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My panel is completely apart, sandblasted and primed. I'm about to put the body on the frame. Would it be better to paint the doors and fenders seperately and then bolt them on or put it all together and then paint? This is a 54 and the grille is also in pieces, paint seperately or together? As always, thanks

Paint everything you can while it's apart. With all those compound curves, it's pretty much impossible to not get runs. You'll also get better coverage in areas the spraygun can't reach. The grille could be done as an assembly, off the truck. Contrary to what some say, we found it easier to assemble the front "clip" one part at a time rather than attempting to lift the entire clip into place. Just be real careful when you assemble the truck. Depending on the extent of your repairs, you may want to check that all the parts fit back together before final paint, we found that after repairs here and there, a bit of adjustment was required. Did you use epoxy primer?

I would spray all the door jambs, the firewall, the dash, inside hood. Everything you can't get in once it is assembled. Then put it together, fit everything, and paint. You don't want to adjust anything with fresh paint.
my opinion.
Good Luck.

Ted,

My Suburban doors, hood, fenders, and grill were all painted off the truck (grill in pieces). We put it all together without any scratches/chipping.

If you are going to paint the grill to look original, I think it would have to be painted in pieces, in order to paint the inner bars another color. I have put two grills painted in parts back together with no scratching/chipping.

Pre-fit the grill and all parts before painting in pieces off the vehicle.

Of course, the running boards, bumpers, and seat frames were also separately painted (off the truck).
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Cab painting sequence that we used:

Bottom of the cab painted black.

Firewall painted exterior color

2 mil poly sheet placed over the frame/engine and the entire chassis.

Then put the cab/body on the chassis (on top of poly sheet)

Interior cab was painted first, then the inner cab was masked off at the door seams and the exterior color was applied.

Separately-painted parts then installed.

Tim

Thanks for the suggestions, it all sounds good. I used urathane primer. I will probably sand and prime again, and sand again before the top coat.

i like the idea of the poly sheet over the chassis, followed by cab install, followed by cab paint. i was planning on painting the cab while off the frame but was concerned with getting it mounted again without damaging the new paint. the painted underside and firewall shouldn't be affected during the re-install ( i hope ).

did you just trim the poly off after paint leaving the remains under body mounts? ( not familiar with the ad but applying to my '66 )

once i've painted the exterior of the remaining body parts i'm thinking of just brushing on por-15 to the 'interior' road-facing portions to get them black again. i'd spray but masking everything off looks like a pain, spraying por doesn't appear to be all the healthful, and i've had excellent results with brushing it.

after finishing the cab and front sheet metal painting & re-assembly i was going to paint all the bed parts seperately and then re-assemble as a unit and mount to frame.

any hints or things i may be missing?

thanks