SteveA

Getting ready to repaint my 79....has anyone done the doors OFF the car? Damn they are heavy. Or is it better to paint the jams, re-install the doors and paint ON the car. I figure I can lighten them up by removing the door glass, but cant figure out how.... without a lot of trouble.

76greg

I am doing my Classic White paint with hood, bumpers, doors and t-tops off the car. I think solid colors are ok that way, But metalic colors are best sprayed with everything on the car so you get consistency of color and metalic finish across the whole car.

Greg :seeya

SteveA

Thats what I prefer...but I'm concerned about ruining the new door paint while putting the doors back on, as they are very heavy. I was going to use a 'cushioned' floor jack to support them while re-installing, but I'm afraid that the process of carrying them 'to' the floor jack will damage the soft fresh paint. Any other suggestions? How to get the glass out?

Paul 75 L82

I left my doors on and everything turned out great.

American Boy

I'm in the process and I removed the glass from the doors. They still are heavy but I can handle them easy. For reassembly, an extra pair of hand should do the trick to avoid damage to fresh paint.

With the door removed, it's easy to sand the door and do a straight job. For my car, I had to buff to the metal the frame off the door because of little rust on it. And doing that, I found some rust under the paint that was not showing. But I guess you don't have to worry about that in Florida but...

P.S. My car was used only in summer time.

Stephan

lbell101

I'd paint them off the car. You think those are heavy try a steel 50s/60s two door with the glass installed! These really are pretty light in comparison especially with the glass out. No matter what, you will NEED another person who can take orders very well (read as 'no wives') when you give them.

flood

I haven't ever painted a car. But it sounds like taking the door off would be best. How else could you get in the jams and paint evenly? I would think that you could get much better access with the door off. :yesnod:

sb69coupe

I took a little more complicated approach on my car. I stripped the doors, removing all trim and "innards". Then I removed them, prepped 'em, primed 'em, and shot the jambs while they were off the car. I also shot the insides of the doors where there is body color, like along the vertical rear edge where the latch is, etc. Then I hung the doors, did the final prep, and the painter shot the whole exterior with the doors on the car. Then all I had to do was reinstall the trim and door guts.

Shannon

72 Stingray

I agree with lbell101. The doors on my Vette are featherweights compared to the doors on my 77 Trans Am. I've never weighed the T/A's doors but legend has it that they are easily in excess of 100lbs each. Not fun replacing the hinge pins and bushings by yourself. I have painted my Vette three times in the 18 years I've owned it and I pulled the doors off, painted them, and replaced them each time without damaging the new paint or the door while lifting them with a padded floor jack (They also make special jacks for doing this job). Ripping the glass out just to save weight seems like a lot of un-necessary work to me. If you're doing it to paint & detail the insides or re-build the mechanisms, that's a different story.

Good Luck.

SteveA

Thanks for the posts. Since I already have them off the car & everything is prepped, I will paint them off the car. Laid flat the paint will flow better, & I'll be able to get good coverage all around. As far as the re-install, I'll cross that bridge.....thanks again.

Smokehouse69

Make sure you paint them with the same batch of paint and activator that you paint the rest of the car. If you don't, even non-metallic cars will show color differences. On my red car, it is obivous that the doors, hood and headlight housing were painted with different mixes, in bright sunlight it is really apparent.
White might be easier to deal with, I've been told white is the easiest color to shoot. I guess because white hides flaws in prep work so much better than dark colors do. Black it the worst! Your car had better be perfect and your painting perfect, or it will look like crud!

SteveA

Good advice..and absolutely correct. I plan on doing all pieces together. White is a good color to shoot but can still cure differently...differences in outside temp, humidity etc....especially down here in FL.

dladd74roadster

1. In order to get the glass out of the door, you just need to get the glass off of the tracks. Lower the regulator as far as it will go, remove all of the stops and felt rattle bumpers and then turn the glass so that the rollers line up with gaps in the upper rail of the door. You may have to do some rotating of the glass to get it out but it definately comes out without a whole lot of effort. I have had mine out several times. Also, the doors aren't that hard to get off and back on if you leave half of the top hinge in place and unbolt the bottom one from the DOOR. On the top one, you just remove the hinge pin. This allows you to get the top hinge aligned back up, put a pin in it without having to fiddle around with starting bolts while holding the door. You should have no problems getting the doors back on without damaging the paint. By leaving the hinge in tact on the top of the jamb and door, it also makes it much simpler to get it back in alignment since you only have to worry about the bottom hinge.

Hope this helps.

dl

SteveA

Definitely helps...thanks.

dewayne4

Just my $.02 If it is a complete color change I would paint the entire car, then afterwards I would paint the door jams, etc... With a couple extra hands to help install the doors and anything else that you removed. :cheers: