Devin, I use a powder called "blasted aluminum". Basically, I degrease the parts, then cook in my oven for an hour to dry up any remaining greasy mess. After that, bead blast and powdercoat.
Now is probably a good time to talk about the bellhousing phase of the project.
Basically, mine was a mess. I got the engine all assembled with new clutch and ready to drop in, but when I reached down to change the throwout bearing I ran into issues. I should have looked closer, earlier in the project. Remember back in post two when I mentioned the previous owner sold the truck due to throwout bearing issues.
First, I have read enough bad about pilot bearings that I wasn't comfortable using the one that came in my Luk clutch kit. I'm very familiar and comfortable with pilot bushings though so I got one locally. There is plenty of material to geek out on pilot bushings if you care. Basically, most nowadays are Hecho in China out of some mystery metal. Good old fashioned oilite bushings are hard to find. The part number is there on the box. This is a good one. Something like 7 bucks at O Reilly. They'll likely have to order it.
My hillbilly pilot bushing installer tool.
All ready to drop in.
Now, here is where the problems came in. I climbed up in the engine compartment with my new throwout bearing to install it. When I got down close and looked, here is what I found.
The pivot ball.
So, off to Rockauto for yet another order. Fortunately a new Delco clutch fork is only like 23 dollars. The pivot ball another 10 or so. Push the button to get them ordered and wait for the brown truck.
While I was waiting for my new Rockauto stuff I went ahead and pulled the bellhousing off of the transmsiion and restored it.
Many folks may not know, but the clutch pivot ball is greasable on these trucks. It's usually buried under the muck, but it's there.
Then to clean the passage under the zerk.
New zerks are cheap from Tractor Supply. I keep a few dozen on hand at all times.
Clean, blast and powdercoat the bellhousing (blasted aluminum is the name of the powder)
You can see the grease zerk if you look close.
Finally Santa Claus in the brown truck came and I could proceed with the project.
That's a ton of wear on the pivot ball.
Last thing before installing the engine was to tune up the janky wiring harness. The wiring was intact and sound but the insulation was crumbly and mostly gone. So, like 100 feet of loom later, it's back into proper shape.
Tech Tip: To clean old greasy, dirty wiring, use Goop hand cleaner. It's about 2 bucks per tub from Walmart. Just get yourself a dollop of it in your hand and run the wiring back and forth. Now, wipe it clean with a towel. The Goop leaves the wiring very clean, grease free, and supple. It's also not oily or so aggressive that it damages your insulation.
After...
Now, finally, it was time to drop the engine. And you guys wondered why it took me so long to get the engine built and running.