Doors on or off when painting?

[JohnnyPopper]

I'm working the details out to get my Red Girl painted.

I have to rebuild the doors anyway i.e. scrapers/ seals/ felt track and I want the inner surface where the outer scraper lives painted.

Front and rear window will be removed as well.

They are going to paint the jams and door interiors. Not the cab.

Have any of you pulled the doors before the shoot?

I know the more you pull apart the higher risk of goofing something up putting it back together. 

Thanks!

[Shifty]

I have, and I usually pull everything off when it's going on something plush, or needing a color change. 

[Mike81K10]

Agree with Shifty! Pull the doors off. You really need to take off the doors if you plans to repaint the jams. The door can be a pain to put back on and align, though worth the hassle.

[JohnnyPopper]

Thanks guys! Will do.

I think I picked up years ago on this site, maybe VZ, a hack: drill two 1/8 holes through the hinge bracket into the  body (and maybe into the door)  before disassembly.

Use those holes as a guide to your original position when re-installing.

If it was someone else-Thanks!!!

[Chevygold]

My doors are now in primer ready for top coat so I hung them to get the alignment right then took them off again to paint, cab is already painted.
A question I have is what order is best to fit the door internals? I think locks, door glass then vent windows, any thoughts?
Graham

[78 Chevyrado]

Something to think about with doors on these trucks.   A Problem I had when I painted mine.  Mine was stripped down to almost nothing.   I had my cab and door painted mounted and aligned to the truck body. 

Well, when I got it home from the body shop (no fault of theirs) and I installed the new door seals the tops of the doors stuck out too far 1/4" or better.   so on my new paint, at home, I had to bend the tops of the doors inward to fit the body lined.  that was scary af.   But I got it done.   When lining up new doors or after removing your doors I think it would be worth it to waste a set of door to cab seals just to make sure the door has the correct shape before painting.  I could have so easily cracked my new paint bending the door tops to fit.

You need to pull the doors off to do the jambs correctly.  while off the painter can do the inner jambs of the doors before installing them.   When reinstalling the doors put a brand new door to cab weatherstrip on there even if its sacrificial.  you'll thank me later.

[78 Chevyrado]

kinda hard to see but the top of the door was out dang near 1/4" from where it shoulda been to the roof.

[78 Chevyrado]

Once the cab to door new seals were installed I had to use a block of wood and bunch of prayers to bend the top of the door in to match.   from the door handle and below matched perfectly.  the top was bowed out.