I am getting ready to start putting the front clip on my car. My front fenderwells have been powdercoated. Can I leave the fenderwells off, paint the car, and then install fender emblems and fenderwells without taking the fenders back off?

that is the way i have painted them in the past. the plus is less masking!

How hard is it to get them back in? What's involved? I have a 69 RS.

Everything I've read here on the forums says installing innner fenders after the fact is mission improbable, at least without paint damage. For emblems, you can use barrel nuts. I've never tried them, so I have no idea if they are satisfactory. For where fenders join panels, such as the header, you can put a U shim in there to keep parts separated for painting. That way paint can get in there if you don't want to paint with parts apart. You don't really want to paint across these pieces. If you ever need to separate them later, you're sure to damage paint that bridges parts.

There are some great plastic masking products such as Norton's for $20-$30a roll. Wrap the inners with auto body plastic wrap before assembly so no overspray gets on your new powder coat. A lot of the difference between a car thats been repainted and a nicely painted car is in the details of keeping paint from where it doesn't belong. Oh, and newspaper isn't the product to use.... Don't ask how I know.:clonk:

What about the liquid mask products? I have a gallon of stuff called Slime that you can spray on parts to eliminate overspray. I have never used it. So I don't know how hard it is to come off or if it leaves a residue?