order of steps

[Otateral]

Im approaching a point where all that's left to do on my valiant is cosmetic stuff. First up will be pulling the motor, prepping and painting the engine bay. But that leaves me with a few questions.

I've seen some people strip to bare metal, then primer, then block, primer again, then paint.
I've seen others strip to bare metal, then patch and block, then primer.

My question is whether to patch and then block the bare metal or to apply primer first.

My other question is if I will run into problems in doing the engine bay first before I have done bodywork on the rest of the car. Should I do the whole car's bodywork first before painting the engine bay?

Also which primer would you recommend for each step of this process?

 

[72Dodge]

Strip a panel at a time, pull any dents that need it and patch any rust areas, apply Ospho to metal to protect from rust (check your data sheets to ensure compatibility), clean any areas you need to apply filler to and do so, smooth out that filler with the block, then prime with epoxy. Do all the panels this way. Then use a high build primer on the whole thing (scuffing the epoxy primer first if it's past the open time), then start doing your blocking. Block some more, applying more primer as necessary. This is a long process that I could add a lot more details to. One tip though is to use a different color epoxy primer as your high-build primer so you know when you've broken through to it. When you're 100% sure you've blocked it completely straight, then if you want to do a sealer, apply that, then your color then clear coats.

That's the one paragraph summary. Of course, there's more detail and of course there's more than one way to do it.

I don't think it matters much if you do the bay first or not. I'm sure it's been done both ways.

 

[Otateral]

Cool thanks. I've probably read a dozen different posts and guides on bodywork, but each one is slightly different. Is the Ospho just to prevent rust while you're working on it, or is that meant as a protective coating for under the filler/primer/paint?

 

[72Dodge]

Yeah, there's probably 100 different ways. Some more right than others, but some just as right as others. The Ospho is optional, some swear by it, others not so much. You apply it then rinse off and dry, ideally spraying your epoxy very soon after. It basically does same thing as naval jelly or anything else that neutralizes those tiny little rust spots you might not be able to even see. You might be just as fine to just strip to bare, work fast, then apply the epoxy. Do a search for it and read what people say about it, there's lots of opinions on the subject. Most important thing always is to read those data sheets on whatever products you're using.