68 Barracuda FB Build

Alright, so a buddy of mine and I put in a good 2 1/2 hours tonight. I threw my friend my grinder with a wire wheel and let him have at my driver side fender. Not too much rust actually. Theres about a whole the size of a quarter on the bottom of the fender closest to the door. Other than that, the fender is clean. Its nice having ocd friends haha, they do great work (he not really ocd hes just a perfectionist. not trying to offend anybody). I was able to get the passenger side fender off as well as the horn, all emblems, passenger door, and trunk carpet. In One of the pictures you can see my friend working on the fender in the background. What do you guys suggest for a bare metal protector? Should I just shoot it with etching primer or something like "1 step" for rust?