When to paint the body panels

[WRX Dave]

When are people having their body panels painted? I thought it made sense to paint prior to assembly, but with all the fitment issues people are having I don't want to have to trim the panels after painting. Is it easy to remove the panels for painting later?

[Mechie3]

Fit everything, drill holes for mounting, trim for clearance, and get it how you want it, take it apart, and then paint.

The manual says to rivet, I'm going to use 10-32 riv nuts and bolts to hold mine together. I want it removable without having to drill out rivets.

[Xusia]

the manual says to rivet, i'm going to use 10-32 riv nuts and bolts to hold mine together. I want it removable without having to drill out rivets.

amen!

[RM1SepEx]

word, rivnuts and replaceability

[WRX Dave]

Hadn't thought about the rivnuts. Thanks for the great advice.

[Presto51]

Fit everything, drill holes for mounting, trim for clearance, and get it how you want it, take it apart, and then paint.

The manual says to rivet, I'm going to use 10-32 riv nuts and bolts to hold mine together. I want it removable without having to drill out rivets.

X2 on that.

Ron

[mrprgrmr]

Fitting first and taking apart prior to painting makes great sense. You don't want to scratch that expensive paint job.

Rivets are cheap and relatively easy to drill out. I did this when I was 8, swapping bodies on Matchbox cars - I think I wanted to give the Challenger a jacked up 4x4 look. My original intent was to first rivet everything according to the instructions, after test fitting with Clecos, and as long as space permits drilling them out. Later on, if I had to drill any out, those ones would get replaced with rivnuts. In this way, my thought was that I would save time on assembly and only spend time/money on rivnuts where they would actually get used. The only worry I have is the back end of drilled out rivets rattling around inside the frame. 1) Is that really a problem? and 2) Any ideas how to prevent that?

[Oppenheimer]

I would add, fit, trim, assemble with riv-nuts, then register, then drive it around for a while, then take apart to paint/wrap. Might as well sort out any issues, rattles, whatever, prior to paint/wrap. Also, should your DMV require some change, it won't be a big deal (I'm thinking lights, wipers, etc.)

[metalmaker12]

I would add, fit, trim, assemble with riv-nuts, then register, then drive it around for a while, then take apart to paint/wrap. Might as well sort out any issues, rattles, whatever, prior to paint/wrap. Also, should your DMV require some change, it won't be a big deal (I'm thinking lights, wipers, etc.)

That's what I am doing, trying to get done in a month .

[metalmaker12]

X2 on that.

Ron

I did the same as Craig and highly recommend.

[AZPete]

X3. I'll run around white for a while. I'm planning on driving it to a professional wrap place or two and then decide on polished white, wrap or paint.