Briggs NOS short block- Paint quality/durability?

[creia]

I picked up a couple of NOS Briggs 5HP 130202 short blocks last year. I am getting ready to use one of them for one of my restoration/rebuild projects. I can see that Briggs painted them from the factory- kind of a silver/gray color. Does anyone know if the quality, durability (think heat and gasoline resistance) and adhesion of this paint is any good? Hopefully it is better than the paint they put on their NOS "hot dog" screw in mufflers! I have found that on those after the first few heat cycles the factory paint peels off, so now, before I use them I strip off the factory-applied paint and use a good high-heat exhaust primer and paint- no problems. Maybe Briggs only factory "painted" them for corrosion resistance until they are purchased? Did they do the same thing with these aluminum blocks to keep them from oxidizing?

Typically, on the old engines I purchase I have them sandblasted down to bare metal. This is my first time using a NOS factory shortblock and the paint "looks" pretty good, If it is decent, I could just spray a new/different color and clear coat over the factory paint job. What do you all think?
Michael

[bgsengine]

Yeah the standard silver short block paint enamel is pretty much the same formulation as their OEM built black, white, etc colors so it is just as durable as all their other engine paint colors. That "Silver" paint now, It's more of a neutral color so that short blocks can be painted to match manufacturer color schemes as desired, without having to apply excessive coats to hide the non-neutral colors otherwise.... (if desired)

[creia]

OK- Thank you Brian! I'll just clean the block surfaces and go ahead and apply my color and clear coats over the factory paint.
Michael