Coating Inside the gearbox

[JasonGotaProblem]

Ok so I strongly suspect the final answer will be "as long as you got enough grease it doesnt matter." And that may well be the only answer I need. But I'm asking anyway.

As some of you know I'm polishing the body on my 8500SS. I figured the inside of the gearbox has done just fine for the past roughly 25 years with the paint it came with from the factory. But in the process of removing the exterior paint some paint stripper got into the gearbox. It wasn't super effective on the outside there was still a lot of elbow grease involved.

But... Some paint from the inside came off and some looks a bit bubbly. I assume I should try to remove the rest. The question is should I try to coat it with something in addition to the grease I plan to use? Should I try to repaint it?

Or does the sorta bubbly paint not even matter and I should just carry on?

Pic worth a thousand words, as usual.

Thanks in advance, I'm trying to wrap this thing up.

[philaroman]

now, it's nooks-n-crannies for salt -- a corrosion magnet
IMO, strip it all & do whatever you do to the outside

[oc1]

The raw aluminum on the outside will get funky fairly quickly so it will not be a low-maintenance reel.  You will be back inside in no time so I doubt that interior corrosion is going to be a problem.
-steve

[Dominick]

At this point I would paint the whole thing.  Dominick

[JasonGotaProblem]

At this point I would paint the whole thing.  Dominick

At this point i have no less than 30 hours of sacrificed sleep put into polishing etc. I could get a clean body on fleabay for like 15 bucks if things go terribly. Not a snowballs chance in hell I'm painting this.

Not a fan of the polished look huh? If you'll excuse me I'll be busy blinding all the fish.

[Dominick]

You didn't show the outside before.  Right on, I wouldn't paint that either.  Dominick

[Shark Hunter]

I like it.
I would keep a coat of wax on the outside for sure.
As far as the inside, I would just give everything a light coating of Penn Blue and Roll with it.
No salt should get on the inside with proper maintenance and sealing.

[JasonGotaProblem]

You didn't show the outside before.  Right on, I wouldn't paint that either.  Dominick

Sorry I made the mistake of assuming people were already familiar with what I'm up to. My own fault.

I like it.
I would keep a coat of wax on the outside for sure.
As far as the inside, I would just give everything a light coating of Penn Blue and Roll with it.
No salt should get on the inside with proper maintenance and sealing.

I was honestly thinking just simple carnauba on the outside. I figure I'll give it a try if it gets hazy or something it'll come off with alcohol.

I'm looking forward to finishing this thing up. I'm usually quite humble but the self satisfaction is undeniable this time.

You did a double sprung 9500SS right? I'm curious about your spring layout. I got some wire and I'm getting ready to make my own.

[sabaman1]

Thats a great idea for an older reel where the paint might be chipped. I think it looks great polished up. You might try a wipe down with some T9 boeshield after each use, it has some waxes built into it. You can keep the wipedown rag in a plastic bag after each use.

[sabaman1]

At this point i have no less than 30 hours of sacrificed sleep put into polishing etc. I could get a clean body on fleabay for like 15 bucks if things go terribly. Not a snowballs chance in hell I'm painting this. 

What technique did you apply to get the aluminum to polish up so nice?

[JasonGotaProblem]

What technique did you apply to get the aluminum to polish up so nice?

Oh I went with the tried and true screw it up a few times and go back over it method.

But knowing what I know now if I were to start over I'd begin by removing as much as i can with a combination of 320 grit sandpaper and wire brush dremel (not too much pressure on it) or I'm told citristrip works good on aluminum. Haven't tried it. Might try for the interior (the subject at hand with this thread).

I just went up progressively from 320 to 600 to 800 1000, 1500, 2000 then heavy buffing compound (i think i used mothers) then chrome polish on the cotton dremel head. And lots of it for a long time. I probably went through 15 of those cotton heads. side note be freaking careful those lil heads shoot off and I had to go back to 800 grit and work my way back up the line in a few spots when it surprised me.

It wouldnt have been as long if i had done it smarter from the beginning. I could see doing it in half the time if I were more careful.

T9 boeshield is new to me. I'll look into it.

[Brewcrafter]

Jason - Nice project!  I'm gonna go back to very beginning of your post, apologies if I missed something - but basically at some point paint stripper got into the gear box?  Now I know you are not trying to make the inside of this reel look like the outside (kudos on all the work on the polishing job and I echo everybody else here that appreciates your photos and is looking forward to the finished reel) BUT...seriously any contamination, no matter how minor, that got inside and "bubbled the paint" means you have contamination.  I'm not saying you need to polish the inside of the housing (admittedly, totally wicked!) but if it was me I would try to mitigate ANY signs of chemical intrusion on the interior, so you don't have anything that will react with the grease/metal/other parts later.  And...I would be concerned that prolonged exposure to even minor amounts of paint stripper over time inside the bubbles would actually begin to degrade the metal itself.  Looking forward to seeing this reel as it goes back together! - john

[Cor]

To me aesthetics do not rate very highly when it comes to a functional piece of equipment, but this reel does look very nice the way it is now!

I would not polish the inside, remove the affected paint and cover it with some corrosion inhibiting substance (no suggestion what)   I also wonder if some inside tolerances will be affected by the polishing should you do it.

[ReelFishingProblems]

Great work on the polishing!

[JasonGotaProblem]

I put it together and greased the heck out of it. I'm likely gonna disassemble and strip out the inside better soon but I'm trying to test out the AR kit this weekend if i can. The finish line is within sight.