Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

[Daniel S.]

Hi,

I am taking a body shop class at a local tech school in the evening and will hopefully putting the last coat of primer on before painting. (the car has had body work and primed twice now)

This is my current status:

The doors and on and fit nicely

The trunk lid on on the car

The hood is off

The convertible top cover is off.

My instructor says to take off the doors and trunk lid and paint all those parts separately from the body.

I am concerned about removing the doors but he said you will get alot better paint job?

thanks

Dan

[Owen L.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Send Chris Sherman a message https://www.forums.ncrs.org/member.p...herman-(33359)

He has much experience and seems quite willing to share and support painting and bodywork questions.

[Mark F.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Hi,...My instructor says to take off the doors and trunk lid and paint all those parts separately from the body. I am concerned about removing the doors but he said you will get alot better paint job? thanks Dan

[Duke W.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

It depends on the final result you want. As stated, the bare bodies were painted with the doors and (I think) the hood and trunk lid installed. For a "concours quality" paint job the hood and doors are usually painted off the car, and, of course, at the plant body painting was done before the body was dropped onto the completed chassis with all the suspension and drivetrain components installed on the frame.

Duke

[Daniel S.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Hi Duke,

The car is not going to be a concourse car but I do want a nice paint job as I stated in my reply to Duke I really don't want to take off the doors because I hear it is difficult to align them which I don't have the experience - someone else did it.

Thanks for input.

Dan

[Daniel S.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Hi Mark,

Thanks for input yes I did know that they were painted in the factory and my major concern is damaging the paint or other stuff if I were to take them off and then put them back on. I heard aligning the doors is a hassle and would rather not try to do that and damage something after all the work was put into it. I think I am going to leave the doors on at least.

Thanks for your time.

Dan

[William B.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

A little secret, before removing the doors drill 2, 1/8" in holes each hinge and note the position of the shims on each hinge. then when reassembling the door, put the 1/8" drill bits in each hole (you will need 4 bits now) along with the shims. At this time you will have the alignment real close, may have to fine tune a little.
And yes remove the doors for painting, If you are sanding and buffing the paint you can do it with the doors off the car.

[Daniel S.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Hi William,

This maybe a stupid question but leave the hinge on the body and drill the holes in the door part of the hinge or just the opposite drill holes in the hinge part on the body?

Thanks
Dan

[William B.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Dan,
You leave the hinges mounted to the body, drill the hinges where they mount to the door, you will drill through the hinge , shims(if there are any) and the mount that is permanently in the door, make sure you go through all, then on reassembly it goes easy.

[Chris S.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

No one has asked the big question
What color ????
If you want the best job possible - paint it apart
The doors are not hard to install and adjust
Here is a 57 we recently painted - and yes paint it apart - unless your doing a metallic or pearl or something custom
20240421_112711.jpg

[Daniel S.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Hi William,

Thank you Ill take the first step and drill.

Thanks again Dan

[Joseph W.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

No one has asked the big question
What color ????
If you want the best job possible - paint it apart
The doors are not hard to install and adjust
Here is a 57 we recently painted - and yes paint it apart - unless your doing a metallic or pearl or something custom
[ATTACH=CONFIG]123817[/ATTACH]

Chris,
I plan on painting my 1969 Riverside Gold coupe in future and I believe it has fine metal flake in the paint.
Would that be a color I would leave the doors on when painting?
thanks

Joe

[Chris S.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

I would - Joe
Here is 1 of 2 Pennant Blue cars we did
I left the doors one during paint - just to make sure we had a good color match with the panels
The jams were already done and we back masked them
20220522_115727.jpg

[Mark E.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

As you see, different methods for different folks. I had a summer job in the late 70s as a fiberglass man in a bodyshop that specialized in Corvette and had two painters.

The first painter liked shooting paint once and done. So he shot the car and jams at one time with all panels removed.

But the second painter didn't like the risk of damage during assembly so he first shot the jams with all panels removed. Then later shot the body after the panels, bumpers and grills were installed.

The first method often required touch-up after assembly. The second method required more masking and two trips to the booth. Pick your preference.

[Joseph W.]

Re: Painting Questions - whats on and whats off

Thank you Chris!