So now I am here I can really get a good look at what needs to be done.
This is my baseline.
The strip down is finished.
Project 'Sleepless Nights' starts here.

Inside the engine is mint, apart from maybe the cylinder liners with the carbon build up around the top rim and maybe the bearing caps.
But outside its a different matter.
The original factory black finish is mix of powder coat on some parts and paint on others, and its fucking awful.
All over its cracked, its flaking, its bubbling where its corroding underneath or in some places its just come away and peeled off in large sections.
It just needs redoing. All of it.

So first the deep clean starts. Then it all needs stripping. I don't have access to a sand or bead blaster, but half of me thinks that this is a bad route to go down because if I get any particles left in the engine that get picked up in the oil flow... yeah... no...
So deep cleaning, stripping, prepping, painting.
I don't have any time constraints. so I guess I'm going to learn some new skills...

I have decided that I'm going to paint it with heat resistant engine enamel rather than powder coat it. Its not a new engine. Its a 21 year old aluminium head and after talking to people that know what they are talking about, I'm definitely taking a risk of warping if I put it in a powder coat over at 300 degrees...
If I paint it, if nothing else its easier to touch it up should it get any chips or corrosion spots.