I removed the front trunk seal to clean, sand and primer the metal. There was a ton of caked dirt and gunk. I got most of it out with a wire brush and a chisel. However, when I went in with my dremel, there appears to be some glue or maybe seam sealer in the channel. The rubber came out easily enough, but it did stick a little in places; is this glued in? I want to make sure before I remove it all that I'm not removing something important.
I didn't take a close-up of the gunk; it's too dark in the garage and it wouldn't really show up anyway, but I did take a picture of the channel I'm talking about.

Click to view attachment

Yes, they're usually glued in, but should come out with an appropriate rubber cement solvent, acetone or blade-type scraper - since it sounds like you plan to go to bare metal then repaint it anyway.

Keep the solvents off of & well away from any adjacent painted surfaces that you don't want damaged.

PS - also clean any rusty areas in the channel, treat with rust converter, then prime with something like Wurth or Eastwood zinc-rich primer, then repaint & allow to cure, before reinstalling the seal with the adhesive.

Good Luck!
Tom
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Double post bugger...

One of the perfect (?) rust traps on our cars,find a suitable solvent to remove the glue ,clean and clean again,be sure to mask away from the good paint,treat with your favorite rust convertor and apply good primer and top coat.
Folks on here say only a small amount of glue to just hold the seal...makes sense,fully glued and you will get rust underneath because the water has no where to go.
Good luck.
EDIT;
Tom beat me to it by a few seconds,but you will get the idea by now.

I bought the new seal from 914rubber and it's such a good fit i didn't glue it at all. It fits the channel good, and after a rainy drive (or a car wash) i pop out the seal and let the channel dry out.

,I have a good genuine one and it only needs a few of the mitred joints reglued otherwise its glue free and sits in the gap nicely.

Mine are actually bonded in the mold. They are not glued, but rather formed as a secondary injection process. This is my improvement over factory. That and the rubber on the corners is softer so it will not push up harder, but form to make a better seal.

Just got done installing your seal, and what a perfect fit. No adhesive needed. Very pleased with it. Thanks again.
Rich

Another vote for the 914Rubber gasket, and no glue.

I have an original replacement seal. No glue needed and after a car wash or rain drive I lift it out to let the channel dry.