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!