Gearbox, painted or not

[BTU268F]

My 1098 gearbox is ready to be refitted to my car and I wanted to check if anyone could tell me if it should be painted bmc green. The gearbox is my original one and was rebuilt by a guy in Marple many years ago, it came back beautifully clean with the casing free of 30 yrs of oil etc. I can see some small traces of green paint in some of the corners of the ribs and therefore would the box have originally been painted green to match the engine?

[les]

I don't think they were painted green, factory recon units were painted gold. Others may confirm for you. I painted mine green just to finish the rebuild off.

[biomed32uk]

I think they were just bare ally, mine had been painted black at some stage, and most of that was flaking off.

Cleaned it up, and gave it a coat of Eastwood Alumablast, looked great and still does. More than enough in one rattle can to do the box about 6 times over.

[ManyMinors]

My understanding is that the gearboxes were attached to the engine before the engines were sprayed green. Therefore the bellhousing area of the gearbox at least was covered with overspray from the engine. I don't think it was an exact science

[bmcecosse]

If this is all you have to worry about....you're a lucky man.....

[BTU268F]

Thanks for the replies, I'll leave as is, one less thing to paint. Just didn't want to miss the opportunity to paint it while it was on the bench.

I've plenty of other things to worry about, a stepdaughter who has just received a bone marrow transplant and my father recently diagnosed with renal cancer. My time in the garage working on my Minor is a safe haven away from everything else...

[bmcecosse]

I have every sympathy with you - we all have our crosses to bear..