Scuff it,.. then paint it...  400 grit sandpaper... or steel wool ... the side cases are clear-coated...

The square things?,... their job is to block access to the plug, and make things difficult...  
but don't throw them away!....  
turn them upside down and nail'em to your shop wall...  you can store gum and paper clips in them...

don't forget to wipe it down with alcohol and lint free cloth/shop towel to remove all dust and stuff from the mechanical removal of old paint, clear coat, etc, and it will also remove any left over oil and general crud; this will help the new paint to stick better.

OK make sure its not exhaust hi temp ... there is 2 kinds ... engine stuff that takes up to 500 and exhaust that works to 12-1300.
The problem is, if you paint it with exhaust paint, it will need to get to near 7-800 degree to cook and without that it will be too soft and sorta come off very easily.

In a way the best way to paint it is with it hot. I would paint it when its cold. Then get the thing refitted and then start it up and get it nice and hot. There is bound to be spots where its got chips and nicks from you re fitting stuff back on and where you got gas or oil etc ... then paint hose spots and others when its still running. I did an exhaust on my xs that way. Made it a beautiful job.

Cool.
Srinath.

If its gets over 300 degrees you're in trouble.
So that is exhaust only, not engine. You're gonna have to buy engine paint.
Cool.
Srinath.

well, what i did was scratch the crap outta it with steel wool, degrease, then wiped it with alcohol, sprayed it, then ran her for about an hour, my foot wiped away a little so i touched it up and i'm letting it cool with the touch up.

it looked like it was holding except where my foot rubbed. BUT all the other spots looked pretty good. so hopefully it stays, if not then i'll get some bbq paint.

i'd hate for it to drip and look really nasty  

it says to paint and then let bake @ 650 degrees for an hour lol i don't think the bike gets that hot!!

it looks good but i can rub it off, so i'm sure my shoes will take off most of it....but i def want to go over it again with bbq paint or something.....

maybe between work and karate i can take off the tank, clean the petcock screen and take off the cylinder head covers and paint em, maybe drill some holes through em....

are they hard 2 come off?

Thers nothing wrong with walking into an auto paint supply house & asking a salesman what kind of paint would be likely to stick to an aluminum engine. Aluminum requires a different primer, or Did, 25+ years ago, when I was doing bodywork. It was greenish, IIRC, pretty odd looking stuff..Lots of progress in paints tho, so maybe now its different.