I gritblasted the crankcases to get a uniform finish and then glassbeaded it and covered the outside surfaces in 2-components clear. Took a lot of time to very thoroughly clean the cases before reassembling. Apart from the obvious compressed air a good idea is to put the whole thing in warm water with dishwashing soap to soak loose the grit and glassbeads in the hard to reach places. And then more compressed air!
I assembled the engine on the kitchen table, BMW engines are very easy to work on.

In the meantime the paintwork returned ( thanks Paul!) and we left it in a warm place to fully harden for a few days before starting the re-assembly. Aad cleaned up and polished the front tankmount and started on the midcontrols, more about that next week....