Too much rust? (pic heavy)

[dan_h19]

Hi guys,

Fairly new to T25's, and very new to the forum, so hello! I've been looking at a T25 converted camper that belongs to one of my neighbours. It was her husbands limited mileage daily driver, and while she's fond of it, it's time to sell up. I have been to see it a couple of times to go over it and in general it seems in pretty good condition for what I would expect from a 1983 vehicle. 

My main concern is the state of the drivers side sill. This has rusted quite badly where the inner and outer meet, and there is some evidence of an old repair a bit higher up on the actual panel. I have recently inherited a MIG welder and while I'm not afraid of throwing myself in, I'm concerned that the amount of workinvolved means economically I should just look elsewhere. She's after £4.5k, down from £5k after seeing the rust. Van has a brand new MOT that makes no mention of it.




I'd rather walk than be pushy and haggle down an elderly widow. Anyone paid to have the sills replaced or done it themselves?
 

[Jim San]

You can add photos directly - just click on the [black square with white 'i' in th middle]  it appears just above the text space when you write a post.

Have a good look around for what you can get for the same money.

There is an awful lot of info for you to absorb in the 'wiki pages' on here.  Well worth a read if you are thinking of buying.

There is plenty of info and threads on here about various welding jobs - cills included.  Lots or parts and panels available

Welcome along also, these old vans need TLC but are a great van to have and keep you smiling

[dan_h19]

 

You can add photos directly - just click on the [black square with white 'i' in th middle] it appears just above the text space when you write a post.

Have a good look around for what you can get for the same money.

There is an awful lot of info for you to absorb in the 'wiki pages' on here. Well worth a read if you are thinking of buying.

There is plenty of info and threads on here about various welding jobs - cills included. Lots or parts and panels available

Welcome along also, these old vans need TLC but are a great van to have and keep you smiling

Hi Jim, thanks for the welcome. Got the pictures now, can't believe I missed that before. I've been reading through the wiki (great resource) and some of the threads on here, so starting to make a dent in things. I also have a couple of friends with T25, so planning on pulling in some favours there. 

Price wise I agree, I think I need to have a look at a few others to see whether it is realistic. It's a shame as elsewhere the van looks great.



I've been having a search through the forums and found plenty of people tackling the job themselves. Any idea on what a shop would charge to replace the panels? I can appreciate the difficulty in pinning down a price without tearing into it first and seeing how deep the brown stuff goes.

[Plasticman]

hi
the osf jp, inner sill/outer sill ,up into the B post plus inner panal behind fuel filler will all want doing as a minimum,otherside wont be far off, rear arm mount is shot and the inner will be the same , 
lots of work to be done right and most of it is structural, 
I would walk at that sort of asking price
mm

[davidoft1]

Looks reasonably tidy but a little expensive, I would say £3-3500 really, if the rests mint it’s worth the work

The outer sill wants doing , inner looks fine from those pictures, I wouldn’t buy anything that needs inner sills unless it was a project

Looks like around £1000-1500 worth of work

[silverbullet]

It was a Caravelle GL once, so at least its got proper window frames.
I've seen a lot worse on the road, but £3k?

[dan_h19]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I walked in the end, I just wasn't keen to negotiate that much off. She's had other interest so I'll let someone else take the punt. Cheers!