The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Assemble or keep apart for paint?

As I get ever closer to painting my 53 I am kind of unsure of how to prepare for paint. I have not decided on a specific paint place to paint it yet or if I am going to attempt to paint it myself. Right now, the cab is on the frame, the front fenders and hood are attached, the interior is done (relatively), but the box is in pieces. Should I assemble the box? Should I take the front metal off? If you paint it separate, how do you keep good when you are trying to assemble it? What did you guys do? What are the beneits and problems of each way? How do you prep it for paint? Thanks soo Much!!!

truly it really maters on what kind of paint your gonna be using. any metalics, pearls, yellow or red you really want to paint it assembled so that everything flowes together. and matches up.

I would recommend that you paint all the flanges and other out-of-sight areas that will be hidden when the truck is finally assembled. That means where your bed pieces meet, your inner/outer fender flanges, everything. Then, put your truck back together and shoot the truck as an assembly. (However, if you are going to use visible fender welt, you may not want to do it that way.)

This is just my opinion and it can be done both ways. It depends on your ultimate plans for the truck and your skill/comfort/confidence level.

As far as prepping for paint - that is kind of a loaded question. If all your priming is done, and all of your finish/wet sanding is done, then I would recommend that you wash your truck at least twice in a row, top to bottom with clear water.

Follow up by "washing" the whole truck with a high-quality degreasing agent - the one recommended by your paint shop - to remove every bit of dirt and even the body oil left from your finger tips. Next, tack cloth the truck several times, the last about 5 minutes or less before you begin to shoot your paint. Then - go for it!

That's the basic prep routine I was taught. But lots of the guys here know a lot more than I do! See what they have to add (or contradict) before you get rolling.

Thanks Dusty and Kim! That gives me a bit of an idea of what I should do. The plan was for a canary yellow. I guess I should work on lining up the front panels prefectly for a start. Decide on a painter, and go from there. Thanks

In my opinion every piece should be painted separtely, then assembled. If you assemble first you have a greater chance of overspray, getting paint in seams where there shouldn't be, and if you put in welts, they to will be covered with paint when they didn't come that way. You just have to be careful when you put it together. I got a few dings but I touched them up afterwards and no one can see them. Cecil.......

well when I say assembled, I dont mean that you have to have bolts tight and everything perfectly lined up but you should have them atleast mounted close. kim is correct paint the out of sight areas. I would also paint any undersides inner cab and jams.The only hard part is you have to learn how to mask so that you dont have hard lines. its like anything it just take practice........

Painted separately, the parts take up a whole lot more room while they are waiting to go back together. Fenders in the family room?
http://www.chuckthetruck.homestead.com/page7.html

haha chuck, I dont think my Mother would be to pleased . My interior and my jams are already painted (black). Can I leave the front end assembled and just paint the box apart? or are the parts that should be painted apart on the front? Thanks for all the replies!!

It's easier to paint a truck piecemeal. As long as you mix your paint properly and use the same paint for all the parts, it is unlikely that there will be a match problem. If however you need to shoot some areas of it again after assembly, it's no big deal.

fit twice paint once

hmm...yeah i'm kind of split on the issue then, seems you are to. Well I count 4-3 for painted assembled. Keep them coming and maybe we can settle on something . Thanks much!

Well, I'm painting one or two pieces at a time. When I get one peice done and mounted, I go out to the trailer where all the rusty, dirty, crapy parts are, and drag another to the garage.
Then the process starts over.
I'm with Cecil, I will touch-up later...
my 2cents.

My son-in-law runs the body shop for the Fresno city busses, about 120 units run daily, he paints all of them. His recommendation is to paint in pieces, then put it together and give it the final coat. He does some of the best custom paint jobs ever and this is his method. My '32 Chev. pickup will get that treatment when paint time comes (maybe next year).

Well I'm not to sure what to do then. Except it is decided, I am painting it myself, so it is up to me.

ArticCat, this is how I did mine... I disassembled the truck, sandblasted the parts, as I did this I took them to the paint and body shop (ASAP) and he put a sealer on them to prevent rust. He did what ever body work was needed and primed. We then assembled the truck to make sure everything was aligned properly. We then took it apart, he painted all the parts and we put it back together. It worked out just fine.

Chevman32,

I like what your son-in-law does however how would he handle 2 stage paint, where you paint the base coat then the clear?