Epoxy primer question

[MAW]

All of my painting experience in the last 30 yrs or so has been on boats. With the marine paints once you put an epoxy down you have to stay with an epoxy base for your fillers as well, you can't use plain old Bondo or equivalents.

My '37 body comes back from the strippers on Monday and I need to seal it right away. With the suggested epoxy sealers I see recommended here can I use polyester fillers directly on top of the epoxy?

There will be metal work (patch panels) to be worked in and the top coats will be in an LP if that impacts the recommendation.

Thanks, Mark

[HOTRODPAINT]

Mark, If it worked for you before, I would stay with it.

I don't use epoxy, so I can't offer any proven advice. What I can say is that I always sand to bare metal for polyester filler. I never use it on top of paint of any kind. The only product I use over paint is Fiberglass-Evercoat Euroglaze, and I rough sand the surface before I use that.

You need to have confidence in your paint system, so I would go with what you know!

[MAW]

Thanks. I'd like to move away from the epoxy based fillers if possible. They're quite a bit harder to sand than the polester based products and require around 4 hours of cure time before sanding.

The body will be set up in my shop, but it's not climate controlled. We're 2 miles from the beach and raw steel will begin to rust within a day or so. If I treat the surfaces with MetalPrep how long will this offer protection? Once the bodywork is finished do I remove the residual MetalPrep or just primer over?

Thanks again, Mark

[HOTRODPAINT]

On metal prep I've used, you are supposed to prime after it's dried for 30 minutes.

I'd say it would be best to talk to your local body shop supplier. Tell him what you are doing, and ask what his other customers are using.

[Darin]

I agree with HRP. I always put bodyfiiller directly on the metal. I am sure this subject has and will be debated. Somwhere on autobody 101 there was someone who linked a site where someone did
a test by putting filler on bare metal and
then over epoxy . the filler over epoxy seperated. Also for some good info go to www.roadsters.com/filler/ .

[MAW]

Thanks for the help and link guys.

Regards, Mark