spray car together or apart
 

Here is what I know. Spray apart you can have issues with panels looking different even if sprayed same day same paint etc. Also risk is there for chipping etc during assembly.
Jamb and spray togeather and you get spray lines on edges.
What's yourexperience/opinion and why?

Had my 66 sprayed separately recently with no issues of panels looking different, even with the metallic paint. Hung the doors, fenders and even the trunk by myself without scratching or chipping anything. Needed help with the hood obviously..

Singleton, that is the route I will more than likely take as my friend and painter says its the way he would do it if it were his car. He does not seem worried at all about the paint not looking right but then he has been painting his whole life.

Ps. I really like your Sig photo!

When the pieces are painted separately from the vehicle are they supposed to be painted as if they were still on the car? I think the paint lays differently if the pieces were simply laid on a flt surface.

Yes that's correct and at the same time as the car as far as I understand.

We always spray in pieces. Just mock it up first.

Jack, great advice. We mocked up doors, fenders, hood and decklid. Had to take off doors and decklid to do epoxy over the bodywork. We drilled 1/8" holes in the door hinges and decklid hinges before removing. Primed em up and it was so easy to reinstall. Used an awl thru the drilled holes, right on the money in minutes!

paint
 

goat whore, do you have any pics of the hinges you put the 1/8" holes in? did you just put one or did you do a couple?

I am out of town right now but can get some early next week. I put two in each hinge.

This and the following picture from Hot Rod may help illustrate the technique.

Ive read about the panels looking different if you lay them flat. But we do every car that way and many get the tub sprayed months before the doors and fenders. Never been an issue.

I feel personally you get a better paint job sprayed with it apart, but jambing it and putting it together has less risk of damage.

Its also easier to wetsand the doors off the car, and the body with the doors and fenders off. We also use tall sawhorses to put the fenders on to get them up to working height.

I panel paint all the time. I feel you get a better job doing it that way. Solid colors are relatively easy. You need to make sure you are shooting the exact same coats on all the panels. Especially with an opaque like butternut yellow etc.

Metallics need to be shot in the position that they are on the car. If you shoot a door flat and then put it on the car it will not match the quarter because the way the metallics lay out. Gun pressure, humidity and temperature will all affect the way it lays out so that's why it's important to shoot all in the same time.

It depends if you are doing a color change and how far down you want to take your car.
I paint mine they way the factory did- Fenders and hood off of the car.

Doors and deck lid stay bolted to body for paint as Fisher body did it. You can carefull open and close the doors and deck lid between sealer, color and clear ( latches removed of course). This way the paint is applied properly over door and deck lid bolts.

If you are not doing a color change, I normally leave the car together for the most part. It is a lot less work.

This is how we did one today. Easy as 1,2,3.








Not really.

That's awesome! Thanks for the picts 400 4spd.

I've done both together and blown apart. When I'm doing one together I sometimes do the jambs last, back tape 'em a little on the outer edge and after you buff the outside any tape line is gone.

What cfd2bc says. As long as the panels are positioned as they will be on the car. Have a friend who had his '65 painted dark blue metallic, and the doors were painted on sawhorses. When the car was together, the doors did not match the quarter panels, as the metallic was laying in a different direction and catching the light differently. With a solid color, this would not be an issue.