I installed a new door skin on my chevelle. I want to apply seam sealer to the area inside the door where the skin lip folder over onto the body of the door. right now, there is alot of bare metal showing on the door body in that area and I was thinking of shooting SW 980 etch primer to cover the bare metal first, then brushing seam sealer on top to cover the joint where door skin folded over. Good idea, or not. Or should I seam seal first, then spray etch on top of it and the bare metal showing around it.

You didn't read the "Basic of Basics" of door skins first did you? smile.gif Those bare metal spots should have been covered before the skin was installed.

There is really no reason not to apply the seam sealer over the etch. I have never seen it directly refered to in any tech sheets as a yes or a no.

There may be some areas that you can't even get to. Try to spray some paint back in there. After you can spray some "cavity wax", this can be bought at the paint store and will have a long tube like a WD40 can to get back in the nooks and crannies.

Actually I did read the basics of basics re door skin install before. It was an excellent guide to bending over the lip. I did paint the bare edge of the door body with POR 15 before I folded the lip over. So I do have some corrosion protection under the lip. Inside the door cavity, I also treated then painted with POR 15, so that is covered. There was some minor rust on the door body about 1 or 2 inches away from the folded over door skin lip, so I sanded it bare and will spray that with SW etch. I intend to sand bare the Por15 right beside the folded lip as I have heard not much likes to stick to POR15 ie. the seam sealer. So, unless I hear otherwise in the next day or so, I will etch the bare metal beside the lip and cover it with seam sealer, after the etch cures, (which will mean I have to scuff it a bit with scothcbrite pad before I apply seam sealer). Sounk okay?

You got it right, seam sealers should never be applied over bare metal. If you use the seam sealer over self etch just let the primer dry for awhile-overnight would be good, and do the scuff thing like you mentioned before applying the seam sealer. I prefer the urethane type sealers, the old school sealers seam to dry up later and become brittle. I usually apply a bead inside the shell as well and tool it with my finger-but make sure the drains stay open. Sounds like your're doing a nice job-better than most bodyshops would have done in my opinion. graemlins/beers.gif