It's actually painted. I sprayed it with POR15 rust preventive paint. It's several steps, the Marine Clean cleaner works very well, the Metal Ready(now they call it Prep & Ready) actually eats the rust(which can be seen on the closeup of the cradle, the bare metal was surface rust), and then I sprayed POR15, their primer and a top coat.
That being said, their Marine Clean works VERY well for cleaning and degreasing. I bought more afterwards and dilute it in the spray bottle to detail the engine bay. You gotta be careful with it though as it will eat paint if left on for too long. I cleaned some things I reused like my oil pan. I left it sit in my oil pan for 2 hours and it left like a bathtub ring, everything below it had zero paint left.
http://www.por15.com/MARINE-CLEAN/productinfo/MCG/
Yes, there is a small 125 shot waiting patiently. I'm using some crap Hedman headers and the flanges are warped. I'm waiting on a little cash to get some custom midtubes, then a tune, and spray hopefully yet this year.