Well I was on a bit of a budget and my main objective was to rust-proof it so I wasn't going for anything too fancy. Autozone had a BOGO for Rustoleum primer and paint($15 total). So I got the primer, acrylic laquer and a small can of Bondo (the marine glass kind I think, $11). I used the wire brush on my drill to get it down to bare metal. This was my first Bondo job so I didn't quite know what I was doing. I should have gotten a larger can of Bondo and put it on thicker because I ended up with some pitting after I sanded it (again, more rust-proofing than aesthetics) so I just moved on to the priming portion in hopes that the filler primer would help (it didn't). I sanded the bondo with 80 to rough it then 150 to smooth it. I primed two coats and sanded them with 220. First a thin coat wet sanded with 220, then a intermediate thick coat sanded with 400, and finally a third coat without sanding.
I then went to walmart and bought generic acrylic outdoor paint (3 @ $1.69) and some stencil paper ($3.50). Cut the stencil paper and put it up on the tank with a brush. It worked well enough but unfortunately, there was no way to prevent the paint from getting under the stencil very well, especially since it was not on a smooth surface. The brushing didn't go on terrible smoothly either. I wiped off the bad spots before the paint dried and did the best I could to fix what I couldn't with the brush. I had to put on two coats to to get it acceptably dark enough but the brush strokes are still clearly visible. It could be because the brushes were cheap as well. Knowing what I know now, I would have used painters tape instead of stencil and probably found acrylic lacquer spray paint to paint the words. Oh well, live and learn.
Finally after it was all dry, I put on two coats of clear coat.
Not the most beautiful job in the world, but I'm happy with it for my first paint job, it was cheap, and it will most definitely prevent rust (2 primes, 3 paint, 2 clear coats = 7coats!!)
