I have a 69 2 Door that has good paint and a straight body however I want to repant it a different color. I also have removed the vinyl top and want to leave it off. Ofcoarse once I got the car home and took off the viyl top I found it was covered in rust. I have a sand blaster (and the proper resporator) and was thinking the best way to prepare the roof is to blast the rust clean, weld a patch where it rusted through, and then apply a mild posphoric acid solution to the clean metal as I read about in a restoration book. The book discribes simply cleaning the metal with the solution and then primming over it, however when I bought the PPG DX579 the tech sheet says to mix it 2:1 with water and then rinse the bare metal with water and dry it before priming. This washing the bare metal with water makes me very nervous! I also need to fill the pitted areas that passed the screwdriver test with something like Metal2metal made by evercoat when should I do this? How should I apply this DX579 as well as the metal2metal? Also is it OK to use a good rattle can to etch over the bare metal? Since I think I will be 320 D/A ing the rest of the body that has good paint and then spraying it with a good hi fill primer. Thanks for any advice, I know I have allot to learn here, and I want to do this right after last year when I ground out all the rust on my truck (so I thought) until it was shinny clean spent days filling and sanding only to have a beautiful end result that re-bubbled an began to rust all over again 6 months later.

Follow the directions on the rust converter and conversion coatings. YES they are meant to be mixed with water but have no fear a protective phospahte coating will be on the metal protecting it when it comes time to rise.

In order for this process to work right you NEED to use both steps. The first step is dx579 which is a cleaner that will remove SLIGHT surface rust. The second step produces a zinc phosphate coating which is what protects the metal the number is dx520. You need both products in order to use this process correctly.

Right out the tech sheet,
STEP 1 apply dx579 mixed 1:2 with water. Allow 2-3 mins of react time, rinse off with water, water NEEDS to sheet off, if not reapply in that spot. Wipe dry with a lint free towel dont blow dry.

STEP 2 Apply dx520 straight from the container. Scrub dx520 with an abrasive pad. Allow 1-2 mins of react time the rinse with water. NEEDS to sheet off it not reapply.

Once again wipe dry. Prime with DPLF epoxy primer within the same day.

You can apply filler over cured and scuffed DPLF epoxy, but Id use something like Evercoat's rage or rage gold.