I'm almost finished replacing the roof skin on my 66 that I warped last summer while sandblasting, Doah! I would have finished yesterday, but my MIG welder ran out of gas.

Anyway, when the roof skin is completed, I'll be ready to seriously start thinking about bodywork & paint.

I hope to get a friend of my brothers to do the body work, he's awesome. This guy has already told me that he can't paint the car, cause he has no where to do it. I still want him to do the bodywork, then I'll take it somewhere else for paint. This guy is a GM bodyman, but does not get along with his boss, so he does not want to do it at work.

This past winter I had my doors, trunk lid, fenders, wiper cowl and a few other body parts e-coated at Carponents in MI. The panels turned out great, and saved me a hell of a lot of blasting, priming, etc. Once the roof skin is done, and I get my new 66SS hood, I'll be assembling all the sheet metal.

I'll describe the procedure I plan to follow, please comment if you guys think I should do something different than what I've described, as this is my first restoration.

Currently the frame, firewall & underside of the body is all detailed, engine and tranny are not in the car.

When the roof skin is completed, I plan to re-assemble all the sheet metal related parts that are required to do paint & bodywork (everything is either e-coated or sandblasted & primed with DP90LF)
The body shell on the outside is still bare metal, it will need sanding & metal prepping, but I'm leaving that for the body man.

I will assemble:

-Fenders
-New hood & Hinges
-Doors, Hinges & latches, no window guts
-Trunk lid & latch
-Rad support
-Inner fenders
-Front Bumper filler panel (Whatever it's called)
-Wiper cowl
-Rear Quarter extensions? (do you guys normally install these during body work?)

I will assemble the body & align the panels until I'm satisfied. Then I will send it off to a the body man/shop, depending on who I can get to do it.

After the bodywork is done, I will do the trunk splatter paint (Kit from Eastwood)

Then I will get the car painted, BC/CC without a final went sanding & buffing.
The shop will also paint the interior metal, along side the windows, dash, steering column, etc. I will request that the doors, fenders, hood & trunklid be painted off the car. They will re-assemble the body, not worrying too much about alignment.

I will take the car back, remove the front clip, install the engine & drivetrain. At this time I will paint the inner fenders & rad support. I will re-assemble the body and align all the panels.

Then I will work on the electrical system, wiring etc, and get all the mechanicals functioning. Get the car running, etc.

I will then get the car wet sanded & buffed, any scratches that I may have put in the paint can be fixed at this time.

After the car is buffed, I will install the glass, interior, and all the exterior trim.

Then I'm finally done!

I figure if I wait to get the car buffed until after I re-assemble everything & get the car driving, it will be easier to fix any scratches if they occur.

Not sure I'll be able to get all of this done this summer, but I'm going to try!

Ya best off to put motor in first. Cut in car; meaning cut in fenders and doors an door jambs, and trunk erea. You can also paint every piece individgly and asemble later. Don't get the car painted then take the clip off. Disasemblle the front piece by piece, not the whole thing at once. Scratch it and bang it before the paint.

HUMMMM
paint your fire wall and install your eng and trans. cover with plastic. fit you doors,
fenders, hood and splash pan. Disassemble
marking every shim location. cut in doors,trunk,fenders,hood and splash pan.
Reassemble and align. Call your body man buddy
and let him at it. Yes he will mess up at some edges ( easy to fix) but you remove the
probability of putting scratches in the new pain upon reassemble. just MHO and another way to SKIN A CAT.
later

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Wayne
ACES 1556
TCG 186
So many Mustangs
So Little Time

Anyone else have any Ideas? Motor and tranny in before bodywork?

I'll tell you this much, there is nothing that will **** of a shop more than bringing them a car to do a complete on that has a restored engine/chassis.
Wait till the car is painted to spatter paint the truck, I can guarantee you there will be over spray on the spatter paint from the outside.

Talk to your painter, waiting that long to buff may not be possible. The clear gets too hard.

I would really think about pre-assembling the sheet metal for paint, and leaving it there.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

I'll tell you this much, there is nothing that will **** of a shop more than bringing them a car to do a complete on that has a restored engine/chassis

So are you saying to leave the engine & tranny out until after it's painted?

I know it really pisses them off, but how the hell are you suppose to paint the bottom after the car is painted? I sure as hell would not want it on a body rotator after a paint job!

Also, do I paint the interior stuff (dash, metal above door panels, pillars, etc.) before or after the paint job?


What about the backside of the fenders? Do you guys just paint that semi-gloss black, or paint the fenders off the car and get body color back there?

I think for avoiding a lot of masking, it would be better to paint all the front clip parts separately?

I know how I would do it, but I'm not as experienced as some of you out there, that's obvious!

I talked it over with my body guy & here's what I did. It basically boils down to what the others have already said.

Let me start by saying that I stripped my car to bare metal and applied epoxy primer to everything. I wanted everything possible to be painted off the car & reassembled later.

1. I fitted all of the sheet metal onto the car & made careful note of shims & hinge adjustements.

2. After fitting the doors, I left the hinges on the car.

3. Removed fenders and "cut in" / "flashed" the inner parts that couldn't be gotten to when assembled. Painter gave me the paint to use.

4. Reassembled complete front clip & re-checked alignment.

5. Body man painted doors, deck lid & hood off car, but left fenders on, then reassembled.

6. Awesome paint job resulted. He did a good job of masking around the inner fenders.

My engine was in & detailed (somewhat). My dash restoration was already done. He did say that he had to take extra care to minimize the overspray, but it happened anyway. Mainly around engine compartment. No big deal to fix.

Good luck.



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Phil Wise
67 SS Convertible
(now on the down slope of the resto curve)
ACES # 834, TC # 231
Photos of a work in progress (http://users.starpower.net/pwise/chevelle)

Hello,

The car looks great! Can someone tell me a little about the E-coating? Cost, etc.? turn around time for hood, fenders, trunk lid etc.? I would like to look into this for my 66 SS chevelle body parts and future restoration.

Dwaine
66SS
A.C.E.S.#4316
T.C.#1131

Try www.ecoatking.com (http://www.ecoatking.com) He's a nice guy, and his prices are close to those who just chemical dip the car.. If I were a bit closer and had some extra cash I'd be there in a flash.. Just mention this site when you talk to him.. Maybe we'll start getting a discount???

That's where I had my stuff done. Jim O'Connor is the guy who owns the place. He does good work. The shipping charges back and forth were as expensive as the stripping & e-coating itself! But it sure saved me a hell of a lot of work.

I got my fenders, doors, trunklid, wiper cowl & a few other things done. I was able to send them all in one crate, to minimize shipping costs.

I'll never sandblast any body panels again that I can send to Jim.

Thanks Guys,

I have sent them an email and will pursue further discussion with them. Thanks again for the feedback.

Dwaine Alberts
66SS
A.C.E.S.#4316
T.C.#1131

ETD66SS, depending on the make model and year, ussually the underside only had overspray from the top side being painted. So, to paint the car with the underside already done, letting the overspray go where it wants is going to give you a correct finish.

I do understand your point, it is a tough call either way. But painting the car with the engine out is not a bad choice, the factory did it that way right?

Wrapping up the dash is not that hard, the undercarrage is darn near impossible to protect.

If you want the perfect way it is to paint it with the front sheet metal off, but the doors and deck lid on, as the factory did.

Then install the inner fenders and radiator support witht newly painted fenders. BUT in the real world of street driven cars, I prefer to paint the jambs, and the underside of the hood. Paint the firewall and inner fenders, and rad support. Assemble the clip and tape off the jams to paint the outside. I tape the jambs in a way that barely leaves an edge and you don't chip the panels or get an ulcer worrying about it.

All of this is done after ALL of the body work and primering has been done. When you paint the out side after assembling the sheet metal, you should be JUST painting it, not "finishing" primer or body work.



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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"