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PAINT TOGETHER OR APART

XMAN JR

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Location
Milton PA.
Ive done many paint jobs. The cars were always together. I am doing body & paint on a 68 coronet. Its on rotisserie. I have never painted a car on one. I feel I would get a better job painting it apart. Its GG1 racing green. The clear doesn't concern me but the base does. Just want to make sure it all matches. Also I am painting the bottom side. Here is my plan- put the car all together make sure its all nice & straight & all the panels line up. Spray the base on with the car all together then tear it all apart to spray the clear. Putting it all together does not concern me. Any thoughts ?
 
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I paint almost everything apart....... the silvers and golds are the ones that can give you problems
 
My buddy has a body shop in Pa and panel paints everything for over 30 years. He did my 65 and my 63.
My guess would be the key is to have the right mix ready for all the parts
I do know they test spray paint paddles first for match.They color and clear apart.
 
We paint everything apart at the shop I work at. When the paint comes in, the painter will pour all of the gallons of paint in one large container and mix it up, then pour it back onto the gallon cans just to ensure that all of the paint is exactly the same. Then when he paints the panels he sets them up in the position that they would be on the car. Solids or metallics we've never had an issue with matching...
 
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I would base it together. My last project I can see a very small difference in the sun and on the flop with dark blue metallic. Hood and deck lid were panel painted.
 
If one is just doing a re-spray of the same color I would leave it together. If it is on a rotisserie, where you have done a ton of work to the jambs, etc., I would spray apart just like dadsbee has done. I am about to do the same thing on a 73 RR and I will spray it apart and mix the paint as RT68440 posted earlier. If it is metallic, hang the panels as they hang on the car; if not, you don't need to worry about the orientation. I still hang hoods and other large pieces vertical just to keep the dust off and so I am not reaching across the panel. Bad things tend to happen when you are reaching.
 
Sorry I don't have any pictures of the spray day for my GTX. It was 2001 and cameras were the last thing on my mind that day. My car was basically done apart for the main body, and then together for the final outer base and clear. :)

Underneath was already shot with Wurth Body Shutz stone-chip protector, and then "Matt clear coated" to seal the look and make cleaning underneath the car much easier. The areas with the Body Shutz that needed colour were also shot that way - with a Matt Clear coat on top. may sound unconventional, but it suited the purpose, and it was a great end result.

Next, the interior floor pan and inside of trunk area & inners of the front fenders were base and matt clear coated - right up to the back seat area, and under the dash etc.

Once that was all cured, the car went back into the booth for another round of base coats. This time all the door jamb areas, trunk finish panel and engine bay, inside of the doors, front valance panel, trunk lid and hood - all base coated and finished with a Two-pack clear coat. This meant that we had a gun finish with no need for buffing or sanding afterwards. It also allowed for those areas to stay clean for many years after.

Final stage was to hang the doors, trunk lid and hood, valance panel...basically all bolted together as a complete car, and then it was masked up - including back-masking of the finish lines up to the previously done clear coat lines. Then we spent an entire day spraying the base and Dulon clear coats in the booth. A long day, but well worth the effort. next day, the car was removed from the oven, and unmasked. Honestly, you couldn't tell where the Dulon and Two-pack clears met up. The definition was great.

After approximately 5 months, the sanding, cutting & polishing took place on the Dulon clear coat. It already looked great, but after my painter Rodney had worked his magic....the car was unbelievable. You could read a newspaper in the reflections from 5 feet away.

Needless to say, the car was awarded Best Paint at the Muscle car show not long after in 2002, and again in 2005, and again in 2008. I stopped entering the car shows after that to give others a chance. :D
The first outing for the freshly finished car was in Feb 2002, where it took out 3rd in the Masters Class at the Concours D'Elegance here. A feat never before achieved by anything American or Muscle. Started a trend in following years....:rolleyes: That show I scored one point less than the highest paint score given in the day - and that car was a Brand new Porsche Boxster that had a big branch of a tree fall on it earlier in the judging rounds....so a bullshit call really. The Concours Judges were brutal on my GTX, and were determined to find faults. I basically lost the win by 13 points.....and all of those were 'age' points.

To this day, the paint on that GTX is still like it was done yesterday, thanks to my friend Rodney and his experience and skill. :lowdown::lowdown::lowdown:

Photo courtesy NZV8 magazine 2002....
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Taken late last year.....
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I'm currently doing my first all apart paint job and having to do them on separate days do to space restrictions. So far on assembly it's looking good.
 
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