Hi all,
I have an EF8 CRX that I'm doing up. One of my first jobs is to fix the leaks into the rear hatch area. These leaks are VERY well documented. There are some other items but all come under similar area. I have searched and searched so please look at the specifics of my question and only answer if you know for sure please. Thank you all in advance-
- I'm going to be taking the drip rail area back to bare metal removing all seam sealer and paint etc. now my question is, what order do all the layers go back on? I've seen various ideas but none written by a body shop or something.

*do I paint a primer or anything prior to the sealer? I feel like the sealer needs to go first in order to get into any panel gaps efficiently but then I've read other builds where they've done primer first.
So would it be for example 1 bare metal 2 seam sealer 3 sand that smooth 4 etch primer 5 paint 6 clear??

*similar question, in under the spare wheel due to this water that's been getting in there is a small amount of rust around the drainage point. So in this case is it 1 wire wheel 2 rust converter 3 sealer? 4 primer 5 paint 6 clear?

*last one. In fixing this leak I am also removing hatch and for another reason I'm swapping bonnet hinges. So my question for this is again similar but specific. I will remove said item and hinges. Rub it back. When I go to put the hinge back on though does it go down on bare metal? Or on primer? Or on fully painted surface? Once it is secured down it then gets sealer around the edges like it had from factory. Again though is that seam sealer put on at bare metal stage or primer or on top of the painted surface. Can you give me the step. For eg. 1 Bare metal 2 secure hinge to bare metal 3 use seam sealer on all bare metal 4 primer over the top of it all 5 paint 6 clear OR
1 bare metal 2 primer 3 fit hinge 4 sealer over primer 5 paint etc

*also would you get the Honda paint code paint? Or just a generic black (car is black) from super cheap etc?

As I said. I have searched and have myself more confused. Please therefore don't speculate, only comment if you know the way it should be done please.

Thank you again. Sorry for length of post I just need to know exactly what to do.