I'm close to having all the chassis bits welded together so am naturally thinking about painting as the next step. But there will be much drilling to do at some point, for the variety of fuel and brake lines and electrics and also for the riveting on of the floor. Is it best to paint the chassis once it is complete, then drill into the painted chassis, or drill for everything that will be attached and then apply the paint?
I'd say paint then drill. Why?
1. The sooner you get it painted the less it will rust in the meantime.
2. You will never be able to plan every single drill hole beforehand anyway so you will need to drill a painted tube at some point.
3. If you paint after drilling, the rivets won't fit and you'll need to ream out the hole anyway.
What I did was just get the chassis sanded down and primed with acid etch primer the keyed again and painted with Dulux weather shield black gloss. I
just did it with a brush but you can of course spray or dip or powder coat or whatever.
Once you do need to drill the painted surface, use a small amount of sealant around the rivet before you pop it to keep water and air out of the
broken surface. Do the same with rivnuts. For self-tappers I just smeared a little bit of grease on the screw threads before inserting. All done to
delay the onset of rust which of course will still come at some point.
HTH,
Craig.
Definitely paint then drill. You will end up drilling a long way into the build as you realise that you need to add another fastener here and there and if you wait to paint you'll end up phaffing around so much to try to get paint on everything.
The only holes you should drill into the chassis are small holes for riveting panels and any brake/fuel line fasteners. All components should be mounted onto brackets welded to the chassis. The object is to drill as few holes as possible into the chassis.
quote:
Originally posted by designer
The only holes you should drill into the chassis are small holes for riveting panels and any brake/fuel line fasteners. All components should be mounted onto brackets welded to the chassis. The object is to drill as few holes as possible into the chassis.
From my expereince I was told make sure everything fits before painting. BIG MISTAKE.
Due to issues with neighbours it took 11 before it got paint on it. I then had to wire brush (with angel grinder) the rust off. It was mid summer and
I was caked in rusty dust. Then it was zinc primed.
Personally if I did it again it would be primed and clean off the paint to weld.
I did wax oil areas that had been frilled where panels fit if there was a chance water would get in.
Went to text in zinc primer and whilst waiting to register and have external panels painted the chassis and running gear was then coach brush painted.