Power Steering Box - What finish is factory correct

[Solarguy]

My Firm feel power steering box arrived and looks beautiful in its natural cast iron state.  Were these left natural or painted black from the factory? 

[dodj]

I don't know,  but I painted mine black.  I didn't want a rust brown box after a few weeks

[Solarguy]

I was going to clear coat if leaving au natural

[anlauto]

You'll find plenty of opinions either way...for the most part, I think they were painted black, but with cheap thin black paint that came off over the years.

[Burdar]

Power steering boxes were black.  I would have guessed natural bare metal but when I started cleaning mine up, there was a little bit of black paint under the rust.  Manual steering boxes were bare aluminum.

[750-h2]

Black for sure.

[Solarguy]

Thanks for the responses. This box is so damn nice looking I don't know if I can paint it black