Infamous Roof Channel Leak

[cjwisinski]

Hi All, I am gearing up to repair the roof channel. Found some cracking in the seam sealer and there is some water getting in near the top corners of the windshield. I am going to remove the windshield and roof rails, strip the entire roof and roof seams, and do it right. The "doing it right part" is what I want to make sure of. Below are a couple of questions I have:

Do you need to prime below the seam sealer in the roof channels or do you put the sealer on bare metal?
What seam sealer is the best out there, I only want to do this once.
I was thinking about using POR15 on the entire roof and then painting over it. Also contemplating the bedliner route, I would like some suggestions.
What is the best way to remove the windshield? I have done it before with the cutting wire method, is that the easiest way?

Thank you for any suggestions!

 

[Carl Norgaard]

Check for water leaking on the body control module. It's in the dash over top of the steering column. It's $1,000 to replace and you're dead in the water if it goes out. The lousy windshield sealant was another of Ford's "cost reductions".