Paint chips and scratches during assembly

[GTOBRET]

So I am wondering if any of you out there get paint chips and scratches on your cars when you assemble them? My brother and I are building a '69 GTO and we try to be really careful putting it together but still seem to get small scratches or paint chips here and there usually by accident. Also, when tightening down body panel bolts the paint starts flaking off around the washer on some of them. How about you guys with shops that build these kind of cars? It's very frustrating. Is this just a reality with building cars?

[Smittys67]

Use lots ot tape on the jambs and edges get a good tape so it comes off easy. As far as the bolts most of the time if you put the flat washer on upsidedown they will not hurt the paint, look at the washers there are cupped and have a sharpe edge put that side up.

[Brigzee]

Ditto lots of tape. On bolts I use stainless and I found putting a smaller diameter washer under the main washer keeps the paint from showing damage. Usually it's tough finding the right washers and I end up making them because you want to keep the bottom washer as thin as you can. It's still hard to put a car together without doing some damage some how.

[OTE Design & Fabrication]

One more vote for lots of tape. We also keep a lot of soft shipping blankets handy to set parts on or cover up areas we are working on. Ditto on the above washer advice plus we use some lube under the bolts to help keep them from grabbing the washer and moving it around.

[Vegas69]

I went and bought some of the medium thick painters plastic for my assembly. I plan to use the plastic, tape, blankets, and fender covers.