pre-paint caulking

[RICH MUISE]

I finally got my car pretty much ready for paint except all the odds and ends. One of the things I'll be spending the winter on is making sure I didn't miss anything...which got me to thinking about caulking seams,etc. My floorpans have all been caulked prior to prime and/or paint, including of course the trunk areas, and likewise on the trunk rain gutter and roof raingutter. The inside of the cowl as well has been thoroughly caulked. Many of the seams that were originally caulked have been welded and filled.All of the outside floorpan, wheelwells, etc. have been undercoated also. But that's about all I've done with the seam sealers. In your experiences, are there any areas other that I've mentioned that need attention prior to painting. Have you had any areas that leaked because they were areas you wish you had sealed? You see a lot of photos and videos on cars getting preped for painting and rarely if ever do you see them  seam sealing...I'm guessing it's the norm not to do as much of it as was done at the factory? If you brouse thru the trim and sealant manual they have that stuff all over the place.

[JimNolan]

Rich,
   The calking for the 57 was done by my painter. I did the calking on my 63. The old calking on my 63 looked very good for being 47 years old. But, you could have a line of calking 6 inches long and all of it would be firmly adhered to the metal except maybe a 1/2" and there would be surface corrosion under it. Sooo, I ripped all the calking out and used a wire wheel to remove any surface rust inside the car and along the seams especially. I then painted the whole thing with Por 15 and applied the new calking over the Por 15.
   Your post indicates you calked the floor before painting. I was wondering if I did mine wrong. Does calking have any corrosion preventing qualities or is it just there to seal the seams in case there's a path for water to enter the interior. I know my interior floor doesn't look to pretty especially being black and the sealant being grey. But,  I'm planning on using sound dampner on the floor so I figured you wouldn't see it anyway. Jim
   

[Ford Blue blood]

Jim the caulk is a sealer.  Putting it on on top of the Por 15 should not be a problem.  I like the 3-M two part sealer as it will sand when dry, is paintable and remains slightly flexible over the years.  The Birds I have done had a combination of sealer on bare steel then paint and sealer on primer then paint and sealer over the paint.  I prefer Por 15 on seams in the trunk, floor and underside then sealer then primer.  I put it on top of primer in the drip rails and other top side areas then prime again after cured.  Not too sure it makes a lot of difference as these cars have a tendancy to NOT having prolonged exposure to foul weather and they get pampered far beyond what the factory designed into them (they were all throw away cars until the eighties!).

[RICH MUISE]

Jim...I don't think you did it wrong at all. I oversimplified my statement of what I did to my seams. As usual, I probably got carried away, but like yourself and Bill, the first thing that went on the metal after stripping and rust treatment, was por-15. In areas that didn't get por-15 tie-coat primer, I applied an adhesion promoter and then the calking/sealer.On ares like the floorboards and trunk that were entirely por-15'd, and to be painted, I used por-15 tie coat primer followed by the seam sealer. In either case the next thing to go on was the base 2-part primer after the sealer had cured thoroughly.
I just did it before the paint for appearance. I don't think the sealer has any protective qualities at all, so you need something under it to protect the paint (I'm aware that wasn't how it was done at the factory)
In my first post, the paint I was refering to after sealing,was topcoat, not the por-15.
I misread your post the first time I read it. The grey sealer over "Black" you were refering to is the por-15, not black paint..am I correct.?
Bill, good points on out cars not usually being subject to too much fowl weather, I guess I was thinking mostly of rain and car washing.

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   As you probably know my 57 is a daily driver/show car. If you've ever heard of that. Granted the interior is fading, the paint is getting chips in it, it needs new tires and the front end needs re-aligned. But, rust I won't tolerate. After talking with you guys I may pull the carpet out of my 57 and check the floorboards this winter. I replaced the carpet once last year because the windshield leaked, so checking the floor boards wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. Other than noticing the floorboards were new and painted Colonial white I didn't think to be critical over seam sealer and the work my painter did two years ago. Now I'm wondering. Jim