getting ready to tackle the sheet metal part of this project and need some of you guys advice on a few issuse.#1 when media blasting what should a person do to protect the cowl and vin plates?-i don't really want to remove them unless absolutely necessary but still need the old paint removed from them,worst case does anyone know where to get the orig rivets.#2 when you powdercoat the chassis can you still read the vin stamp it doesn't seem like the numbers are very deep or should i just paint it.#3 is it a good idea to paint the floor pans, inside of the doors,inside of fenders and the rest of the shell with some type of rust proof paint or just leave it primer with overspray.i'm going to use dynamat.and lastly do the door and trunk latches get painted in there assembled location?they look to have a zink type of plating on them.as you can tell i'm not a body guy but i just want to get it right the first time. thanks in advance

 

Regarding #1: As far as the rivets go for the vin plate, those were a special design that were supposed to be highly secured and monitored so as to prevent people from re-tagging cars with improper vins, such as stolen cars or fraudulent 442's, so to replace the vin plate you won't be able to get "factory" rivets unless you know someone who may have been able to sneak some out in their lunch box. By removing the vin plate you may just be setting yourself up for any prospective future buyers to think that your car is a fraud. I've heard that coating the plate with grease will keep it from being damage during blasting but I've never tried it...