So I'm going to start my first project on a 1998 Mercedes e320. The car had a lot of rust and I've removed the rust. The rust wasn't that bad either, little small spots here and there. Anyways, the car is silver at the moment and I wanted to paint it with a single stage jet black. Now, some parts of the car are down to bare metal and I know I need to use epoxy in order for the primer to sit on the metal properly. My question is, do I have to sand the whole car down or can I use the same primer that the car originally came with in order for me to use the single stage acrylic paint? And if I do what kind of primer do I have to use with single stage acrylic paint? Also, should I use the bondo on the bear metal before the epoxy primer or should I do it after? I appreciate all the help I can get

You do not have to use epoxy, nor do you have to take the entire car down to bare metal. Epoxy is good, and can be used on bare metal -- and any good DTM (direct to metal) primer can also be used. If you are painting the car black (and you want it to come out good) see the sticky in this forum titled "guide coat".

Personally, I'd use a DTM high build primer over the entire project - including over where you only sanded down to factory primer. Then I would block that new primer down using guide coat. This is the primer I have been using (which I also sell at the store here):

http://www.autobody101.com/store/paint- ... allon-kit/

If you do decide to use epoxy you can put bondo over it or under it -- but you will need to shoot something over the bondo (usually a 2K primer). This is why I am saying to simply use a DTM 2K high build primer and avoid the sandwich of various products on the car...