The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop on or off?

I am starting to think about having my truck painted, I would like to send in the cab and other parts to be painted while I am working on the frame and engine. My question is,, is it better to have the truck together and have it painted or is it ok to send in the parts.

Thanks in advance

Ed

The advice I have recieved and it is good advice. I took mine apart..did all the work i neede to do (not actually done yet) like new seals,body work on fenders, new bolts ,screws ect..ect..primed..put it back together, then I am going to take it apart and paint piece by piece..I am not close to doing this (finish paint) but that is what i am going to do.

the real show winners do both-paint it in pieces, assemble & paint again to ensure color match etc. Solid colors seem better for painting in pieces, metallics are tougher to match.

Exactly what fleet said..(Solid)Thats what i meant to say..

A friend in the Paint & Body business recommended taking things apart to do a first rate job on body work and paint. Figured as long as I had to strip it down anyway for the motor and running gear rehab, would do as he said. I am pleased with the results - a better job for sure, however, much more labour intensive for the shop = extra $$ for me. I think at the very least I would pull the fenders, running boards, and box.

What i found after taking my rear fenders of is this...Someone sprayed under coater..you remeber them days when everyone was getting the Miracle under coater deal! Well when these fly buy night under coater salesmen were haveing this undercoater applied not much profesionalism was going on, most of them would take the hose and blindly shoot this product with out looking,and made everthing a mess.So when i took my rear fenders off..the only place that was rusted was were they under coated,..a perfect half moon of rust and under coater.Now i am using 60 grit to sand off the what i call Asphalt...same with my inner fenders to cowl..its a mess. The product is much better now,I am under coating all my fenders now while they are off, but I am sanding them down to bare metal ,,priming 2 coates,then useing 3-m under coat 2 coats.

I have found that undercoating as well. The stuff that looks like road tar comes off fairly easy with a heat gun, turns it into a liquid pretty quick and just scrape, I have not tried to sand after that yet but expect a mess anyway.
Thanks for the replies, I am still torn on the issue that it is apart now and would be much easier to put it back together after the engine, brake lines and just about everything else is installed before the body is on. I am not looking for a show stopper but do want it to look nice. Although if in the process I did win something that would be nice also.

Ed