Question on painting entire car...

[redbull396]

I am getting ready to take my 67 Camaro in to have all new front sheet metal installed. Everything from the cab forward is new.
And I'm just asking out of curiosity, is it better to primer and paint the parts individually and install them, or install them and paint the entire car together?
It's not a frame off project, car still has interior.
Let me know what y'all think, haven't talked to my body guy about it yet to see how he wants to do it. Thanks.

[dhutton]

Metallics are more easily painted assembled but it really comes down to painter preference.

Those new parts will likely not just drop on and fit perfectly. Work will be needed and they will need to be assembled before paint regardless of which method.

Don

[redbull396]

Makes sense Don. Wasn't even thinking about the panels needing work to fit properly...hence why I'm not a body man, lol!
The color will be metallic tho, going with 2017 Corvette Watkins glen grey, which is basically a charcoal metallic.
Thanks for the reply.

[jlcustomz]

Probably want to paint your doorjambs , inner fender & under hood areas first, then assemble the outside, align , bodywork & then paint. If you're going for best quality, you would want to do an initial prefit first, as you may want to add filler metal to the fender or door edges or hood edges if needed.

True show quality margins takes repeated fitting efforts, especially with repo parts.

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

I ALWAYS work my car in one piece, fenders, etc. And you body shop needs to work it all together, especially on the 1st gen Camaros. The aftermarket fenders always seem to fit horribly at the upper edge between the top edge of the door and fender. The gap will most definitely have to be welded tighter in some spots, opened in others, etc. Just did this with a 68 Firebird that had the body painted, but no front clip... so I had to make the fenders fit without touching the painted doors. Man was that a P.I.T.A., but I did it.

Bodywork together... yes.
Prime together... no, it doesn't matter.
Paint together on a metallic color... definitely yes, at least for me.

[Shawn01754]

The first thing I did was checked how deep my pockets were. I guess an average of between $5000-$30,000 for a good paint job and then some. There's a lot more then "paint" on our old cars. Sheetmetal, Single stage, 2 stage, pearls...Etc

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

The actual painting "labor" is the easy part, that's a 5 hour deal, and done. It's the months of rust repair, stripping, gap fine tuning, blocking, priming, blocking, priming, blocking, priming leading up to paint that gets costly. Then there's the cutting and buffing to a mirror finish afterwards.

This is why I'm thankful I grew up around people who did bodywork, and worked at a bodyshop. I've easily saved deep into the 6 figures by doing all my own body and paint work.

[redbull396]

^Great info! I'm not entirely sure how my guy goes about doing it, haven't discussed it with him yet. I'm waiting on the green light for him to get the car into him.
Luckily, the cab back on my car is great and rust free. Rockers and couple of seams need massaged a bit, but nothing major according to him. All the front sheet metal is sitting in boxes in my garage, so it'll just be getting the front pieces to fit correctly.

[HotRod47]

For me..... Body work and gapping all gets done together. Primer doesn't matter. But I paint everything in pieces, I hate tape lines on a hot rod. But, I have 25 years of painting and have never had it bite me no matter the color.

[MonzaRacer]

Recommend getting it all fitted up and shimmed and such. Then removed primed and painted on back sides, inside, etc. THEN assemble and finish the paint job, so that edges and inside are all matching.
But thats me.

[65 drop top]

If painting the car assembled, what do you do with the door hinge where it bolts to the body? Do you just paint right over it all? What if you need to readjust the doors after paint?

[HandOverFist]

If painting the car assembled, what do you do with the door hinge where it bolts to the body? Do you just paint right over it all? What if you need to readjust the doors after paint?

Why would you need to do any adjusting if it were right before beginning?

[kush69]

I set the hinges to the body with the doors loaded with the weight of glass ,regulators ,and other parts if not they will sag some .I also drill one 1/8" hole
through the hinge and body and hinge and door when iam happy with the gaps easier to take the doors on and off

[minendrews68]

The actual painting "labor" is the easy part, that's a 5 hour deal, and done. It's the months of rust repair, stripping, gap fine tuning, blocking, priming, blocking, priming, blocking, priming leading up to paint that gets costly. Then there's the cutting and buffing to a mirror finish afterwards.

This is why I'm thankful I grew up around people who did bodywork, and worked at a bodyshop. I've easily saved deep into the 6 figures by doing all my own body and paint work.

I think you may of missed one or two "prime and blocks" in there somewhere...LOL

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

I think you may of missed one or two "prime and blocks" in there somewhere...LOL

Haha, yeah, I think that's the only way to do it right. For as long as I'll have to live with the end result, I want to have no regrets. The other important thing is "time". I've learned to let these things sit and cure. If it takes me a year to let the car sit in primer to make sure the fillers and primers fully shrink and cure, I'm fine with that. These materials WILL shrink, that's a fact. No more start to finish in 4 month bodywork projects for me.