Well my engine had a typical amount of 35 year old grime and crud...
So I laid the frame down and dropped the engine out for cleaning/painting.
Started things off with a WD-40 bath over a washing machine drip pan to remove the worst of the grime.
Then took her outside for a Purple-Power wash. Nice and clean.
BTW, "nerf" golf balls make great plugs to keep crap out of the engine while cleaning.
The lower case was prepped for painting and the cylinders and previously polished sprocket cover were masked off. The side covers will be polished later, so I didn't bother masking them off. A threaded rod through one of the mounting holes supported the engine on saw horses, so that I could swing the engine back and forth 180+ degrees (propping the head up each end of the swing) to help with painting. I painted with Duplicolor engine paint.
Here's the engine hanging upside down in the garage after painting and prior to side cover removal for polishing.
As part of my "no logos" theme, I bead blasted the alternator cover and "bondo'ed" over the Honda and Made In Japan castings with JB Weld and sanded smooth.
That was shot with silver appliance epoxy, which didn't turn out real well, so it later got sanded down and painted over with the same base silver color and clear coat of the rest of the bodywork.
Thanks for looking, CC