Thanks to the recommendations from bhawk and sevt_chevelle a few weeks ago, I have successfully butt-welded the drivers side qtr panel onto my 66. I was very pleased with how well this fit. Your advice should pay off in the long run as the butt weld has many advantages. graemlins/hurray.gif

Next I ground the welds down, removed old paint from OEM qtr section up above the weld, then applied a coating of Duraglass over the welded area. I used a good wax/grease solvent cleaner to wipe the bare metal clean (I did not use a metal conditioner - is that OK?), then put a coating of Omni Epoxy Primer over the dura glass and surrounding bare metal. Next I plan to use a lightwt filler to fill any low areas and sand smooth. Should I then put another coating of epoxy primer or should I go to the sandable primer? Note it will be more than 72 hrs since I applied the epoxy primer.
What do you recommend/does this sound right to you? I will try to get a picture on here soon....

I'm gonna try and tackle this one, the guys who have more experience will correct/add to what I have to say.

Metal conditioner under filler is not recommended by any manufacturer that I know of, so you did good there.

You are going to have to sand/rough up you epoxy with 180 grit paper (some guys I have read even just use red scotchbrite) or so before you apply any more filler. Once you have applied your lightweight filler and have it sanded smooth you will most likely have sanded down to the steel at spots, so you could either use an etching primer on those areas and then epoxy, or forgo the etch and put down another coat of epoxy.

Anyone else?

Ok IMO up till the duraglass.. Why a coat of Omni epoxy Primer.. Do you plan to let it sit a Looooooong time ?
Do the duraglass/tiger hair.. blow off and start using the Bondo you Choise to build your surface... After it's FLAT or shaped to the final contour . Then you PRIM IMO...
I am, not a Fan of Plastic over primer.. Even Epoxy..... I like to feather out to STEEL

Metal treatments...out dated dont use it!

There are good arugements for epoxy on metal then filler. If done right you wont have problems. Myself do it on my personal stuff and yet to have a problem. I believe there are a few car manufactors even recommending epoxy under filler, all import cars.

But then again filler over metal has been the method for how many years???

Both methods will fail if done wrong and both will achieve great results if done right.
If you choose to apply epoxy then filler wait several days til you apply the filler. I succf it with 180 but Ive read of guys applying without any type of scuffing at all.

Once you have all the filler blocked Id go ahead and apply 1 coat of epoxy to the entire part.

Even thou am not a OMNI fan by any means Ive got a 38 farmall tractor that has been in OMNI epoxy for almost 2 years now. Hate to say it but am impressed with OMNI's epoxy

Am from a small sh!t town of Clarion, about 4000 people, roughly 40 mins north of Ames right off I-35

I had the area just above the body line in bare metal for the full length of the quarter, so about 4 inches by 50 inches or so. I was concerned with the extremely high humidity here in Iowa lately that it could rust in a few days if not treated w/ primer. The autobody supply store is the one who talked me into shooting epoxy primer over the bare metal. It doesn't sound like it will be a big problem, so I will spread the filler over top of the scuffed epox primer. It won't take much filler - just some very minor low spots.
sevt_chevelle - my brother lives in Webster City -he is a big Firebird nut - he has 2 '71's one is a TA. I would like to see him get the TA restored as it is rusting away in his barn. He works at Beam. Do you attend the Briggs Woods show (I cant remember the exact name)? I don't know when that is this year if it isn' already past the date.
Thanks for the comments guys. I will post my success story later (I hope).