I've spent the past few years reading all I can to get ready for paintig this 1969 Charger by reading and researching, but still have some questions on sequence.

The car is completely stripped down and on a rotisserie. I am using PPG products only and will paint the exterior in base coat/clear coat.
I am thinking about using a PPG single coat for the under carriage, interior, trunk and engine compartment for simplicity. Is this a good idea or am I missing something?

What about the underside of the hood, trunk and door jams? Is it ok to do this in single stage and the exterior in base/clear? I am shooting the above in my garage and the exterior will be painted in a rented paint booth by I more competent painter. I have to have the car ready so that at the paint booth, all we have to do is paint the exterior. Well, I'm sure we could do door jams and trink jams but the hood and trunk have to be installed. I want to do as much as I can ahead of time so that we can focus on the exterior when it is time.

I could go on with questios but will stop here. I appreciate any feedback!

Thanks,
CAC

there may be some excellent painters on this site but since its an all Mopar site & not paint specific I'd pose the question at the links below.

ON the SPI site theres a link titled "perfect paint job", worth a read. Lots of great info on both these sites,keep reading!

My .02 cents - epoxy the undercarriage, you can color it if you want after that or coat w/undercoating (bedliner, lizard skin, etc...) good luck on the paint job.

http://www.spiuserforum.com/forum.php
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

I don't know what the "idea" is to paint the car with single stage here and there, BC/CC on the mainbody, etc, etc,....paint everything with the SAME paint you intend to use period....


Seeing that the car is being jambed at one location, and shipped out for the overall finish,...which is fine, some prefer it that way...


I would recommend you paint the undercarriage in the manner you prefer, along with the engine compartment, door jambs, trunk jambs,...whether you decide to paint the underside of the hood, trunk lid, door backside with these panels off. is your call, reassembly usual results in paint damage, but it can be done, hopefully when you body preped the car all panels were hung and tweaked for alignment as well as block sanded as an assembled complete car, later disassembly/re-assembly is fine for complete coverage during jambing,...however the car going to the painter for just the final finish should be assembled, meaning doors, trunk, hood, valances, etc that are going to be body color, once at the "painter" all the painted jambs should be sealed with apperture foam tape/and/or back taped with masking tape to create a soft blend line between the pre painted jambs and the freshly painted body, note if you jamb the car, all your jamb "lines" of paint should be soft from using a back taping procedure, don't just spray a jamb, or panel backside without creating a soft blend edge, because a sloppy jamb line will show itself later,....the car being jambed should be in it's final base prep coat of primer or sealer, jambing and final paint should be all that being applied to the body, all final sanding, sealing, priming MUST be done before jambing, jambing and primary paint should be your last steps,...all body bolts should be installed that are intended to be body color, anything not being painted body color should not be on the car, I'm amazed at the people that go to extremes jambing a car, only to finish paint it with detailed accessory, or driveline installed, suspension, etc....doesn't make sense, plus leads to a lot of clean up, or a poor looking finish/assembly afterwards...

if the undercarriage is going to retain a showcar finish, vs a factory oversprayed resto finish, tape and paper off the undercarriage, as well as the engine compartment, underside of hood/trunk, along with apperture tape, as overspray at the final paint gets EVERYWHERE, the HOURS spent papering and taping beat the DAYS cleaning, wetsanding, and buffing/polishing the areas you pre-jambed...

take your time, do it right, do it once, don't cheap out and cut corners, and you'll be rewarded with a quality paint job

Mike

Your jamb paint lines should be clean and sharp looking in appearance on the edges where primary paint will meet up with the jamb, yet have a soft paint edge, not a hard paint tape line, you can achieve that with careful backtaping


like so

A poorly painted jamb like below could result with a dark band or texture difference in the final paint job,...meaning it'll look like crap, and you'll be repainting the car...

what not to do

proper prep for jambing....

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Can you explain back taping? I know that a hard edge is bad, but cannot get in my head how you achieve a soft edge with proper masking.

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tape flat on surface = hard line

tape "rolled" allows for a soft line

requires practice to acheive best results

#2

Aperture tape....foam tube with an adhesive masking stripe,...you just tear/seperate what you need, and apply, it's self sticking

An example of applying aperture tape to a door jamb prior to painting a car, the aperture tape acts just like backtaping, a rolled surface allowing the paint drifting into the panel gap to achieve a soft edge inorder to blend with the previously painted jamb, yet sealing out overspray that could dull your freshly previously painted jambs

Mike

Interesting, thanks.

For the jams then you shoot all coats start to finish, base, clear, etc.?

And then when you mask/close the jams up with the foam tape when painting the exterior the exterior product just fades in over the faded jam edges, correct?

i have been using 3M transition tape for a while now. it leaves a better soft line in the jambs than the aperture tape.
transition tape is a pre made rolled over masking tape. the glue is in the center and has clear tape wider than the adhesive.
it also helps to not leave a sealer line in the jambs when using aperture tape.
here is a link to the transition tape.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j..._o77eqC0ZgaBc6w

Wow, that was more than I hoped for! I had no clue about how to tape to get soft lines, the books don't teach that one! Thanks for the insider info. I will stick to the clear/base and follow that excellent advice!

Thanks
CAC

Thanks to all for the excellent descriptions and pictures in this post-big help to those of us who are gearing up for this stage of a project!

Jason

like to use a single stage urethane on the under side. Straight single stage uretane 1st coat, 2nd coat 50/50, last coat all clear. Sometimes I do the trunk and engine bay the way too as it's more durable.

I do the jambs, edge panels and so on then assemble and spray the exterior and use the foam tape on the edges. I don't like to paint the car apart, panels seperate as it's too easy to chip while adjusting the fitment of panels.

Epox prime everything, I assemble the body the way the factory did. Do my body body work, 2K and block to 600 wet. do a coat in the jambs, trunk, engine bay, do a coat on the outside while its flashing. Same with the clear. This way you have No tape lines to worry about.

Practice on a Mustang..seriously. I'm been working on an 87 with a 4 banger. Major body work and epoxy primer over the winter. Now I'm ready for surfacer, blocking, and on to real paint; black BC/CC. Using PPG Shopline to save some money and practice technique. Make a friend with your paint shop supplier guy. Practice on panels, hoods, etc. It's not cheap, I just laid out $459 today for a weeks worth of materials and fun. Or frustration. It's only a Mustang

This is a good post. I have always wondered how jams were done separate from the rest of the car. Ideally, it is best to paint the whole car but wow you gotta really be moving and have everything in order.

Typically how much surface is between the jam and the panel when you back tape? An inch or so, less? When you spray, to you just spray the jams and count on the over spray to fade in behind the back tape or do you actually spray into the back-taped edge?

I like all surfaces to be painted, the reason I do them apart. Good example would be leave a primed or epoxied car sit outside, eventually they will rust through the primer, maybe after a year or two. Where a painted car will last much longer. The last thing I want is a rust rusting at the seams like they did from the factory since they were assembled in primer then painted.

As far as jambs go, you could also paint the door jambs with the exterior and just open and close the doors during paint... same with the rest. You have to be careful, but guarantees nop lines. Theres a lot of ways of doing it.

If you paint everything off the car what do you do about bolts that should be painted?

Thank you everyone, the information here is great! I have thought about doing the whole job on my own in my garage. I have the equipment but not a clean environment like a paint booth to paint it in. My biggest concern is dust in the paint after it is sprayed if I spray it at home Does a paint booth guarantee paint free from dust? I'm hoping so. But I have not completely ruled out doing it at home yet as the painter is willing to help me as a teacher, consultant, as thus far.

Here's a question on what was said about the benefit of pre painting panels before assembly with regard to preserving overlaps from rusting. If the panels are sprayed in epoxy sealer before assembly, won't that give it protection from rust? Should I spray the area to be overlapped first?

Thanks again!
CAC

I'm now looking at only using a single stage PPG paint since the color is R4, bright red, not metallic. I think for a first paint job, this is the way to go from what I have researched. I am putting together a dry air system so that I can paint in my garage. I already have a fresh air hood system. If the underbody and under hood area come out well then I will spray the whole car at home too. The temperature and lack of humidity don't get better than here for paint so I think I may pass on the paint booth.

When painting a whole car without a vinyl top what is the preferred sequence of spraying?

Btw the info provided here is very good

A booth will not guarantee no dirt in the paint. There will always be something in the paint, that's what a wet sand and buff is for. As some have said here, I like to avoid any tape lines in the jambs so on solid colors (non metallics) I will spray all pieces separate. With a metallic, I jamb it, put it together, spray color then take it apart to clear it. It's alot of work any way you do it. Good luck and post some pics of the car!