Once I cleaned all the gunk off my original 64 /6 3 speed manual BH, it was natural cast aluminum in color but had red overspray near the engine block area. This told me that the bell was bolted to the finished engine assembly when the engine was painted. The bell was not completely painted.
So I bead blasted the bell, painted if with Eastwood cast aluminum paint, and oversprayed some red paint as I found it.
The clutch fork was never painted.
As a side note.....with the engine at TDC, there was red overspray on the flywheel where if shot through the opening for the starter. So the starter was not mounted when the engine was painted.