yup! rust-oleum is okay for minor stuff like bumpers and stuff, but I would not trust a frame to a "rattle can" or at least not one that was not so "industral".
I thought about some of the other stuff I have seen around. There is a spray type rust catalyst that sounds similar to the Permatex you mentioned. I was trying to weigh between that stuff and/or the Rust Bullet type stuff.
Like you said if you don't get all the rust really well, it will come back. But at this point I am just trying to slow it down until I can do the frame off project a little bit further down the road. But do you think I could use the Rust bullet to eliminate most of the rust, and then the Permatex ontop of that to safe guard the frame for a little while?
Another concern of mine is where am I going to remove the current rust at? I mean I know that if you use a wire brush first and then treat the metal. The wire brush removal makes the rust "air borne" thus can cantiminate other metal in the surrounding area. Which in my case could be very bad. in my garage I have a perfect (no rust) project BMW and just outside the garage sits the other 40 (which has no rust) and my Tacoma that has no major rust on it. I would hate to "spread" the desease to any of my other vehicles. I guess I am going to have to "bag" the 78 before tackling the rust!
(sorry didn't mean to start rambling)
My 2 cents worth: conventional wisdom 1, 2 and 3: it's all in the prep! Do not expect magic from any of the products others have been anecdotally discussing here if you are not committed to the proper prep. Proper prep will make every other product work fine. Goal is to 1. remove effectively any existing rust, 2. neutralize any residual surface rust, 3. replace with new sheet metal any cancerous rust.
To remove rust: sandblasting, electrolysis, or wheel-brushing
To neutralize: metal prep or any phosporic neutralizer at NAPA or other auto parts applied right after you are done removing rust (wash with soap and water, towel or blower dry promptly and then treat metal with rust neutralizer asap). This will buy you a day or two of metal proection until you can then:
apply etch primer
follow with epoxy primer
finish with single-stage glossy black paint
etch primer needs to be coated with epoxy right away, but the epoxy will protect the metal for months until you can do the final coat. If you apply the final coat within 24 hours of the epoxy primer, you won't have to sand the primer coat, but if you wait days to weeks foe the final coat, then you will have to sand first the epoxy layer to give it tooth.
To sandblast a frame it is better/cheaper to take it to a pro. Small body parts free of grease and grime could be stripped of paint by a commercial furniture stripping service using large tanks with a soda mix, but you will still have to snadblast or wheelbrush the rust off.
If you choose to wheel-brush yourself, then do one section at a time through all the steps (sand-->clean-->metal prep/neutralize-->etch prime-->epoxy prime), then do final paint job when it is all completed. If you are on a budget, skip the etch prime and go straigth to epoxy primer.
Hope this helps.
)
It helps to have "someone" there saying "hey dummy…do it this way and it will be easier" 
oh! I am not. I actually laughed when it happened!
so I will see how it holds out.
