[Stepside Jim]

Ok, good conversation.

My intent is to focus on the original post with the pics showing lots of rust pits and the rust roof rain rail.

I did however mention the concept of using Epoxy as a seal coat so the concept of chemical bond would have a clear vision.

I was also forcing the concept of using Epoxy first then body filler second to see if anybody would bring up filler first, then Epoxy. Most us in this discussion are into or past our 50's, we all never had Epoxy most of our automotive past. Here we are, 30 years later and our filler on metal cars are still hanging in there.

We all had Lacquer based primer for the most part, which didn't grab metal worth a darn. Perhaps acid etch primers too but they were very specific in application.

Back to the original post, the pit pics. Some, as we've heard, are not sand blast enthusiasts. In can honestly say I am not a fan of rust conversion chemicals. For the acid dipping, I do wish I was near a facility, but I'm out in the sticks, I have to mail order most of my needs as it is.

Perhaps there is still place for filler directly to sand blasted metal?

Let's clarify a candidate area for sandblasting. Back to the original pics, simply remove open, near flat sheet metal areas as candidates, leave that to the pros or experienced guys or last resort situations. The rounded areas are prime for blasting. The rain rail area is good to go, the rounded dash, absolutely, the rust pits on the roof edge, cautiously, but yes. All be it as mentioned previously, moving the blasting wand continuously and at an angle, never stay in one place.

Maybe rust conversion chemicals work maybe not, I just know for the time someone applies a chemical into a rust pitted area and waits for a dry time I can blast out the pitted area, see clean virgin metal, soak the area with a cleaner, skim coat the pitted area with filler, let it cure, sand smooth and coat with Epoxy.

The filler sticks to the blasted metal pits, the sanding of the filler smooths the high spots from sand blasting and we know the Epoxy will bond to the filler and the sanded metal. The pits are gone, the Epoxy cures for it's time, sand and apply high build primer. Smooth.

I'm not not advocating using filler before Epoxy, I'm a strong believer in Epoxy first. I'm just looking at this particular situation.