Coolant pipe repaint

Here is the rust old coolant pipe.... Note, some of the red is rust, but in a few places you can see the original red paint showing through.

OK, not the best photo... The coolant pipe got a coat of POR-15 gray and then 3 coats of POR-15 engine enamel (Ford red). I don't think the engine paint needed 3 coats, but I had some drips and runs on the first coat that needed to be sanded out. There were a few runs on the final coat that I might try to buff out with rubbing compound, but I doubt they will be visible and may just leave them. Switching to a higher quality paintbrush seemed to help, the first coats were done with a disposable brush that did not produce a smooth finish, and to compensate I globed on more paint leading to the runs...

Cooling system parts cleaning

More parts cleaning...

Water pump pulley spacer before cleaning.

After degreasing in Simple Green, a soak in some POR Metal-Ready, 220 grit paper, 400 grit paper and finally the buffing wheel. I think it looks good, although there is still some pitting.... Each of the polishing steps was done quickly, in all about 15 minutes.... Not sure if its worth the time to get perfect...

This angle highlights the imperfections, in the photo below it looks a little better.