Is paint necessary inside the crankcase?

[Wisconsin Welder]

I am assembling an 026 from from new parts and a donor saw. The case halves are in good shape but the paint has failed, its brown and almost burnt looking in places, in the crank area the paint is flaking off.

Is the paint needed there? Can I just remove it and carry on? I have seen the results of patient people doing nice work on here, but I don't care what this thing looks like, if the paint is purely cosmetic I will not repaint it, I just want to make sure that it doesn't serve a purpose that I am un aware of.

Thanks

 

[radio]

My guess would be the paint is not needed. If the non-painted aluminum transfers and intake/exhaust ports can handle it the crankcase should be able to as well. But this is just speculation, I have no direct knowledge why they paint the interior of the crankcases.

 

[wcorey]

Magnesium is sort of prone to oxidization/corrosion...

 

[Al Smith]

I think it's e-coat not actual paint .IMO the reason is to prevent the galvanic reaction of dissimilar metals . -------

Galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially to another when both metals are in electrical contact, in the presence of an electrolyte. This same galvanic reaction is exploited in primary batteries to generate an electrical voltage

Often on old Homelites ,McCullochs and others that have sat unused for years the oil tanks and other parts will show metal deterioration from the inside out ,AKA "the white death ".These were bare metal,no coating ,no paint of any kind .