get the doors off...

Hey all,
Im preparing the new paintjob of our 71 Riviera. Im going to get the old paint off, then primer and new paint on again.

That shouldnt be a big problem, but there are some places you cant reach very well. I.E. the place where the door hinges are mounted to the body ect..
Im thinking of getting the doors off the car, but I guess Ill have to remove the fenders if I want to get the doors off, do I?

Im also thinking of getting the inner fender off and repaint them. Will I get them off without removing the fenders?

Thanks!

Juergen

 

Jurgen
You can remove the doors with out taking the fenders off, un bolt the hinge from the door leave the hinge on the body putting them back on will be the hard part as you will have to realine them.
As far as removing the iner fenders it would be easyer to remove the fenders first just remember that one thing leads to another.

 

Thank you very much. Seems theres a lot of work to be done...

Bought the paint today. Now its the point of no return!

Jrgen

 

Removing the wings also means removing the bonnet on a Boattail :Smarty:

The doors are very heavy, so put a trolley jack under the door to help you supporting it while removing the last bolts.


Hey Jrgen,

I might be visiting Regensburg in April, I believe you're living in Landshut (or was it Ingolstadt?) Maybe I can pop by and check out your Riv :TU:

 

I live in Ingolstadt. My wifes Riv should be painted already in April.... Depends on my work if I will show it to you or not
My first real paintjob..... and the wifes car..... you know what that means? Only 1 mistake and :spank:

But Ill do my best!
Jrgen

 

Hi Jurgen.

I hate to throw a monkey wrench into your plans here, so to speak, but I found it to be infinitely easier to replace door hinges and remove the door with the hood and fenders off.

Yes, it was a lot of bolts to remove to get the fenders off, and I had to remove the bumper and battery and battery tray and a lot of other pieces, and then I had to buy new plastic hanger clips to attach the wiring harness to the inner fenders again (cheap from YO or CARS), but in the end I was able to paint the inner fenders and make new splash aprons for them, and the final result was fantastic.

And I suggest you paint the door jams and door ends first, then install the doors, fenders and hood, then paint the body. This is what I've learned from my paint job.

 

I guess youre right, but I found a pretty easy sounding way to remove the doors! I was reading my Fisher Body Manual from 1971 and I really like the idea of removing the doors without removing the hinge bolts!
Disassembling the hinges is what they say. I even wont have to adjust the doors when reassembling!

I guess Ill start with trying to remove the inner fenders first. Just watched a friends 64 Impala SS Convertible and he got the inner fenders out without removing the outer fenders. If I get them out, Ill leave the fenders on the car. Shouldnt be hard to reach all places to paint.

Thanks for that info! I mustnt forget the plastic hanger clips!

Well, thats exactly what I want to do.
But first I have to get all the old paint off the car because its that old laquer paint and you dont get this paint over here, so Im going to repaint the car with enemal paint.

Juergen