Gerard, your points are ALL well taken.
about 10 years ago, i took a very strong stand stating my belief the crankcases were NOT painted and got TAKEN TO SCHOOL by Vic.
my comment to look in the starter well does not originate from me. i am only a parrot commenting where Vic told me to look for paint
E2241 had paint on various parts of cases and IN the starter well. i have no reason to believe the patina on the paint was not factory applied. i feel qualified and competent in assessing what patina looks like on what appears to be factory finishes.
i have seen crankcases painted on other sandcast cases and no traces of paint on other cases.
i still have my doubts ALL cases were painted. it does seem odd to me Honda would not have the consistency of not painting all cases. Putting it another way, painting some of the cases and not others does not seem consistent for the factory. But, then, we know stranger things have happened with sandcast production.
i did not paint cases on E254. i painted cases on E2241.
i would think we need to take a poll on member's findings of paint or no paint on the cases. Now, if only more 'members' with numerous sandcasts besides just us devoted few would contribute their findings..........!
the following will very possibly piss off some folks, but sadly we have a lot of "dead wood" in our membership. oh, f'n well. i said it.