Need some advice- paint (or powder coat ) is peeling off my 12" Imco boxes. Need to paint my XR outdrives, too. What's the best way to go? I would rather not pull engines to pull Ext boxes but will if I have to.
Any help is appreciated.

If you don't want to pull the extension boxes you will need to paint them.

Here is a good write up a fellow cig owner made, and he is super anal about how things get done. I will also be leaving my boxes on and painting them, too much dicking around to pull them just to paint, plus getting them to re-seal... Just need to spend extra time masking and being very careful.

We had no longetivity from Powdercoat.
Dismantle everything, a lot of Special tools needed, some we make, some we buy from Mercury.
Acetylene torch sometimes needed to get the pins out. Slidehammer or pin remover
Wash everything with degreaser. Tape up drive pivot pin holes, no blasting in there.
Media blast with used sand to get most of the paint off,then switch to walnut shells to finish up, they leave the surface very nice.
Next the very nice surface goes away[img]file:///C:/Users/jfrick/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/img], we use 3M alodine treatment, step 1 spray all parts with part A, an acid that removes all debris we can not see in the porous metal. Walnut shell, dust, etc. do not let it dry, rinse it off well. Blow dry. Part B is then applied, don not let it dry, the metal will turn golden color. Rinse well. Blow dry. The alodine coating now needs primed within 3 hours.
We use Awlgrip primer. 545, the sand it the next day, and reprime if needed.
We use Awlgrip Super Jet Black to cover, with emphasis on cover, before look good. Sometimes I let it dry 2 days , sand, and re coat for pretty.
Don't forget to call Stickerboy, (Kinetic Animation), for new M6 decals

EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you!

I tend to like paint vs. powercoat for bigger parts. Agree with the above.