Restoration "order"

[racerxlilbro]

Just looking for a little feedback - forgive me if this is a FAQ.

But, I have a 1965 that belonged to my grandfather. It has sat in my garage for a long time, in desperate need of attention. About four years ago, I rebuilt the engine myself, and had the c4 gone through. I've regained my interest in the car, and have purchased a Wilwood FDB kit, ProMotorsports Negative wedge kit, and some new leafs.

My question is, if the car needs paint, does it make sense to do that last? Originally, my plan was to have the car mechanically perfect, then work on cosmetics. But, I'm wondering if that makes sense. Then again, does it make sense to worry about a beautiful new paintjob when installing new parts?????

Anyway, thanks for any advice!

 

[Burgundystang]

I am also restoring a mustang with a less than satisfactory paint job and I have decided to do the painting last. This way not only do i get the most important stuff done first but also i wont have to worry as much about scratching the paint while working on it. Not sure if you garage is as tight as mine is but for me this is definately a consern. Although this just seems like a little bit of a difference (and it is) I see no good reason to paint first and work later. Maybe im wrong about that though.... Anyways, Good luck.

 

[jikelly]

I see no good reason to paint first and work later. Maybe im wrong about that though.... Anyways, Good luck.

I agree and my stang shows it. I have almost done everything that I intended to do for my restoration. Paint is one of the most expensive and if you do it yourself time comsuming things to redo on a car. I am finishing up my interior and a few minor add ons to my drivetrain now and plan to try to paint my stang this summer. A garage would be nice to have for the job but hey you have to work with what you have.

 

[DarkBuddha]

Actually, most conventional wisdom says do paint and body first. There are a couple really good reasons, especially if you're concerned about doing a really decent quality job.

First, doing paint and bodywork first prevents sanding/bondo dust and overspray from getting all over your recently rebuilt suspension, motor, transmission, brake lines, rear end, etc. Imagine how proud you might be after doing an amazing job of detailing your engine bay and front suspension, and then you go and do the bodywork and suddenly there is primer overspray on everything and eventually a color coat tint to everything. You'd be frustrated and agravated... Oh, and you'll say "that's BS, 'cause I'll be extra careful and tape and mask everything off", 'cause I know I did... Trust a long history of people with experience (including me now), there is absolutely no way to avoid it.

Second, typically most folks end up farming out at least some of the body & paint work, whether its rust repair, floorboard/torque box repair, or the actual body or paint work. If you're do paint and body stuff first, this actually gives you time (and space) for which to work on other stuff, like rebuilding the engine and tranny, suspension, steering components, rearend, a/c, reupholstering seats, etc. This actually minimizes the amount of down-time the car (and you) suffers.

Third, paint and body work is expensive, and this can catch folks offguard. Knowing the amount of outlay necessary to bring the body up to standards will often help folks decide if: A) they can afford to do the project at all, or B) how much they'll have left to do the rest of the car (i.e. "Can I really afford that nice supercharger if both quarters have to be replaced?" If ya gotta ask... )

Finally, often doing the paint and body first serves as a way to stay motivated... if the car looks good (rather than a rusted multi-colored eye sore), then it can keep you inspired to keep working during the crappy frustrating stuff.

I tried to (and did) do the body and paint first on my car, but due to paint shop screwing up, the car had to go back in. We tried damn hard to mask all the pretty new and rebuilt parts, but alas, overspray still got on stuff, including the top of the tranny bellhousing. That just shows how atomized the paint is... it essentially floats on the air until it lands somewhere, usually annoyingly where you don't want it.

So, to answer your first question, if you want a good job, do the paint and body first. If you're less concerned (or outright don't care) about overspray and dust and stuff, then go right ahead and wait. You can do stuff to minimize the amount and location of overspray, but it will get in there. And trust me, it sucks to undo and redo stuff because paint got on it (like a damn headliner ).

Hope this helps...

 

[oboebrian]

i say this from my experiance with my 72, have most of your parts around if you doing t5 or engine swaps before body paint. If you're just keeping things stock then disregard the next sentance. Fab everything that is major (drivetrain etc) up first to make sure you don't have to cut or pound things, and to make sur eyou know the order of assembly. Then strip everything back down and do the body & Paint. I'm making sure the body and paint are done relatively first before reinstalling the drivetrain. If you get everythign done and finally mounted in the car you'll really want to go out and start driving it and tend not to finish the project. (believe me it was hard to put the 72 back down enought to paint). Painting is a long process especially if you do it yourself. So in summary, get all your major pieces there and fab everything up to make sure everythign fits as it should. Then the first major part is body and paint. While your doing that you could have the engine rebuilt etc.

 

[racerxlilbro]

Thanks for the feedback. It really helps!

I have a feeling what will happen is I'll get the thing all together, and then take it all apart for paint.

 

[John Z]

I'm in favor of getting the body work done to the primer stage before the mechanical work. Then get the drivetrain, electricals, etc. in order before the final paint. My experience on this is I lost all warrenties on mechanical parts while getting the body work done. Remember bodyshop time on a restoration is like the inverse of dog lives, two weeks of body shop time is roughly equivalent to 4 months of calander time.

 

[GaPonyFarm]

For what its worth...
I totally disassembled my '66 coupe. I then sandblasted the bottom, replaced a floor pan, and primed/painted. I did the same to the inside of my fenders, fenderwells, and engine compartment. Although I replaced the springs, linkage, etc, I just cleaned off the old parts and sent the rolling chassis to the body shop. While it was gone, I did all the engine work and reupholstered the seats. Once the body shop was finished, I installed the new headliner, reinstalled all the glass, installed the new springs, suspension, and steering, installed a totally new drivetrain, I finished up with the interior and exterior chrome. Lastly, I returned to the body shop for touchup (arranged at beginning of paint project). Only 2 tiny nicks... and a fine tune of the hood alignment.

I had virtually no double work and got tons of work done while the car was gone for paint, so very little time wasted. The only thing I really had to do twice was repaint the bottom of the car where the got some overspray, and wash every inch of the interior, bottom, and engine compartment, due to the dust.

You probably won't go through the extremes that I did, but the general order of things might help you along.

 

[bartman]

My experience (3 restorations) says do the paint first. The overspray will cover your new interior and beautiful engine compartment no matter how hard you try to protect it. The overspray can be very hard if not impossible to clean off. I use old quilts to cover my freshly painted inner and outer fenders. Thats my two cents anyway.
bartman

 

[racerxlilbro]

Hmm, now I'm wondering how to move the car around if it's completely disassembled. For instance, let's say I get the car mechanically sound, and then begin to disassemble it to prep for paint. I would remove the interior, disassemble the suspension, possibly remove the drivetrain...

How did you guys get the car to the body shop?

 

[DarkBuddha]

This is a tough question... We stripped the car as much as possible while keeping the car "drivable". This meant we removed all the chrome, interior (including the entire dash assembly), weatherstipping, non essential wiring, lighting, etc. This left the drivetrain, suspension, and the steering wheel. We bolted a seat in it to drive it to the shop.

This slightly undermines one of the reasons for doing paint first (not getting dust/overspray all over the engine, suspension,etc.), but we knew we would either be replacing most of that stuff, or removing it to be rebuilt. This was not a problem as we were just very careful when removing and installing stuff. Like pulling the engine and tranny (which had already been rebuilt)... all the front sheet metal was removed so none of it could be damaged. The suspension was mostly new components, so it was a simple matter of unbolting and replacing. And it did still give us time (about 2 weeks) to do lots of other stuff like rebuilding the heat & a/c system, detailing trim, purchasing parts, etc...

As I said before, this method would have worked quite well, if the paint shop hadn't screwed up my brand new quarter panel, which we didn't realize until we were bolting the endcaps on. But that is another story entirely...

 

[GaPonyFarm]

Hmm, now I'm wondering how to move the car around if it's completely disassembled. For instance, let's say I get the car mechanically sound, and then begin to disassemble it to prep for paint. I would remove the interior, disassemble the suspension, possibly remove the drivetrain...

How did you guys get the car to the body shop?

I have a car hauler, but you could either use a rollback wrecker or rent some tow dollies. You would need to keep the suspension intact, but the glass, interior, engine, and tranny can all be removed... you just need to be able to roll the car.

 

[racerxlilbro]

I guess I'm wondering if there's a way to move the car if it's completely stripped. I remember seeing a rotisserie for cars once in a Porsche resto shop...and I've seen dollies for cars on their wheels...

Great feedback, everyone. Thanks for the input.