Thinking ahead about painting- Disassembly help, please

[brdhntr]

detrimming is easy and a must. take the glass trim off but you can leave the glass in. it's pretty popular with custom cars to paint the engine compartment black. i would do the compartment in black. as far as the back of the cab or the bed, it would look better to take the bed off. however, if you're not looking for a showroom job, you can probably get the paint in there. the problem is with the prep there. you can use a self etching primer. that will help.

 

taking the parts off to paint is nice to get everything covered. when i do it though, i spray the inners and tight spots, jambs, etc. then i put it all back together and spray the entire vehicle. if you're an expert painter and you finish never varies, doing the pieces individually is ok. but, if you aren't a perfect painter, the finish between each piece may differ. this can all be cleaned up if you're skilled in wet sanding and buffing. the other problem is that you can scratch the panels when you put them back on. :no:

 

anything that can come off, should. this includes the grill, lights, bumpers, fender flares, door handles, and all trim work. while that stuff is off you can clean it up or paint it if you'd like. buy some black spray paint cans. when you're done, use it to spray in the wheelwells and undercarriage that may have some overspray on it.

 

do it once, do it right, and love it forever. :thumbsup:

What about the back glass? How should I handle that? Do I just tape it off really well?

 

it depends on the actual glass assembly. some use a separate seal and some use a seal that comes attached to the glass. the glass in mine does have a separate seal so i would just remove that. otherwise you do need to remove the glass for a good job. if your going with another red, you can get by with tapeing it. if you don't want a fancy job, you may be able to just tape it and go.

 

in my opinion, i'd remove the seal or take out the glass. i'm picky though. :chillin: