best solvent for removing old seam sealer?

Ok, so i'm in the process of stripping all the old seam sealer out. After removing the bulk of it i need to finish up with a solvent to remove the last of it. Brake cleaner seems to work great, but i would rather not tear through multiple cans of that and was looking for a cheaper option. This is all in preparation for laying down por 15 on the interior and paint afterwards, so i will be degreasing and acid etching after removing the seam sealer.

Lacquer thinner or Acetone will work,wear gloves eye protection , plenty of ventilation and if in an enclosed space, a respirator wouldn`t hurt . Cheers , Scott

Jeff, I am taking this same route soon but using KBS paint (same stuff I used on my chassis). What Seam Sealer did u decide on using & what application are u taking (brush on, caulk gun?)

If your already past this stage in the game I hope u took pix. I would live to see your work

I bought both brushable and caulk. I have never used either, so i figured i would try both and see what i liked best. As for acetone working on old seam sealer...hell no. Paint thinner, meh. Naptha, meh. Brake cleaner - superb, but i don't think i want to used 15 cans of brake cleaner pulling out old seam sealer. I get what i can with a screwdriver and persistence, but i'm still looking for the best solvent. Going to run up to home depot later to see what else i can try.

My plan is to get all the seam sealer out and get it down to metal, prep it, then use por 15 silver on the trunk/interior/firewall, then paint flat over the top of it before it totally dries. I'm taking my sweet ass time prepping it. I really want to make sure i get the por 15 into the seams to prevent what rust i can, then i'll seam sealer it prior to painting.

Gasoline will do the trick of getting that crap off. But u know the dangers risks & cons. Wear gloves, eye protection, well vented area oh don't forget the respirator. I was just reading about the lead in gas & the fumes causing cancer blah blah…well u know. Be safe if u go that route.

How about a mechanical way. Wire wheel/cup on a 4-1/2" angle grinder? Hit it lightly enough to just get the crap off after the putty knifes & screwdrivers?? That might work…wait u said u wAnt to go down to metal? The angle grinder will def do the job. That's how I got my chassis down to metal…check out my build thread pix

Who did u order your supplies from? I am subscribed to this thread. I am on your heels with this stage of the project. Keep us posted

I have a pneumatic scaler that works really well on dried up seam sealer. But the sealer has to be dried out for the scaler to work well.

Please tell me that you're going to reseal the seams before putting the POR 15 on. It's quick easy and cheap. I don't know that the POR 15 will seal the seams good enough to keep the krud out.

Ed

Goo Gone is the best stuff I've found to remove adhesive, sealers, etc......it cleans up easily also...

Ed i was thinking it would go like this, and i will explain my thinking. Down to metal everywhere, patching any rust with sheetmetal. No fiberglass. Prep with the usual por 15 degreasing and acid prior to application. Por 15 over everything so i can ensure any rust that was left gets encapsulated or converted. Seam sealer over the top of that, then shoot it with paint. I want it structurally sound and as rust free as a frame on can be. At least that is what i am going for.

I thought about doing the seam sealer prior to the por 15, but thought it could causes problems. First off, as you know i replaced every damn floor panel in the car except for the 2 under the rear seats. There was slight rust under the seam sealer in a few places. The por 15 needs to be in direct contact with anything that was rusted in my opinion. Even if it no longer looks rusted, i don't think throwing seam sealer on top of it first would be the way to go. Obviously the best way to go about this would have been to strip the car down all the way and blast or dip it, but i want to drive it before 2015, so this is going to be the best i can do with a frame on. I may go back and redo it in a year or two, but i want to get some enjoyment out of it now without worrying about it being a Flintstone-mobile with cutouts for my feet.

So basically my process was/is sand/de-rust, prep, por 15, seam sealer, paint. Do you think that is out of order and if so why? Seems to me that if i was going to seam seal first i wouldn't bother with the por 15 at all. The only places i would have any amount of rust now are my welds and seams - places i can't readily get to. Anything i can see has had all rust removed via chemical or sanding, so this is more just insurance that it doesn't come back quickly.

And thanks for the tip, i wll check out the goo gone and see if that suits the situation.

Sounds logical to me. I guess I was thinking that the POR-15 was going to be your final step.

Ed

Why do u want to paint over the POR-15?

Those are the logical steps I'm gonna take too…minus the final paint. The KBS (same as POR-15) paint doesn't need to be top coated unless its gonna be exposed to UV rays. The KBS will not see any sun under layers of dynamat, new jute & carpet kit.

It looks like the seam sealer in my car was laid over the factory painted floor boards from the factory…

I have enough paint to spray the whole car inside and out, so i thought i would do it all at once. Yea, the por 15 won't see much of the sun, so it will likely be overkill, but ah well. This way i won't have to worry about it at all and i can take my sweet ass time putting the carpet in. My work on the car goes in spurts as i come to slow periods in business at the shop. I have an engine swap in a bmw crapbox to do this week or next, then i plan on getting back on the riviera for a bit.

That's a man with a plan lol

I'd love to hear how it all turns out.

So what's the word? How did your floor pans turn out? Any pix?

David

Well i found that a pressure washer is about the best damn thing for removing old seam sealer. Pressure washer with degreaser made pretty quick work of what i was wanting to get. Used a gallon of purple power and got all the seam sealer and even some rust i was having a hard time getting to. Unfortunately, rain got me before i could do the next step and hit it with the metal prep, but that is what stage i am on now. I have all the outside metal work done and just need to metal prep and paint the trunk and interior, then a little body filler work on my fabbed patch panels and rear wheelwells. The pressure washer was also real good at getting rid of the undercoating on the wheel wells so i could insure i had all the rust in check.

I found a neat product called por patch to fill some pitted spots and various pinholes in hard to reach places. It is like double thick por 15. Same rules apply - prep,prep,prep. Anything that sees the sun then has to be scuffed,tie-coated, then painted. I think i am going to slap spatter paint on the inside of the trunk after the tie coat. I'm stalled out for a week due to the weather, but then i should have a nice round of new pictures from the last month or two to get caught up.

I had done a poor job on the pans under the seats thinking i could lap weld them and cut off excess while it was up iinn the air on the rack. No such luck, so i had to cut all my welds and recut the body to butt weld the middle pans again. About a day or two setback on that, but at least now they are done what i would think is right. No excess.