[400TT]

Merv, with your monocoque body/chassis, you can paint it after it is completed without pulling it all apart.

There are advantages to pulling it completely apart, but I can understand wanting to save the time & effort. There are also advantages to not pulling it apart for paint, so it works both ways.

We got our first Cobra painted while it as full assembled. It worked out very well.

Just make sure you paint the engine bay first.

Then when the car is completed and you want to get it painted, you just need to remove the body fittings and then send off for paint. (make sure all body fittings have been test mounted before paint)

I'm not a big fan of getting the body painted first as you want to give the body as much time as possible to settle before paint. You also do not have to worry about damaging the paint during the build process either if the body is not painted first.

Just make sure you heat cycle that body before paint. One of the easiest methods is to use black plastic over the body and roll it out in the sun for quite a few days. I just use elcheapo black garbage bags cut open and stuck onto the body.