Auto body repair & detailing: Roof on 94 Dodge Shadow badly rusted, automotive rust removal, rust area

Question
Hi Josh,
the roof of my white '94 Dodge Shadow has pretty much all of its paint peeled off and is almost completely rusted through.  The trouble has started spreading to the hood now, too.

2 years ago I gota couple of estimates.  One in New Castle, VA, was about $450.  Nine months after that I got an estimate in Midlothian, VA and that was about $1,600.
And three months later, a retired auto repairshop owner in Amelia, VA said he could do it for $200.

Anyway, what do you think of me trying to do something myself in the meantime.... maybe I could scrape it off as much as I can with Brillo soap pads soaked in water, (seriously, I mean the rust has gone pretty deep, this will only be a Band-Aid action)!

Then apply some kind of automotive rust removal and rustproofing or sealing type products, and primer, and paint or whatever, what would you recommend? (I would like to use brushwork rather than sprays/aerosols - dont really like an aerosol, but am pretty handy with a paintbrush.)

The idea being that some day soon when I have the cash, I could get the roof  done (redone/replaced!) by the professionals.

Really need to do something right away, or probably I will be roofless tomorrow.  Every time it rains, the rust area gets to look darker and it feels rougher.  (You guessed - the car stays outside - no garage!)  

Thanks Josh for reading this, any feedback at all will be much appreciated.


Answer
Jennifer they make a rustoleum brand exterior paint that you can brush or roll on it will not fix the rust but it will slow it down it cost about $8.00 a qt at most paint stores,and some hardware stores might have it to.i would clean the roof with glass cleaner to get all the dirt off use some 220 grit sand paper to scuff the paint up so the new paint will stick clean it again then i would put several coats over the rust area.