Paint airbox and battery box or leave them rusting OEM?

[DesertRatliff]

My new-to-me 79 GS850 looks ok, but the airbox and battery box are out of the bike right now as I'm thoroughly going through it after the PO had it stored and not running for years.

While I wait for parts (valve shims, carb o-rings, gaskets, throttle cables, etc), I was thinking about painting the airbox before I reseal it and the battery box as it has a lot of surface rust on it. I'm an average painter and trust myself on doing an 8+ out of 10 job on something like this with my HVLP gun and some solid prep.

Is this a good plan, or is the bike worth more unaltered? If paint, what product and color is closest to factory original? A single stage satin black enamel is what I'm thinking. Not trying to overthink this; just want to honor the bike.

[storm 64]

Clean it and paint it. Anything is better than rust. Your 850 will love you for it.👍

[rphillips]

anyrust you can get rid of is always a +++, paint to keep it from returning. You aren't talking of painting the plastic airbox, are you? That may not be the best idea. " "ArmorAll", "Son of a Gun", or "Back to Black" for the plastic.

[DesertRatliff]

anyrust you can get rid of is always a +++, paint to keep it from returning. You aren't talking of painting the plastic airbox, are you? That may not be the best idea. " "ArmorAll", "Son of a Gun", or "Back to Black" for the plastic.

Nope! haha. Not painting the plastic anything!! I've never had plastic painting turn out satisfactory and if it does, it doesn't last long. I was talking about the steel airbox that houses the filter and the carb boots. Mine doesn't look super awesome. The battery box is worse. There's also rusting around the rear brake resevoir mount on the frame, so will likely touch that up to prevent rust if I can find a close match on paint.

Anybody have a single stage match they can recommend? Thanks everyone!

[Gorminrider]

My standards are pretty low but I hate rust. DEFINITELY clean and paint even if it's just Rustoleum gloss black with a brush....which matches pretty well once it's been on awhile...you can mix the lower gloss with it if it's too shiny for you.

if you do elect to "clean-and-dab" some other bad places are the front of the swingarm,...and the tripletree too.

[oldGSfan]

If you wire brush it and then spread on Loctite rust converter (Extend) it will hold up pretty well even without paint. It forms to a black plasticy coating.

[DesertRatliff]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

Hit them with some Rustoleum Satin black. They look great. Bike should be up and running this time next week for the first time in years.