Vic, the pump was solid rust!! flaking off!! and i thought it had rusted thur.
But it did not and is real thick metal there. That is were the armacher (can't spell) spins.
So I removed in back in Dec I think and took a grinder with a heavy wire wheel and got all the rust off.
Tghen i painted it with 3 coats of ZRC:
http://www.zrcworldwide.com/galds.htm
Then I cleaned the whole unit with thinner, and put 3 coats of Yamaha paint on the whole thing.
I bleed out the whole system and refilled with all new tilt oil. Put new seals on the pistion caps and a new O ring on the fill screw.
Works like a charm now!! and i hope it will be rust free for a long time to come!!