Opinions requested

I'm nearing the point of installing the engine and firing her up (yahoo!). I was planning on dry-building the car, taking the body to paint, then building the chassis up permanently, and finally installing the painted body on the car. However, I began to think that maybe I should build the car up and drive it for a year without paint and interior to work out any bugs.

What do you think?

Thanks
Bill D
 

Ron McCall

Supporter
That's not a bad idea Bill. I kinda wish I did that.I have a few chips and scratches on my car already.And it isn't even done yet.
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
Bill,

My "plan" is basically that. I will sweat the panel alignments and such up front but then only plan on buffing the gelcoat for now. I'll get it running from there, then worry about the paint stuff later.

That's the plan this week.

I'm also pretty sure that I wouldn't have the patience to sit through a respectable paint job and then not nick it during my subsequent work.

Chris
 
Dude, if your car is going to be one of the first RCRs on the road, you have to represent. You could probably get Fran to pay for the paint job if you threatened to drive it around in primer for a year. :)

In Massachusetts this decision is already made for us - you can't register an unpainted car here.
 

Bill Hara

Old Hand
GT40s Supporter
Bill

Paint it!
I've arleady got some scratches on my car that I know need to be repaired, however I would rather repair some scratches and drive a painted car than have an unpainted car that publically showcases its unfinished state. If you are painting your own car then you know most of the work is in the prep, so repairs won't be too difficult.

Just my 2.5 cents.

Bill.
 

Fran Hall RCR

GT40s Sponsor
Hey Mark,
now that you have the official PPG paint skills.....why not paint Bills car for him as a practice run for your RF......WINK
 
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Bill,

You are going for authenticity, so I wouldn't worry about a few scratches. In fact, if you don't have a bunch of duct tape holding something down or blocking something off, combined with a cracked panel and paint from another car, you will be missing some finishing touches!

Honestly: all cars - even one made with the skill and care you are putting into yours - are meant to be driven. Don't sweat a few inevitable marks/scratches/stone chips.

-J.
 
Bill, two weeks after I put my Daytona Coupe on the road, someone backed into it ( hit and run ). If I only drove it for a while before painting it... but who knows? I'm glad I did all the body work and paint myself. I heard someone say that a the body work and paint like I have have run as high as $ 8500.00. If I had paid that much for a paint job costing that much. I would be out for blood! If you drive around your home town in primer, people will get used to seeing in primer. When you do paint it, people will say; " Ya! looks alot better painted"! People in my town don't give my car a second look now, they are so used to seeing around town.
 
Bill --

Leave it unpainted and get the bugs worked out. Once you're satisfied with how the car is mechanically, then you can focus your attention entirely on the body and its appearance. Any damage that may have occurred, can be handled at this point.

Like George C Scott said in the movie "Patton" -- "I don't want to pay for the same real estate twice."
 

Lynn Larsen

Lynn Larsen
Bill,

If your car had one of the normal grey or black gel coat bodies, I would lean to the paint it side. However, you have an RCR with very nice color in the gel coat. Granted it may not be your choice for the final color, but its pretty darn nice!

That said, no matter how careful you are as you assemble, you will make some booboos. Like FRPGUY, I had someone back into my car within weeks of putting it on the road. Not to mention shooting myself in the foot while trying to adjust the shift linkage by driving off with the rear clip unlached. (Two scratches through the paint and just to the gel. Luckily, that was all)

Even if no bad luck like this should befall you, there will be sorting to be done after you have it on the road. It would be a shame to have to drill holes in a new paint job or some such thing to correct something you found during shakedown testing.

The downside is the difficulty of painting door frames, inside areas, etc. after the car is built. This is especially true of the spider, dash and cockpit. This part of the car has to be affixed to the chassis to properly fit everything else, and really doesn't lend itself to diassembly for painting after the fact. Either way, you will need to have some serious planning talks with your painter. Indeed, he may end up making the decision for you, so to speak.

Regards,
Lynn
 

Pete K.

GT40s Supporter
A year to work out the bugs? Are you expecting a lot of bugs or are you really just wanting to drive it without having to worry about the little dings in the paint that will naturally occur?

Why not plan to drive it for a month or two and really focus on addressing the bugs and then take it off the road and get the body work and paint done?

I've got over 10,000 miles on my Cobra and I'm still finding things (bugs?) that I want to improve. If I hadn't painted the Cobra until I had gotten rid of the bugs the car would still be in gelcoat! ;)
 
Finish the build, take a couple drives around the block, then disassemble and get it into paint!

You wouldn't send your girlfriend to a spa, have her get the full treatment - facial, hair, nails, massage, body wrap, blah blah blah, and then have her come home wearing sack-cloth would you?

Love the build site - frequently checking for updates!

MD
 

David Morton

Lifetime Supporter
Bill,
Subtract how old are you now from your life expectancy and divide 1 (year) by that figure. One whole year..... that could be as much as 1/15th of your life (in my case) if I get as far as 75 years old. 1/15th is a major chunk - thats why I jump in with both feet. Paint it for Christ's sake and then go out and and get some scratches, patina, call it what you will but paint it.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
Paint it! The little nicks and such CANNOT be avoided. In fact I think they look good. I have had people looking at my car at car shows and have overheard them say. "This car gets driven, look at all that brake dust and road rash" I love to step up at that point and say "Ya.... road hard and put up wet, she likes it that way.... ain't she cool!"

By the way I always go out of my way to park it right next to a trailer queen. It REALLY pisses them off when everybody is crowded around good old dirty Betty and ignoring the perfect princess show car. Camaros make the best victim's for this.

Oh and if you can, leave a little brake dust on it. Looks good.
 
I'm going to "dry-build" the car to test fit everything, adjust the body, then disassemble everything, paint the chassis, build the car up, fire the engine, test the brakes, drive it for a month, and then take the body to the painter.

Bill D
 
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