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As far as I know at least on KZ650s and KZ1000s the engine was natural aluminum and the cases were polished aluminum. Kawasaki did not clear coat or paint any of the engine pieces. (of course I'm talking only the silver engines here). I'm sure they used some kind of sealer or something to try to minimize corrosion, but it wasn't paint or clearcoat. You can see what clearcoat they did use like the coating on the lower forks and the yellowing cruddy looking rubberized covers for the clutch and front brake levers. Nothing like this on the engine. You can take Simichrome polish or similar on a clean rag and polish any of the engine pieces to shine and see what color the rag turns. It will be black from rubbing off aluminum. If you polish a clearcoat piece like the lower forks or a clearcoated aluminum piece like an aluminum car or truck wheel. look at the rag and see what color it is. It's still the same color as the polish you've applied because you are not removing any oxidized aluminum, you are simply polishing the outer clearcoat. Same idea as if you polish a clearcoat painted car or motorcycle, you will never see the color of the paint rub off on the rag, but polish a non-clearcoated paintjob and your rag will always show a lot of color of the vehical you are polishing. There has been some debate on this with guys telling me I'm wrong, but I can say with confidence no Kawasaki I've ever owned has had any painted or clearcoat engine pieces, all aluminum. Other manufacturers painted their engines. My dad's 84 Goldwing is painted and looks like crap really. No substitute for real aluminum, but it does take a little maintenence.

My 550 ltd has some kind of ceramic-like paint, and its definitely a factory application.

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Pictures?