Topic: Can Old Body Sealer Be Cleaned Up And Painted Over?

[KenFirch]

Lots of info on removing, applying new body sealer, duplicating factory look, etc. 
But can old sealer be cleaned of the dirt and grime, coated with epoxy 2K, and repainted?
Mineral Spirits and soft toothbrush seem to clean pretty good.  Some touchup will be needed.
Just wondering if anyone has tried it, and the results, good or bad.

Thanks, Ken

[J_Speegle]

Most of the time but not always the original product is cracking so it could be used without repair. It's often hard as a rock after 50 plus years.

More often sections have already detached from the body which IMHO suggests that the rest is due to fall off also. Most of the time people find it much easier just to remove and replace with modern products that may hold up better. With that said I've often left things like original sound deadener in rear wheel wells on a rust free car rather than to try to replicate the original look. Still need to top coat it before body color to get that sprayed on look back


Bottom line IMHO both will work on a nice Calif car but you take your chances touching up and leaving the original product that has already started cracking. Same goes with just applying an additional coat over the original if can work but you have to accept the risks 

[KenFirch]

Thanks Jeff.   I'm leaning towards keeping the old hard original sealer as much as possible, repairing any cracks and replacing any detached areas.
If results are good I'll post some before/after pictures. 

[jwc66k]

Thanks Jeff.   I'm leaning towards keeping the old hard original sealer as much as possible, repairing any cracks and replacing any detached areas.
If results are good I'll post some before/after pictures.

Having been faced with a similar situation on a 66 Mustang FT Fastback (it speaks "Australian" now), I opted to remove the old and apply some new sealer. That was based on me trying to "save" the sealer on a 66 mustang Hardtop (still got that one). In general, applying new may have taken a bit longer than trying to "save" the old sealer, but it was cheaper in the long run and looked a lot (a WHOLE lot) better. (The proof is in the "adjectives".)
Jim

[RocketScientist]

I have cheated by thinning black Sikaflex with mineral turpentine (its a bit of an effort to get it to mix-in) and then brushing it over the top. The Sikaflex will seal and bind the old sealant, fill the gaps and it can go on light enough to preserve the old application marks. It is also paintable, unlike normal silicon sealants, which mans you can over-coat it as well. I have used it where the PO has painted over original sealants and I have re-painted them to have a rubberized black colour showing through.
Brad

[KenFirch]

It is tempting to remove it all, prime it properly before sealing, instead of the original over bare metal technique.  But seems a shame to remove it all and reapply, trying to duplicate the ugly factory look.  I can just imagine the folks slathering the stuff on back in the day, in the few minutes while the body was at their station, not thinking much about the appearance as long as they covered specific areas as required. Probably most sealer reapplications look much better than original.  I'm waiting for some stuff to arrive before starting the sealant salvage project.  It may not work out, and I may end up removing it all after all, we'll see.  But worth a shot.

Ken

[KenFirch]

I found that acetone worked well cleaning up the old black gunk off the body sealer with scuff pad.  Wished acetone didn't dry so fast, had to work on small areas fast.  Knocked off any loose sealer, cleaned cracks with a brush.  Treated any exposed metal with inhibitor.  Applied brush-on body sealer with gloved finger, thin coat, just enough to cover, filled in cracks and replaced missing areas.  Doesn't look exactly like the old brush marks, but good enough. Maybe should have used cut-down stiff brush instead.  Epoxy primer is next after some more metal prep and removing doors.  Trunk is next.

[KenFirch]

I didn't want to leave this thread hanging, so posting a couple pics after epoxy primer was applied.  It's ugly, definitely not as pretty as I would have done the sealer if I had stripped it off. But, I guess that's the way it was done.  Just wanted to test the process before prepping further for primering the entire car.

[KenFirch]

A few more pics.  I was able to reuse about 95% of the original sealer by cleaning and applying a thin coat of brush on sealer.  Big and ugly.    . I used a single stage acrylic urethane 71528 from TCP for all the non-exterior areas, BC/CC will be used on exterior.