rbattelle said:
Wow, that looks incredible. When you say you "clean to bare metal" what do you mean, exactly? Are you media blasting it?
Of course, you realize now that it looks so nice you'll have a job on your hands keeping it looking nice!
-Ryan
No media blasting- no sand blasting. Although those processes will work I didn't want to deal with the mess afterwards... .
I use a air powered right angle die grinder with one of them 3-m Rust buster wheels.
They work pretty good with a good supply of air from compressor. Just keep it moving as you are only trying to clean the surface not remove metal.
When I have a section done and bare I take a new clean rag with acetone soaked in and wipe away to remove all contaniments that could ruin your hard work later on... .
Then I use a special metal cleaner from PPG.
Then I use a metal conditioner that has etching abilities and this is the rust protection- once treated with this you could leave the metal prepped like this and continue with your work elsewhere- rust won't set in- the bare metal is protected.
I've left bare metal prepped this way outside for weeks on end and it stayed the same way- NO RUST. And untreated bare metal starts to rust right away.
Then I shoot a good primer base- I preferr to use PPG products- PPG DP-90 is a great epoxy primer.
When your ready to shoot your color or in my case a base color, take a red scotchbrite pad and lightly scuff the primer that is already layed down- doing this will promote additional adheasion to the primer. Be sure to blow off your work after scuffing, take a lightly damp- not soaked tack rag and lightly wipe down your work.
Shoot you color. You may have chosen a single stage paint that when it dries it's already shiny so you don't need an additional clear coat- I chose a double stage type paint as it dries with a non shiny finish- I am applying my own clearcoat after all the work is done.
I don't mind the additional cleaning when it's done because the results will speak for itself..... Flat colors and semi flat colors tend to hold onto dirt better than shiny surfaces so it shouldn't be all that bad- besides now that I can see everything great it should be easy to wipe off and clean.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I had a statey fly up on my back door, follow me- then completely circled around my truck all the while driving down the highway- and he pulled off- I was adhearing to the law so he couldn't ticket me for nothing!!
:-laf 
