The Ford Barn

jbc · 01-13-2012, 12:55 PM

I plan on painting the fenders and splash shields on my SW. But I'm concerned about removing the shields. I was told the door alignment could be disrupted. My door alignment is perfect and I would hate to screw that up. Do I paint them in place or take a chance and remove them?

wrndln · 01-13-2012, 01:05 PM

I would think if you removed the body bolts, wood blocks and shims and carefully marked them and keep the rubber shims with the blocks, you could slide the aprons out to paint them and then reinstall the shims and blocks like they were originally. There are usually only 8 or so blocks to mess with.

Doug in NJ · 01-13-2012, 05:46 PM

To remove the shields, you have to essentially remove the body (although not all at once). If you do that, you'll want to consider refinishing the underside of the body, or the frame. One thing leads to another, and you'll never be finished...

But if you can get the body bolts unscrewed (and also the bolts that hold the rear bumper braces to the body cross rail) the shims and blocks will generally stay attached to the underside of the body, if they are not rotted out. The rubber was generally tacked to the blocks, and the blocks were held to the body by crimping the sub-rails a little (on my car, at least).

When adjusting my shims, I found that I could tip the body a little to one side by putting a bottle jack under the rear corner of the opposite side, at the end of that rear cross rail.

Doug

1931 flamingo · 01-13-2012, 06:19 PM

I would mask the body off and paint on the car. JMO
Paul in CT

Richard Wilson · 01-13-2012, 06:21 PM

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There is a lot more to lifting the body to remove the splash shields than first meets the eye. It is more involved than just removing a few body bolts. Unless you are wanting to get into a full resto I would paint the shields in place. I doubt 95% of people would ever know or appreciate the difference.

01-13-2012, 12:55 PM	#1
jbc Senior Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: ocala fl Posts: 160	running board splash shield I plan on painting the fenders and splash shields on my SW. But I'm concerned about removing the shields. I was told the door alignment could be disrupted. My door alignment is perfect and I would hate to screw that up. Do I paint them in place or take a chance and remove them?

01-13-2012, 01:05 PM	#2
wrndln Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Lakeville, MN Posts: 5,159	Re: running board splash shield I would think if you removed the body bolts, wood blocks and shims and carefully marked them and keep the rubber shims with the blocks, you could slide the aprons out to paint them and then reinstall the shims and blocks like they were originally. There are usually only 8 or so blocks to mess with.

01-13-2012, 05:46 PM	#3
Doug in NJ Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Princeton, NJ Posts: 965	Re: running board splash shield To remove the shields, you have to essentially remove the body (although not all at once). If you do that, you'll want to consider refinishing the underside of the body, or the frame. One thing leads to another, and you'll never be finished... But if you can get the body bolts unscrewed (and also the bolts that hold the rear bumper braces to the body cross rail) the shims and blocks will generally stay attached to the underside of the body, if they are not rotted out. The rubber was generally tacked to the blocks, and the blocks were held to the body by crimping the sub-rails a little (on my car, at least). When adjusting my shims, I found that I could tip the body a little to one side by putting a bottle jack under the rear corner of the opposite side, at the end of that rear cross rail. Doug __________________ My '31 S/W sedan project:http://31ford.dougbraun.com My restoration diary: http://dougbraun.com/blog

01-13-2012, 06:19 PM	#4
1931 flamingo Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: new britain,ct 06052 Posts: 9,389	Re: running board splash shield I would mask the body off and paint on the car. JMO Paul in CT

01-13-2012, 06:21 PM	#5
Richard Wilson Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: NC Posts: 908	Re: running board splash shield Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) There is a lot more to lifting the body to remove the splash shields than first meets the eye. It is more involved than just removing a few body bolts. Unless you are wanting to get into a full resto I would paint the shields in place. I doubt 95% of people would ever know or appreciate the difference.