Real Quarter Seam Sealing?

[Cavalry]

How is everyone sealing their rear quarters (from new all stripped sheetmetal) My concern is leaving a consistent finish.

My plans were to mask off lines, seam seal, wipe away excess, then pull tape.

I feel that I will still have a visible tape line?

 

[BroncoJAK]

This is what I did on the OBB, and I was real anal about the seams. All the sheetmetal had a coat of epoxy primer. I used 3m heavybody seam sealer. It's a 2 part sealer that kicks pretty fast so you have to move quickly. I pushed the sealer in the seams, smoothed them out with a gloved finger and wiped off excess with 3m adhesive remover. The body was primer with urethane primer and blocked including the seams. No tape lines because I used no tape. And the seams came out better than any other I've seen. This method was stressful and labor intensive, but worked perfectly.

 

[Mark]

Yellowrouge sounds like his method turned out near perfect, I on the other hand, coated the metal on both sides with POR15, then used this seam sealer.
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1674&itemType=PRODUCT
I had good results.

 

[allenfahey]

Yellowrouge, did the 3M seam sealer use a special gun?

If so Fusor 800 is a good seam sealer that doesn't require a special 2 barrrel caulking gun and doesn't dry too quick. Whatever seam sealer you use make sure it is paintable otherwise you must prime or seal the seam sealer. Have the 1/4 primed and sanded/scuffed washed off with degreaser, and tacked off. Apply seam sealer and let it sit untill it dries then paint it. I've seen a few demo's about seam sealer and they all say don't use chemicals to smooth out the seam sealer because it can "react" to the sealer. Alot of Body men I've seen spread it with a lint free rag for joints like the upper and lower 1/4 and around the tailights. If your doing a door skin then use the tape and an acid brush.

 

[BroncoJAK]

Yellowrouge, did the 3M seam sealer use a special gun?

If so Fusor 800 is a good seam sealer that doesn't require a special 2 barrrel caulking gun and doesn't dry too quick. Whatever seam sealer you use make sure it is paintable otherwise you must prime or seal the seam sealer. Have the 1/4 primed and sanded/scuffed washed off with degreaser, and tacked off. Apply seam sealer and let it sit untill it dries then paint it. I've seen a few demo's about seam sealer and they all say don't use chemicals to smooth out the seam sealer because it can "react" to the sealer. Alot of Body men I've seen spread it with a lint free rag for joints like the upper and lower 1/4 and around the tailights. If your doing a door skin then use the tape and an acid brush.

It does require a special gun. Personally I have never had any problems with reaction. Probably because this stuff is only workable for less than a minute. Whenever we have someone do a demo the first ? we ask is it workable with a chemical like adhesive remover. Some are some aren't. The easiest ss that is workable I've ever used is a Crest brand, that stuff was great for smoothing seams. Drawback was it needed atleast 12 hours to cure.

 

[allenfahey]

It does require a special gun. Personally I have never had any problems with reaction. Probably because this stuff is only workable for less than a minute. Whenever we have someone do a demo the first ? we ask is it workable with a chemical like adhesive remover. Some are some aren't. The easiest ss that is workable I've ever used is a Crest brand, that stuff was great for smoothing seams. Drawback was it needed atleast 12 hours to cure.

Alot of bodymen want to use laquer thinner. For a guy at home the Crest might be the thing to use. He won't have a painter standing over the job waiting for it to dry;D

 

[2badrotties]

I have used different typs of urethane seam sealer and used wax and grease remover to smooth it or remove the excess. Never had a problem... ever. SEM makes some really good seam sealer too that dries very hard and sets up quick. SEM makes two self leveling seam sealers that would work well if you don't want to use regular urethane seam sealer. Whatever you chose to use it won't be a big deal to make perfect looking seams. If you want to use any brand that requires a special gun you can ride down here and BORROW mine since I probably won't be using it on jbeyers truck for at least another year LOL ;D .

Remember this ... The underside seam is more important than that outside seam ! If you don't clean and seal that seam underneath it is only a matter of time before water gets in there and wastes all your hard work. Same goes for the backside of the quarter panel to tail lamp panel.

 

[Cavalry]

thanks for the offer 2bad. I already have a gun left over from when I did a bunch of structural adheasive at work.

whats up with jbeyers truck? have not seen any updates for awhile

 

[2badrotties]

thanks for the offer 2bad. I already have a gun left over from when I did a bunch of structural adheasive at work.

whats up with jbeyers truck? have not seen any updates for awhile

Ahhhhh ... you must have missed my thread. I started working on joes truck in January and in April he came up and gave me a few bucks to go away to a dog show but I have not seen him since. After about 6 months I PMed him here and told him I wasn't very happy and to come and get his truck. He said "oh sorry Andy I thought you would be working on the Jag" and I said no ... waiting to finish this Bronco BUT you still have not brought me a door or grill or even told me what color it is going to be so I can edge in some parts. I told him to get up here and look at whats done and we would " talk " about me finishing it. Soooo , he says he can't take an un-finished truck back to NY City and he wanted me to finish it. WELL ... that was 3 months ago and I am more than pissed off. This thing is keeping me from doing anything in my garage and that doesn't even count the 5 or 6 small jobs I lost out on because of it being here. I am not very happy about the whole situation. In just a couple of weeks it will be here for A YEAR ! Funny thing is the very last thing I did on it was sandblast those seams that this thread is about LOL. He has not even been on classicbroncos since the 22nd of last month. I told him when he left it here that it would be my only income so NO I didn't expect it to be here a year. I have since gotten a job and I can assure you .... I WILL NEVER FINISH IT !!! He would be paying hundreds of dollars a month down in New York City for a garage to let this thing sit. He may get a big surprise when he finally come back up here. I think it is pretty piss poor when someone takes advantage of you when you are doing them a favor. The little money I was making on that truck wouldn't even buy some people a paint job. So far I have installed both front floorpans, a floor support, two inner rockers, two outer rockers, two striker posts, two door posts, two kick panels, two front wheel tubs, a radiator support, replaced a section of the cowl top, sandblasted some places. He brought me this truck FULL of parts from a truck he had and I have all of these parts all oven my garage and outside in my backyard. He was supposed to get me a left door and grill in April but so far I have seen nothing ! He has paid me right around $1500 so far so it isn't like he isn't paying me at all. The problem is , I could have done a small wreck in a week and made that much money and the people would have had it back 10 months ago. Maybe he thinks he is paying too much but $1500 doesn't really go that far now days. Hey... I have $200 - $300 just in materials so far ( grinding discs, cut off wheels, welding wire and gas, sand, epoxy primer, etc. ). All I do know is that most body shops wouldn't have touched this truck from the cowl forward for $1500

thanks for giving me a little chance to vent