Treatment for oxidised and pitted aluminium

[Jacob555]

Hi,
I have just removed an old jet drive from a scrap hull and the centre section of it is bare white powdery (oxidised) aluminium. Virtually all of the old paint has gone. It's slightly pitted in places though fortunately not on the mating surfaces.
What do I do to restore the aluminium to better condition. Don't want to shot blast and powder coat as there are plastic wear rings in the unit which I can't get out, so it looks like a scrape with wire brush and then paint with something job. What materials can I use to help cleaning it up, and what paint/ primer system should I use? Can I fill the pitting marks with any thing?
It's not going to get super hot in use I should think as its seperate from the engine, apart from the shaft so shouldn't need any kind of high temperature paint, I'm guessing.
I want to paint it with something that will stay on it, not flake off in my first season of use!
Jake

[DavyBuoy]

Wash with hot water and a wire brush then treat with Hammerite non ferrous etching primer (looks like the old type red lead primer).Finally coat with your preferred colour of Hammerite,used this method on an old lower casing from a Mercury outboard about 4 years ago,still good.