The Dos and Don'ts When Getting Ready For Paint

[bxd]

I have wanted to re-spray my '69T (driver) since I bought it several years ago... the paint isn't all that horrible, but there are a few bumps, bangs, and some door gap issues that just bother the living crap out of me every time I look at them. I do not want the car to be out of service for years on-end while I do a complete "perfect" restoration; the car is most definitely a driver, so I just want to pull the panels and windows, fix a few issues, prep, paint, and then reassemble. The paint doesn't have to be concourse quality, but the gaps DO. I have a reputable painter who will do the actual spraying for a killer price, and an anal-retentive body guy to address the gaps. -My plan is to do a panels-off, windows-out respray, so I'm going to disassemble things myself, then have the body guy address the panel-gaps (and minor rust issues), and then prep all the panels for paint myself, then hand it to the painter, then re-assemble myself.



Never having done this before, I thought maybe I'd see if anyone had any sage advice on things to watch-out for, or not do... maybe those who have gone through this process could tell me where the landmines are so I don't end-up having my car in pieces for 3yrs.



All advice is welcome.

[cmcfaul]

door gaps are a PITA. I think they left the factory with some huge gaps by todays standards. You are going to have to add material to get them better.

Just had my car painted and the door hinge bolts are paintless from the multiple trial and errors of getting it as close as possible. Door seals will be the next issue. The period correct ones (solid) will not seal completly....wind noise. The more modern ones, hollow, work much better.

Chris
73 911 E

[bxd]

by "add material", you mean adding metal? or are we talking bondo?

[edmayo]

For future reference Chris, the correct method is to fit the door gaps before paint then remove the doors by removing the hinge pins. After paint reinstall the doors by reinstalling the pins, gaps will still be correct and hinge bolts will still have the paint on them. The last thing you want to do (as you now know) is to be adjusting door gaps after painting

[76911S]

The real problem is the "while I'm there" issue, and old parts don't look good next to new paint... That's how a simple paint respray turns into a several year project....
Sorry, I know that's not much help.

[curtisaa]

For future reference Chris, the correct method is to fit the door gaps before paint then remove the doors by removing the hinge pins. After paint reinstall the doors by reinstalling the pins, gaps will still be correct and hinge bolts will still have the paint on them. The last thing you want to do (as you now know) is to be adjusting door gaps after painting

Excellent advice EM. Also, paint door jams with hinges on with screws tightened. That way doors can be installed with just pins to be installed.

[m1franck]

Do you know if and how many times your car has been resprayed? You did not mention if you were going to take it back to bare metal or just paint over what you have. I started on a repaint of my "daily driver" and found that the car had been painted 3 times if you count the factory paint. That was the deciding point to strip it back to bare metal. A fourth coat of paint (and primer) would just have been a piss poor way of tackling that project.

[bxd]

Good point... I think the car has been resprayed one time over the factory paint, so it's carrying two coats of Polo Red currently. I plan on prepping and spraying the door jams, but not the front and rear bays, and I hadn't intended to take the whole thing down to bare metal, but it will probably need it in many places... so maybe that should be part of the plan.

[m1franck]

To reduce labor hours (what I pay others for) on my project I decided to remove the fenders, doors, trunk lid, engine lid and will send them out to be chemically dipped to remove the 3 layers of paint. The shell of the car will will be a either walnut blasted or stripped using paint remover, lots of sanding and my own labor. I'll do the bare metal prep, epoxy sealer, then more body work before it's sent off to the painter.

[kllr901]

Don't be surpised to find more body/rust issues as you take it to bare metal (depends on the car's history) Most of these have had some type of repairs over the years, some better jobs than others. Are you painting the fenders on the car or off? Depending on the painter they either like to fit them first then paint them on the car, or paint them off the car which then makes your "fresh paint" re-assembly job a little interesting...