

An oldtimer here has mentioned that his first job as a lad at a Norton Dealership was to paint the cases and gearbox housing with silver paint - to prevent the aforementioned white corrosion mentioned above, This would have been on fully assembled bikes as they arrived of course. Said he got pretty good at it, got the paint to flow and not run. So this practice has been going on, unofficially at least, since the 1950s...

I'm sure 850 Mk1 cases are painted, ex-factory?, had a very uniform silver finish that would be removed if anything rubbed them long enough (cables, etc). Excellent at keeping corrosion away, and the alloy underneath in brand new condition.

Pardon the hijack but....

What does the forum suggest to arrest corrosion on freshly polished cases, hubs, etc. After polishing cases some years ago, I could see them dulling almost in front of my eyes! How does American Airlines keep their fleet shiny?

sorry, I have been in Arizona for going on 33 years, my views on corrosion are a bit off anymore...

What does the forum suggest to arrest corrosion on freshly polished cases, hubs, etc. After polishing cases some years ago, I could see them dulling almost in front of my eyes! How does American Airlines keep their fleet shiny?

Click to expand...

Seems only a clear aluminum sealer applied immediately over polished metal will work, but only for awhile.

I have experimented with various clear "paints" but they all tend to yellow, get brittle and eventually flake.

I find a good coat of wax seals as good as anything and is cheaper and easiest to apply.

Some thoughts from the airplane guys...

Google american airlines, they are debating changing from the decades old motif of polished aluminum.

http://eaaforums.org/showthread.php?133 ... x-aluminum

Been trying to decide whether to paint my head, the one on the bike that is. It's clean but is kind of dull looking.