When I painted mine I had the doors completely stripped of everything (i.e. wiring, glass, lock mechanism, etc.) I sanded one spot in the door jamb down to the metal to see how many layers of paint were there and it was just the original paint. What I did was thoroughly clean them with prep-sol and scuffed them with a scotch-brite pad. After that I sprayed on an epoxy sealer and the door jambs were ready for paint. When I painted them, I laid them across some sawhorses. It wasn't that hard.

A smooth finish isn't hard to achieve as long as you put on enough clear so you can sand and buff out any problems. As far as an even finish goes, getting it is not difficult, unless you use cheap paint. Most decent paints will have full coverage in two coats. Once you get full coverage, that's it, no more paint needed. The nice thing about two stage paints is the base coat flashes to an almost satin appearance which makes it easy to see problems with being uneven.

You don't HAVE to go down to bare metal. But there are several reasons why people choose to do so. For starters, these cars are old. Their paint is old. Although in theory, properly maintained paint can last for decades, the fact of the matter is we don't know how long it can last. By going to bare metal, you don't have to worry about something underneath the surface causing trouble down the road due to age. Compatibility of chemicals is another reason. Will the chemicals in the new paint have an adverse reaction with the chemicals in the old paint? Probably not because most automotive paint is essentially the same stuff they've been using for 30 years now. With that said, if you have a car painted with lacquer and then you apply a modern paint or primer over it, you're going to think you just sprayed it with paint stripper because it will lift the lacquer that fast.

The final reason to go to metal is "film thickness." When the car is painted at the factory, the film thickness is at the minimum edge of the spectrum. You can paint over the factory paint, and still be within the window, but anything more then that and you will exceed the maximum film thickness and then you're going to have problems with adhesion, chipping, cracking, etc. Most of these cars have had some body work at some point, meaning there are going to be places on most of them where the paint is at the thickness threshold. By stripping, you virtually eliminate the possibility of film thickness problems. You can also replace old body filler with new filler and correct half-assed repairs.

As for losing the protective layer of zinc goes, it's probably more important to have that coating on the back sides of the panels then on the painted surface since the underside sees a lot more abuse.

 

Some very good points J. When you go through as much labor as it takes to paint a 928 or any vehicle for that matter, if paint age and thickness are questionable its always best to strip. Do it once, do it right and it will last a long time to come.

 

Also when brought to bare metal the zinc coating or what's left of should be covered (after body filler work is done) with a self etching primer that will protect the aluminum and steel from future corrosion and rust. Im using Glasurit start to finish as the factory did.

 

To answer the question of hanging the parts temporarily, I will prep and paint all the jambs first overlapping the paint on to the outer edge of the body panels then back mask the jambs and use a special 3m tape that will not leave a hard line at the jamb edges. Hang the panels double check the masking tape and paper to make sure it didnt come lose and start spraying the outside. Its not to complicated but you have the right products and it helps to have done it before too or know someone who has..

 

Are you using the round foam tape to prevent the hard paint lines?

 

I use the foam tape and a plastic tape. Ill post the PN of the 3m plastic tape, it works quite well ..

 

+1 on this..does anyone have any pictures that show how the clips engage? I'd like to take my trim pieces off for painting but right now am scared to death I'll mess them up...one pic to see what's under there would help tremendously i think

 

Ive got the right trim removal tools and Ill take some pictures of how certain pieces are removed when the time comes.

 

Im back with some updates. I stripped the front fenders and hood with chemical and it worked fairly well. I had to use a d/a with 80 grit followed by 180 grit to remove all the primer that was left behind. The front fenders were cracked in the typical places so I backed up the damage with a small piece of aluminum and TIG welded the cracks. When I had finished grinding the only tell tale marks were the aluminum gussets I put in. The fenders and hood had just about top dings or other damage so I primed them with self etch primer. Here are some pics. I seemed to have overlooked taking pics of the bare fenders and hood after I had finished sanding them but here's what I have..

 

The last pic is the tig welded crack. You can see the small gusset peeking over the top of the lip before I ground it down.

 

great job, its a long road to a pefect shine on your ride but it will be worth it, goodluck

 

If only I could have the whole car like your hood on your second pics... Without the trace of paint of course!

I think a 928 would look amazing with a look like a DeLorean. (Bare metal)

 

Without removing the headlights, how did you manage to get the top small screws (behind the headlight bar) off to remove the bumper?

 

Put the headlights in the 'up' position, and reach in with an 8mm gearwrench. There's only 2 nuts to remove under each headlamp.

 

LMAO...thanx.....I knew it must have been a simple one. For some reason I couldn't figure this out on the parts car so I just chopped the bars off with a saws-all.