Here is a question that has been bugging me. So far all the cars I have painted I have shot each piece separate and then assembled the whole car. It looks great but is tricky not to get chips in any paint especially when hanging doors. I see a lot of resto shots of peoples cars who shoot the jams, then assemble the car for paint. With this technique I have some questions. 1.If the paint is BC/CC do you shoot just the base in the jams and clear them later, or shoot both base and clear in the jams?
2. How to minimize all the tape lines from all the masking in the jams? Wetsand the lines after spraying the body? Also how can you keep overspray off all that fresh detailed chassis and tight jam areas like inside the doors and under the hood?
Any tricks or tips to this method?


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Dave
70 chevelle ss396 conv
66 chevelle ss396 hdp/conv
72 chevelle
TC member #493
Never forget Earnhardt!

We paint the car with the doors on only, all other parts are shot seperate. We spray with the doors open so there are no clear lines in the jamb or on the door. We do paint the base coat on the door attaching area first (front) then bolt on the door so it is all covered with a coat of paint before we start spraying the whole car as that is hard to do with the door open.

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Micky Hale Restorations
69 L-89 Chevelle
68 Biscayne 427/425
34 Plymouth Drag Car
ACES #134
www.mickyhale.com (http://www.mickyhale.com)

Mickey,
Are you saying you shoot the front of the door shell before hand with the base only and then clear after the whole shell is sprayed? Sounds like a good idea. Do you leave the doors open just long enough to do the jams and then close them or leave them all the way open the whole time? Also do you normally do this with the body off the frame? For subframed cars do you install and detail the engine area before or after painting the body?

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Dave
70 chevelle ss396 conv
66 chevelle ss396 hdp/conv
72 chevelle
TC member #493
Never forget Earnhardt!

[This message has been edited by drptop70ss (edited 11-05-2001).]

I've seen it done both ways.. (Micky's way is a new one on me but makes sense) Parts off is great for a solid non-metallic color and getting them on without a chip is difficult. I plan on doing the parts off way if I go basic black, but Gorbe may have changed my mind and brought me too cortez silver (original color) where I will jamb the car, assemble and paint. There is no way I want too be hanging sheet metal once the metallic starts flowing..

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X-Ray View of my Chevelle :D (http://www.normieschevelle.com/sideview.jpg)
Getting Closer (http://www.normieschevelle.com/passfull.jpg)

I agree with Mickey on this, paint the front along with the bottom to get it covered, then install the door. You want to leave the door open so you can move it to paint the jambs of the quarter and of the door. You can do this with either the car on or off the frame makes no difference. But I prefer off so you dont any over spray on the frame and I prefer the bottom of the car painted the same color as the rest of the car.

If you take your time and have two people help you when hanging the parts back on the car you shouldnt get any chips in the paint. Take some masking tape and put it around the edges, but first stick it to yours jeans to lessen the glue on the tape.

We paint almost all of our parts off the car metallic or not. As long as you keep the same nuimber of coats equal on all of the parts and spray the entire car with the same batch of paint you shouldnt have any problems. And by batch I meen you should be able to apply one coat of base to the entire car with one quart and that being what must guns hold. So fill up the gun and shake it up and before you start to spray, shoot out some paint into the air to remove what paint is in the gun. This removes the metallic that has settled in the gun.

We paint it off the frame, leaving the doors open for the whole process. When the paint is complete, I put the car back on the roticery and finish the botton masking off the car with plastic. Paint the bottom, firewall, then dash, then trunk, in that order. It doesnt matter to us if its mettalic or not either, never had a problem with that. If you go to my site, there is a orange GTO that will be the same as a Chevelle almost that you can see the process.

If you paint the jams before, 3M makes a foam tape used to mask the jams. It leaves a softer edge.