Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Bit of an update...

Finished off the Step on the drivers side. There were still a couple of holes and rusty seams at the back of the step, so they got the chop:
Image

Made some another interestingly curved section and let that in, along with a small infill. Stuck it in, and ground the welds down a bit:
Image

So, after a fair bit of dressing back, the front step is pretty much done. It's not the prettiest, but is pretty solid. I think i might need to do a little more dressing on the front edge, but we are a way off paint yet, so I sprayed it to stop the flash rust:
Image

Next up, the top of the arch, and the seatbelt mount.

On this side on a 2WD van there is also the fuel filler to contend with. The filler cap and tube were removed, and then given as now I had an open tank of explosive very close to the hot sparky action, I decided that was best out of the way too.

Removing the tank not only gained access to previously unseen bits (the heater control box for the rear of the van - this needs some attention apparently) but also some very rusty and porous brake pipes. Guess I will be doing brakes before putting the tank back in. :(

The tank itself seems ok, so it will get a coat of paint, new grommets and new fuel pipes for the expansion tanks before it goes back on.

After waiting a few days for the spilled petrol to disperse.... I got on with the wheel arch top.

Removing the rubber, and all the bits of foam still attached, and a load of flaky nastyness, we are left with this:
Image

I am using a Scofileds repair panel and as with the other side I ended up cutting off the complicated bit close to the seat and just used the flat bit and the new seatbelt mount. I chopped a section of the wheel arch lip off to get to good metal, as I did on the other side, but also had to had to add a section in where the metal had thinned right down. The repair section is butt welded on the inside edge, and overlapped on the outside, as per the factory. I seamed it rather than spot welded it though:
Image

As ever, the repair panel didn't quite deal with the whole hole, so the rest is filled with some more 1mm steel:
Image

This will get the welds dressed back a bit before a coat of primer.

Then I will crack on with the Sill. :S

Incidentally, I bought a genuine outer sill at the weekend, which along with the Scofields inner, and rear swing-arm mount should make for a good job. If anyone needs one of the combined outer sill/lower panel/b-post repair panels, I now have one spare...

Cheers
Mark
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

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Ant-t
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by Ant-t »

Looking good 8)
1983 DG Kamper 2

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volks_womble
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Location: West Sussex

Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

This weekend I haven't actually managed to cut any metal, mostly just prepared for sills.

the campervan interior went from this:
Image

to this:
Image

so, just a van now then...

Anyway, this revealed how much sill needs to be done... it looks like this at the moment:
Image

However, removing the insulation also showed the state of the seam at the C-post. From the outside it doesn't look too bad:
Image

but inside, there is definitely some developing issues:
Image

Image

So the sill issues don't go as far up into the panel above as I had feared, but I think I will need to do something with the seam while I have this apart. My current thoughts are to blast the seam with some form of media, treat the rust and repaint. I suspect some of it is a bit too far gone for that though so will need to have the panel off to fix :(

Hopefully my next update will actually show some sort progress with the sill...

Cheers
Mark
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

adie89
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by adie89 »

How'd did you get on with this?
I've just finished mine if you need pics of it done. My b pillar was missing the bottom 2 inches :cry: which I had to repair with sheet metal, no repair panels.
Greta: 85’ LHD 2.5L Subaru 14in Syncro
http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=165773

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