washing/painting trans tomorrow...should i remove sensors?

[CaifanSC]

I should be washing the trans tomorrow and giving it a good coating of bright yellow paint and red racing stripes and a Type R sticker :eek: ..:D .........no, not really :p ...just nice aluminum paint. However, im not sure if I should take the sensors off or If i can leave them there for the washing and/or painting. How about the taishaft...should I avoild getting that area wet/painted? Anything else i should be careful with? Thanx guys!

[Blown90Tbird]

Mask off the sensors unless you want to drain the fluids. If it's drained then keep the hole plugged with something clean. NPT thread plugs should work. Also, prepping aluminum is an issue. Used Aluminum Brightener to clean the oil from the surface. Cast aluminum is porous and will make the paint peel off quick. A primer meant to bond paint to aluminum is called Zinc Oxide and is illegal in some areas due to causeing cancer in rats in California. :eek: Seems OK for rats in other areas. Use a bright color to see leaks, or dark to not...


Chuck
'90 SC

[CaifanSC]

Ok, i think ill spend soem extra time covering the sensors with masking tape just to make sure. Then ill just wash it with some strong degreaser. I'd go ahead and prep the aluminum better but this trans should be coming out in a relatively short amount of time so ill just paint after washing it :p . Thanx!

[Blown90Tbird]

One thing I do to aliminum to get it shiny without actually polishing it is to use a wire wheel ( shaped like a cup works best) on my DeWalt Cordless. As for cleaning Purple Degreaser works good, but if you want to get serious Aluminum brightener will remove grease from the pores of aluminum.
Most people don't paint trannys because of the theory it helps hold heat. Regardless painting alum is difficult to get it to stick where it's going through heat cycles and getting sprayed with road grime and leaky fluid (Hope not.. But eventually the smallest leak will occur.)

A place I used to work at had dips and anodizing stations large enough to do tranny's. I'd love to have a purple tranny... Boss would've killed me.