I am finally getting around to painting my 87 fiero coupe. I've decided that i want to do a body off paint job on everything but the roof panel. My problem is i haven't seen any posts that show me how to remove all the panels and i really don't want to screw it up. Any tips for keeping the dust down would be great. I've painted a few times before and the last one tuned out great except for dust and contaminants. I plan on using a DeVilbiss GFG-670 if anyone has any suggestions for a professional quality gun for around the same price that works better. I have 11.5 cfm @40 coming out of the compressor and i use 3/8th inch hose. And suggestions for a cheap desiccant air dry too that would be great. So if anyone has any suggestions on my long rambling post that would be great. thanks a lot.

The one thing you MUST use, is the "egg" filter that screws on the end of the gun, (harbor freight $3.00) used them 20 years ago, been using them since. "a last line defence" against moisture. #47016 20 oz gravity feed gun, $12.99. I good balance, good atomization, this thing shoots like a $300 gun !

Yeah i have one of those guns and it works great but i want a higher quality gun and the ability to rebuild. i would use one of those filters I've heard a lot of great things but i already have an on gun and adding one of those filters but makes my gun to big and hard to spray down low. I want to know about high quality guns and more importantly taking the car apart.

All I have to say is good luck. I was talking to a guy I was going to have paint my car. He said he would drop off about 1500 from the 5000 price if I took off the body panels my self. He said he wouldn't paint the car any other way. I know the bumpers, and quarter panels are pretty easy to take off, but this guy said the hardest thing to do is remove the door panels, and the huge back piece. Personally I would gust remove bumpers, trim, mirrors, any thing that won't be painted that I can and tape off the rest. This guy even wanted my windows taken out so he could get under the weather stripping. I am sure he does a good job, but a bit much for me considering I bought my Fiero for 1500. Good luck, and I am sure you’re Fiero will look great.

No need to remove the two top peices. Everything else needs to come off to do it right.
Of course, if you have a $500 car & want to put a $300 paintjob on it, then it dosen't matter. Just remember that anything done quickly & using cheap materials will need to be stripped back off when someone decides to do it right.
Do a search (or several using different parameters). There ARE several posts on how to remove everything. IIRC everything unbolts except for the bottom of the fenders & 1/4s, & the rockers. They all have rivets that you have to drill out (sometimes you need a dremmel to grind off the top of the rivet instead - as they tend to spin).
HTH,
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Carpe kitty!

I definitely want to remove all the panels except the small bit of roof remaining (t-tops), my dad has taken a door apart before so he knows how its done. I am going to spend good money on paint and because of the t-tops the car is worth at least 3k how it sits so i don't want to screw it up. i want to take the panels off instead of leaving them on the car because it will leave a cleaner result and i won't have door jam issues because I'm changing the color, and i don't want to get over spray on the space frame. because i want it to look kind of like it came that way if that makes any scene.