hey shane, good to see you posting here buddy.
i'm no paint & body guy, but this is what i did and it has held up well. the metal on my car was first blasted with walnut shells, then got a quick shot with fine sand. according to mr. blaster, this provides the metal with a good \"tooth\" so paint/primer will take to it. then i took the air hose and blew all the excess walnut shells & sand out of every crevis. i made sure that i was thorough and got in and around every corner. then i gave the metal a quick rub down with wax & grease remover. then sprayed on a coat of epoxy primer (rmep589 from white & peters, you'll also need some activator).
if you dont want or need to be this thorough, you can peel paint and get to bare metal with aircraft stripper or a wire wheel if you choose.
i think the most important part is that the metal is clean & rust free. ie...use air & wax & grease remover to get the area you want covered as clean as possible.
from what i have heard, epoxy primer is the way to go if you want a good cover for bare metal and a good canvas for filler & paint.
hopefully the body & paint gurus will step in and offer some more advice.
good luck.
