Hi all!

If you recall from my previous posts, I am restoring a 240z race car. I have painted the entire interior and several of the jams are painted black to resist reflection against the lexan etc.

I am still working on straightening the body. I have the doors and front fenders left for filler work, sealer, and primer. The color scheme will be 2-tone along the body line that wraps around the car around waist height. Off-white on the lower half, and metallic orange (specifically, Eastwood's "Malibu Sunset") on top. It will be cleared with Speedokote glamour clear, which is their "premium" clear. I would say I am bout two months from painting the whole car.

I have avoided painting any of the exterior panels yet, as I have read on this forum that the metallic may experience a difference in shading if the car is not painted all at once. Differences in how the metallic particles settle under differing conditions I suppose.

With that in mind, how do I paint and clear the jams before I paint the whole exterior in one-go? Do I base and clear the jams, put the doors, hatch, and hood back on, back-mask the gaps, then base and clear the entire exterior?

Sorry, total amateur here. I have had several hours of practice now painting the interior, loose parts, and engine bay but first time doing the entire exterior.

If you are interested in seeing my progress shots please let me know and I can post them in the appropriate forum subcategory. You can also follow along on @240z_restomod on Instagram where I post weekly.

Thank you again for your help!

-Aydin

are we allowed to bump? Id if not, my apologies.

YES, you can do the jambs first then back tape. or IF you have room hang the doors and other parts and shoot it all at one time. if it were me i would do the jambs first way, this way it's all together when you get done spraying the outside. no worry's about dinging it up putting doors and thing on. after all its a race car not a Bently. i reread your post and have a question, are you going to two tone just the rear jambs or the front hinge area also?
Jay D.

Ahajmano wrote:are we allowed to bump?

Yeah, bumping is ok, within reason. I must apologise, I did read your post earlier. Like most painters I suffer from severe OCD and your post set off an 'episode'. Took me a while to work up the courage to re-visit.

Parts of a door and frame. Except for mullions and stiles, car doors have pretty much the same names and spellings.


Jam, however, comes in jars and the closest it should ever get to your restoration project is at 4pm each afternoon when your wife should bring you out a tray, like this:


There is no definitively right way to paint door jambs. Generally, a lot of painters like to do the jambs first and then fit doors so that they can "walk" the sides and get a more even coverage, especially with some metallics, pearls and candies. It does mean another session in the booth, painting door insides separately and some trickier masking but the results are sometimes worth it. If you're doing a two-tone then it's probably a better idea because you can make sure that your lines match up perfectly.

For solids, some prefer to do doors off the car - really it's up to you. For example, on this one, I did doors, guards, bonnet, boot and bars separately.


Same with this one even though it was a bit of a tricky colour - the flares and sills meant it was better to have no joins.


Jay mentions "backmasking". I don't like it as a technique because you invariably get a more defined edge. Same with the round masking rod/tapes. Learn to fly mask properly and you'll be amazed at the difference.

badsix wrote:YES, you can do the jambs first then back tape. or IF you have room hang the doors and other parts and shoot it all at one time. if it were me i would do the jambs first way, this way it's all together when you get done spraying the outside. no worry's about dinging it up putting doors and thing on. after all its a race car not a Bently. i reread your post and have a question, are you going to two tone just the rear jambs or the front hinge area also?
Jay D.

Na no need to two-tone the jams since the interior color is different already. Just want to make sure the interior silver does not become visible through the jams so I’m painting a 3/4” strip of exterior color into the jams. It corresponds to a neat 90-degree bend in those areas in most cases. Some areas like the fender overlap, il have to spray much more.

The door jams are already silver base/clear. because the doors are sectioned (just the outside shell) to save weight and also provide the room necessary for the “Nascar” cage which protrudes into the door cavity.

Thank you for your input!

EDIT: you know, I changed my mind. Not carrying the two-tone through the jam section would look silly huh. I can match up the body line through the door. That’s no biggie

Chris, your post made me laugh out loud quite literally. Jamb it is! Although, I am now hungry and not in possession of Jam.

I need to practice the fly masking. I tried once and I couldn’t get the masking tape to sit flat enough. The ends was wavy when spraying opposite the ledge of the tape. Maybe I should try to spray more perpendicular, and not as much at an angle.

If I could actually find a painter in Los Angeles that would tackle the whole car for me, I would consider it. I have all the paint, but no booth or experience. I would be delivering them a sanded high-build primer, ready for wipe-down and paint.

I have failed in that search, so here goes nothing! Il have to build a paint tent. Kinda surprised but my 4hp compressor is keeping up with continual spraying at 10-12psi on a 1.3mm LPH400.

PS: no need ever to apologize. I certainly don’t feel entitled to an immediate response, or a response at all.

Ahajmano wrote:Chris, your post made me laugh out loud quite literally.

Yes, me too. Had a great and needed laugh. Thanks

Ahajmano wrote: I couldn’t get the masking tape to sit flat enough.

On a curved section? Don't stretch the tape - just let it sit without any stress. It will sit flat.

Ahajmano wrote:Maybe I should try to spray more perpendicular,

Your gun should always be perpendicular to the panel. Tilting is just asking for trouble.

Ah! Ok thanks Chris! I thought I was supposed to spray from direction of the masking tape, into the direction of the exposed panel. Gorsh I wish there was a YouTube video for this haha. I must just need more experience. Thank you!