Hello folks!

I’m in the planning phase of painting my teener.

The car is very original but it has a dull non original top coat (silver),
hence I’m contemplating how far I shall disassemble the car.

I’m planning to go down to bare metal for the new paint. However, the
inside of the body, trunk’s inside and door seals have great looking original
paint that I want to preserve.

What’s the forums experience/verdict?

Paint assembled or build stands for the doors and remove trunks to
paint them off the body?

Thanks!

PS: i do plan on removing the windshield.

Ideally . . . . It it were me I'd go to bare metal everywhere.

Eliminates the possibility of having rust below old paint and it also ensures that there are no compatibility issues between paints.

Also it is highly unlikely you'll get a match in color between exterior and the trunks, door jambs, etc. And if you can't see the paint to worry about the match, then why worry about keeping original.

Just my opinion - worth what you paid for it. Satisfaction guaranteed or double your money back.

Work with your paint guy. Ultimately he is the expert.

In the spirit of forums everywhere, I'll give the opposite advice of Superhawk

I just painted my 76 back the original Magala Red. It is a SoCal one owner car, always garaged, zero rust or even a hint of rust anywhere including the hell hole and battery tray. The jambs and inside trunks were very nice.

I did the body work, the high build primer coats, and all the sanding including the final sand prior to sealer and color. The car was pretty well disassembled. Windshield and rear window glass were left in, but that's about it. Doors disassembled, rockers, all trim, lights, headlight doors, etc.

The hood, rear trunk lid, engine lid, and headlight doors were painted off the car, There is no way (IMHO) that you can get around the three big panels and still keep the gun the same distance from the surface without removing them from the car. No need to build stands. Use sawhorses.

Here's a video of my buddy Paul applying the sealer and color...

Painting the 914

This is a single stage paint.

I see no reason to go to bare metal (IMHO) if the car is in original paint ONLY and if it is in good condition other than fading. It's like having one more primer coat to block out. If you find some problems when you block out the original, take those sections to bare metal. There will be no problem with paint compatibility since you will be applying multiple coats of catalyzed high build primer and a coat of sealer prior to color.

Here's the finished product cut and buffed and reassembled...



Here are the jambs and frunk in original paint compared to the respray...





Take your time to have your paint supplier carefully match the paint you are going to apply to the body with the jambs or other areas that the sun hasn't weathered.

Very Nice! If you want some more paint work ring me up ~

It will never completely match unless you go all the way down, all over. Then the cost goes up and the number of items replaced grows annoyingly large.

A full exterior respray sounds like it might be enough for your purposes.

never paint anything but the exterior of the car when the under hoods and door jambs are clean original paint NEVER

careful exterior strip, careful tape off carful media blast then refinish base coat clear coat with sikkens or glasurit paint

Never is pretty absolute. I’m open to learning. Why never?

Well maybe not never but it's less expensive, less disassembly, "better" to show original paint, ect. Original paint is still going to adhere the best so unless it's rusty, it's better not to take down to bare metal.

Fair enough points but those sound a more cost driven and that is fair for those on a budget. I guess that is why I hedged with “Ideally”.

In my experience I have seen too many overspray jobs with visible color mismatch and tape lines. Just look at the numerous photos on this site of VIN tags, chassis tags that bear witness to either inability or the sheer difficulty of masking. I’ve painted several cars and motorcycles and always found the end quality to be better when taken to metal. Maybe that says more about my lack of skill as a painter and tape masker. That’s a fair criticism.

I thought the logic would be factory paint is oven baked - yadda, yadda.

Painting bare metal is no harder than over other paint in my limited experience. I did a 64’ Honda Dream back in mid 90’s with 2K paint over bare metal. Still has gloss like the paint was done last week.

Is resale any better with OEM paint in trunks? I honestly don’t know but I do know I wouldn’t pay extra for it.

It's interesting. Doing a bare to the metal full restoration with absolutely everything stripped from the tub and I still wound up spraying the interior and exterior separately. From watching other threads, seems this is pretty normal. Actually, it's really three separate paint jobs sort of: interior, exterior, bottom. That would be a strong argument for just doing the exterior if the interior paint is in good shape. Don't be lazy though, pull the fresh air box and wiper assembly and mask well.

It isn't mandatory that you do a sloppy job. .

Another reason to remove the trunk lids is that you can cleanly tape off the body at a place that will be covered by the rubber seal.

Masking isn't easy and takes time. It takes me (an amateur) 8 hours to mask a car for sealer/color. If you short cut this step you will not be happy with the results.

The respray color can match the jambs perfectly. Body shops and paint supply stores do it multiple times daily.



Another good reason NOT to paint the jambs, etc. if the paint is good in those areas. All the original, stickers, labels, number plates look great against the original finish. They can be masked off, but it is a PITA. Worse (IMHO) is to replace them with repops.

Thanks, but....It's a lot of work to prep and paint a car, a lot of time, and I'm slow. If it wasn't MY car I would never have the motivation to do it.

I've seen some tastefully creative masking that made an exterior repaint not realy noticeable.

I'd agree with George on this, as long as you don't have rusty areas that need paint removal in the secondary areas.

Thanks for all the constructive inputs, much appreciated!
I’ll make sure to post some progress pictures once ready.

My answer is simple -
Rust really crappy paint - strip and paint complete section
Oxidation just a few scratches - buff and keep the patina

The trunks are where most of this comes into play

Just my .02

too many factors to say one or the other, but I disagree that you should always go back to bare metal and here is why as it was explained by my painter/body guy with 40 years experience restoring and painting old cars---- the best base for you to bond new paint to is the original primer UNLESS there is rust in an area, that's different. but think about it, this makes sense. once you expose that metal, you just opened up a can of worms. Time will tell but this is what we did to my car- I also agree with George that if the trunks and interior are in good shape don't paint just to paint, keep them original if you can. this also saves a ton on your total restoration cost.
some cars you may have no choice and the best thing is to go all the way especially if you have had a lot of rust to cut out and replace. I will see how mine holds up over time but right now only 2 years in, no bubbling or blistering or peeling. we are looking good! Now I also found myself replacing almost every screw bolt trim seal part etc in the process. I have the original dash face and lower knee pad as they are original and in great shape. While my car is not perfect or the best I think its probably in the top 10% at this point, so I am pleased with decisions I made during the process. if you have deep pockets and you want a full restoration and someone that can handle doing the proper job if you strip it all the way, well then do it, especially ifyou are changing colors. look and Cairo(Michael's) car he went all the way but it had so much repair and replacement and he changed color, it was the right way to go for him - good luck on your journey, enjoy it and don't rush it, just do it right and don't cut corners.

Really depends on the condition of the body.
This is how far my car was stripped..... Soda Blasted, a few years ago.
Didn't go crazy with the blasting.
I had my car painted once in the early 80's but the body was in pretty good shape.

Click to view attachment

I blasted all the way to bare metal but then I painted every square inch of metal on the car along with repairing a huge amount of rust damage.
I would think modern primers and paints are much better than those of 40+ years ago for adhesion and durability but I'm not an expert in the matter.
If I wasn't repairing rust or painting the trunks, I would just go to primer

Found a competent and trustworthy body/paint shop around the corner.

Of he goes for some new paint.

Doors and hoods will be painted off the body and
yes, after long discussion with my painter, I agreed
to have the door jamb painted as well.

Hence, I’ll be ordering stickers from Poland soon.

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PS: went down to bare metal to be positively surprised and
greeted by rust free metal!

...Click to view attachment

Nice looking metal.

More good news!

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A beautiful sight indeed.

And we are progressing:
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What’s the group’s take in finishing or seam “sealing”
the inside of the sail?

Thanks!!

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I do not recall that ever being seam sealed.

And we are moving along!

I’m sure most of the forum can appreciate my excitement,
to see this picture, after 10 years in the works.

Next step is the clear coat......

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Big day, congratulations!

Absolutely stunning. Once the clear coat is on it is going to look like glass. Very big milestone indeed.

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Best Friday in a long time!!


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One more before assembly:

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Just catching up on this. Woo Freakin' Hoo!!!

And the BEST color too!!!

L97A kicks ass! Also much faster than speed yellow!

never paint the jambs, behind the bumpers, under the rockers, inside the door ends and bottoms, nor under the trunks unless the car is a disaster. In your case having such a nice original paint silver car, you could even paint up to the windshield clips and avoid removing the windshield. You will have to remove the deck lids, stripping the engine lid of its parts, remove the headlight covers and eyebrows, painting them separately, then remove the bumpers windshield trim roll bar trim bumpers, rocker panels, wiper arms and bolts, fender to cowl seals side markers front turn signals rear tail lights, tape off all wire ends, pull out the ski rack buckets in the front windshield frameblock off the fresh air intake vent, remove the front and rear trunk seals, the squeeges and vent window seals, windshield top seal, and carefully strip the exterior paint on the doors fenders and quarters of the body and then very carefully mask off everything. DO NOT paint inside the roll bar as I am sure that that paint is fine, and only tape into the rear quarter seam at the edge of the door jamb.
Taping of correctly and thoroughly is the key to avoid overspray (for example removing the exterior door latches but not covering the interior mechanism, or taping off the squeege gutter, not stuffing paper in the door jambs when spraying the doors etc. sand and sand and block and block then glasurit base coat clear coat

quote name='draganc' date='Aug 4 2019, 01:05 PM' post='2735412']
Hello folks!

I’m in the planning phase of painting my teener.

The car is very original but it has a dull non original top coat (silver),
hence I’m contemplating how far I shall disassemble the car.

I’m planning to go down to bare metal for the new paint. However, the
inside of the body, trunk’s inside and door seals have great looking original
paint that I want to preserve.

What’s the forums experience/verdict?

Paint assembled or build stands for the doors and remove trunks to
paint them off the body?

Thanks!

PS: i do plan on removing the windshield.
[/quote]

Now, after the car is painted, I will have to respectfully disagree with the Dr!

If you can get a QUALITY paint job, document the pre-status and paint the
complete outside incl the door jambs.

I can not imagine how a “perfect” outside job with old weathered jambs could look any good. My 2 cents of the story.

PS: before the car was done, I would have agreed 90% with the Doc.