Before starting your restoration, remove all paint...

[silverbullet]

Looks interesting and could save you a lot of grief later, once you've made the initial investment to your "investment"

http://www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk/index.html

[CovKid]

As its Dudley, looks like the same company that stripped the splitty in that restoration program. The only trouble is you can end up with far less van than went in the tank - as he found. There wasn't a great deal left and he struggled to find anyone prepared to take it on after it came out of the tank.

Wasn't the camper called Dixie? I believe he lives in Coventry.

Found it: Camper Van Crisis: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 318881618# - at 17.14 and its called 'Dypsy'

[riffboy]

Ah yes, i think it was Dipsy actually lol.

I Seem to remember 1/2 a van coming outta there after a whole one went in!

Once that green coating is on though, you don't really have to worry about rust again for a long time.

Used to work in the paint shop at Toyota in derby, and they used to use the same stuff and then offer a 12 year anti corrosion guarantee, so if you are sure your van is a good un then it would be well worth it!

[CovKid]

look up, i just changed link to where it goes to SPL

Heres after it comes out!!! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1011814977 - 8 mins in

If you have £10k lying around for stripping it down, welding, fitting a new engine, interior and respray then maybe. Not many will go that far though. Theres NO way I'd have done what he did with his - cheaper to find one in better nick to start with

[riffboy]

It mus be a pretty terryfying thing to do actually.
I Can just imagine sending mine in and just watching a dangling chain with nothing on the end come back out!!

[silverbullet]

But if so much disappears in the stripping process, doesn't that mean that you were driving around in a cheesy, plodded-up heap anyway?

[CovKid]

Indeed, and unless you're replacing entire sections with new (making the dipping fairly pointless anyway), any patchwork is going to be short lived. I've watched that series a few times and whilst I admire his passion, I think the money would have been better spent on his wife and child really. Its a great transformation but a prime example of more money than thought. No criticism of him personally, its just not something I'd do.

[scottbott]

the father in law had his austin healey 100/4 dipped there came out really good,he was not sure how much car would be left when it came out of the tank but was pleasantly suprised,one of his mates had his triumph TR5 dipped and was horrified with what he had left,he has left what is left in his workshop and basically forgotten about it,would like to do my van if I had the time and money

[New Kentish Campers]

But if so much disappears in the stripping process, doesn't that mean that you were driving around in a cheesy, plodded-up heap anyway?

Exactly. Which is pretty much what one of the people on the trailer was trying to put across; do a repair properly and it lasts, bodge it, and it wont. I guess you could suspect that if all vehicles were repaired properly, then firms like this would never existed. But there again, there is no such thing as a repair valhalla; too many cut-price "cock"-up artists around make sure of that.

[CovKid]

I wonder what the costs of trailering there and back, dipping and priming would actually cost?

[silverbullet]

I wonder what the costs of trailering there and back, dipping and priming would actually cost?

You have to view one of the pdf magazine articles featured as they don't seem to be shouting about the cost...if you do it in one hit (dip, wash and EP prime) it's around £1600... If you take it away and return for priming after welding they charge you another £400 for the privelege. Then add on the transport.
Seems a lot at first glance (no s###) but how many working hours does it take to completely strip something like a T3? You still wouldn't get it as clean as they do though.
Most one-man restorers charge at around £20-30/hour, so that's 66 to 100 hours for a full bare-metal stripdown and EP prime, which a spray-shop can't do anyway.

[scottbott]

the father in laws healey was great,just holes that needed patching up,nothing left but clean metal,you would never get a bodyshell stripped back as good as that,at least he knew what he had to work with,he did not have the ep primer done,he etch primed it back in his workshop as I said before would love to strip mine like that if I had time and money

[ninja.turtle007]

I wonder what the costs of trailering there and back, dipping and priming would actually cost?

You have to view one of the pdf magazine articles featured as they don't seem to be shouting about the cost...if you do it in one hit (dip, wash and EP prime) it's around £1600... If you take it away and return for priming after welding they charge you another £400 for the privelege. Then add on the transport.
Seems a lot at first glance (no s###) but how many working hours does it take to completely strip something like a T3? You still wouldn't get it as clean as they do though.
Most one-man restorers charge at around £20-30/hour, so that's 66 to 100 hours for a full bare-metal stripdown and EP prime, which a spray-shop can't do anyway.

Media blasting and primer is around £1500. But you don't have to completely strip the van. You can leave engine in ect. As this can be bagged and masked.