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Should I paint outside or engine bay/inside first?
My 69 body is getting closer to paint.
We keep going back and forth over which to paint first, the outside body, which will be white, or the engine bay and bottom, which will be black. The key is masking and overspray, especially in the headlight area.
No practical experience however I have read a TON of threads about it here on this forum as I will be doing it myself in the future. As far as I can recall, everyone painted the engine bay first and the body last.
No practical experience however I have read a TON of threads about it here on this forum as I will be doing it myself in the future. As far as I can recall, everyone painted the engine bay first and the body last.
Agreed ... its much easier to mask off engine bay - just run tape under rain rails ... for factory correct though - it was done engine blackout last
Hi Glenn,
St.Louis did the body color first and THEN the black out.
Things are a bit different now.
I think it's a good do all the paint prep first… both the exterior and the engine bay.
Then paint the engine bay, protect it well with paper/plastic, and paint the exterior.
You may need to go back and do some touch-up on the black, but it should be minimal.
If the engine and interior are out of the car, I'd suggest doing the black-out in the engine compartment and wheel wells, first. Getting some overspray from the body into the engine bay is easier to fix than going the other way around. The next question is whether you want to install the drivetrain before doing body paint; but folks have gone both ways successfully. The only concern is damage to new body paint while working to install the 'hardware'. Your call...
Interior parts should be the last items to install. Again, overspray is not an issue on the inside...unless the interior is complete.
I should have stated that the car body is off the car on an "Alan type" dolly and will be painted on the dolly. Everything is off of it.
The big areas of concern was the nose headlight holes. Lots of holes. Richard, my body and paint guy, said on the one hand, he could color sand any overspray off the body color, but some places (like the lights area) might be tough touching up.
Richard is a perfectionist and just had a car displayed at SEMA.
That said, this is not a restoration so I am not going for originality, ie factory overspray
Last edited by gleninsandiego; 11-12-2017 at 09:46 PM.
I helped a mate put a freshly painted coupe back on his chassis , it was a nerve wracking experience ,took several hours of checking and rechecking to lower it down the last few feet .Including a lunch break
hoist made it easy , I personally wouldn't do it like that for my car .
When I did my 77 I painted the engine bay (gloss black) the underneath ,including wheel arches , interior floor .Then put body back on frame , then engine went back in and then car was made running. Basically still a bare body (no other body colour parts put back on )sat on the floor but car was drivable so painter could move it around his shop area.
This is my 77 after driving it on my trailer at the paint shop and getting it home ,
My main worry ,with my car , was leaning into the engine bay while connecting the motor back up , I was still careful but leaning over paint that's going to get sanded off isn't as worrying as a nice new fresh paint job.
I also made clear instructions to painter that NO overspray would be tolerated (under penalty of death !) he did a great job!
The big areas of concern was the nose headlight holes. Lots of holes. My painter said on the one hand, he could color sand any overspray off the body color, but some places (like the lights area) might be tough touching up.
My painter is a perfectionist and just had a car displayed at SEMA.
[QUOTE]
both those cars in my post got paint from the same guy ,extra masking didn't seem to be an issue for him , just some extra time .
On the red car he painted all of it as the owner is not to hands on , he did the engine bay/nose area first , then the red , then the owner got him to paint underneath. Now despite all the owners efforts of protection while putting it back together , the top of the guards show marks which will probably buff out .
How are you going to handle the door gaps when the car is on a dolly painted. What if you have to make any adjustments to get the door gaps correct, bumpers etc. Most of that stuff should be done with the car on the frame with tires on. Paint the engine bay first and mask off for body. Aren't you glad you asked. The forum will give you a ton of different answers. I think you have already made your decision!
I'm doing a body on restore of my '80. I painted the frame as much as I could and painted the engine bay when the engine was out. I've done all my body work and recently removed and reinstalled my doors a few times checking gaps one (or two) last times and making sure I thought I could get the doors back on without messing up new paint.
The doors are off now and my next step is priming/sanding the car myself. Then I will paint the door interiors and jams. I will then install my doors for the last time before bringing the car to my paint guy who lives just 2 miles away. The plan is to get 2 buddies to sandwich me (no comments) and drive the car there with no exterior lights for him to spray the car. I'll bring the car home for final assembly and interior.
I believe I can paint the inside doors and jams well enough myself. I painted my last project (the '79 Z-28 above) myself (and 1st attempt at painting a car). It turned out well but took several tries and I ended up buying more materials and sandpaper.
This time my wife said let a pro do it right the 1st time.
Let me re-phrase your question of: which is better, to which is worse?
One little tiny speck of white paint in the black engine bay?
Or one huge, ugly, very obvious drop of black paint on your freshly painted, expensive and labor intensive body?
IF you painted the engine compartment black...and then masked it off for the paint job..there still is a chance that some white overspray can taint the black... and this...needs to be touched up....depending on how bad it is...or if you care.
Knowing that if it is done this way..the fender vents will need to be masked off...which is not that big of a deal but that in itself can be a problem IF the inside of the fender where it is going to be painted black is not correct prepped and so on so when the painter goes in and pulls off the masking tape...it does not pull off what was previously applied.
Painting the car white and then painting the engine compartment black...the painter is correct. IF he is going to sand and buff your paint job. Any black overspray that gets on it will be sanded off. And I am sure that if you choose to paint the black AFTER the car is painted white. I bet that the painter will let the paint cure for few days...and thus it will not be that impressionable due to I am sure you are going to use a clear coat...and with that....if any drips get on it...which I doubt due to your painter will be using masking paper. If it did get a drip of black paint on it...it would wipe right off and knowing that you are going to sand and buff it....it would not matter.
I hope all goes well for you and that you have taken into account many variables that can come back and haunt you when you set the body back down and get panels to align. I know it always boils down to what the owner envisions and is willing to accept. And I hope that the last photo that you posted in post #6. Your 'SEMA painter guy' has not gotten to the hinge post area yet. And he is not going to leave or paint over rust where your door hinge shims went.
DUB makes all the exact points Richard, my SEMA body and paint guy, makes. Especially about masking tape pulling off paint that went to places that were not meticulously sanded.
And indeed, the interior and door jams have not been touched yet. I am helping in that area and that is my goal on Monday. The underside and engine bay have already been done
There is also some minor rust repair on the A pilars.
Ultimately, after sanding the interior and door jams are done, it will be hit with epoxy primer. Then we are going to spray Lizard Skin, on the interior for one layer of heat block.
As far a the door gaps, those were attended to before we pulled the body. I realize the risk of body flex after we put it back on the frame
Thanks for all the input.
Very helpful
Glenn in San Diego
Last edited by gleninsandiego; 11-12-2017 at 09:44 PM.
GLAD to read that the hinge posts have not been fully addressed as of yet. And that you door gaps have also been taken care of.
Also...not that this matters...because I never doubted his skill level and attention to detail...but it is good to know that Richard and myself both acknowledge the pitfalls when applying tape on a surface that has been painted on and not correctly prepped.
11-09-2017, 02:40 PM
Should I paint outside or engine bay/inside first?
