Hello Green thumbs, You must be getting an old motor ready to go COOL!  Painting and body work takes years of practice.  I like to sand blast the old paint off.  You can sand it or strip it, it really doesn’t mater as long as you get a good surface for the new paint to adhere too.  If you need to fill imperfections you should use maybe 100 grit to help the bondo stick good.  Mix that goop up and slop it on then use a straight edge to do your best to follow the contour of your tank.  When it hardens I use a coarse file to smooth the bondo then 100 grit to get it close.  Sometimes I need to do several coats of the filler then a sanding block with finer paper maybe 220.  I use a automotive filling primer to fill in the scratches.  Some of my jobs are 20 foot paint jobs but once in a while I get lucky and it turns out ok.

It would be nice to bump into you again one of these days!

dale

get’em wet….don’t let’em set