Painting the cab and firewall quesion

[Toad455]

Well, I finally got my cab back on the frame. The inside of the cab is painted. The bodywork is done on the cab and doors. I haven't started on the bed yet so it will be a while before the final exterior paint goes on. I already fit and "body worked" the door gaps and removed the doors. I've done paint and body work for 40 years but this is my first and prob last body off total restoration job. My question is that I'm not sure how to go about painting the jambs, firewall, etc: If I paint the jambs and inside doors and front of the cab (firewall), then after the doors are back on I get the back taping procedure but the firewall blends up to the cowl and A Pillars. I plan on using epoxy sealer so if it's back taped to prevent the paint line won't the sealer show at the back taped lines? I plan on doing the final paint with doors and fender on so I can "walk" the sides. How do you guys achieve this without painting apart and re-assembling? I'll attach some pics soon. Thanks.

 

[legopnuematic]

What color, single stage or base clear, two tone or single color?

 

[Toad455]

WA933L Luxo Blue Met. BC/CC. It's a med/dark blue met. All same color inside and out.

 

[legopnuematic]

I think for your situation, doing it with the hood on a stand, and fenders removed on a stand/fixture to get both inner and outer would be the best, and the bed slid back or off of the frame. You’d only need to mask the window and door openings and the frame and such.

The way these trucks were painted originally was with the doors and door strikers installed on the cab fwiw.

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Doing it that way would allow you to do it all in one session, and avoid having to back mask anything. Having the fenders off does make it easy for doing assembly on the firewall. If you record the amounts and positions of the shims for the fenders, they should go on quick and without any fuss.

 

[Toad455]

Thanks for the reply, sounds good, I'll for sure consider that. I guess that would mean painting with the doors off and on stands as well? I don't mind doing that but my shop's not all that big. If the doors are painted on the cab I'll still have to tape off to keep sealer over spray out of the gaps I suppose.

 

[CalSgt]

Thanks for the reply, sounds good, I'll for sure consider that. I guess that would mean painting with the doors off and on stands as well? I don't mind doing that but my shop's not all that big. If the doors are painted on the cab I'll still have to tape off to keep sealer over spray out of the gaps I suppose.

When I did my cab I painted with doors on and adjusted

I did jambs, firewall, dash, and behind the seat in one session.

I taped the cowl acrost where the rubber cowl seal attaches just to avoid a bunch of dry overspray on the cowl since its a difficult area to sand also to prevent a bunch of overspray dust from being in the recessed portion to blow out over fresh paint when doing the next phase. I let the rest of the panels get some overspray and just lightly sanded before painting the body.

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When I painted the body, I didn't get a picture of how I masked the firewall and jambs but basically taped the fire wall off at the same location as before but draped the paper the opposite direction then under the flange that the fender mounting hole is on. Used a "Soft edge" tape around the door gaps and closed the doors. I still ended up with a harsh line in the jambs but its not really noticable unless you're looking for it.

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