Club 80-90 Forums

Firstly, i am not in a position to replace panels as i simply dont have the time or money to do this. I may be able to in a year or two but not yet. I have some seam rash in the usual places. I have been lucky enough to have my van garaged over the winter months and have spent time sanding down the whole van in prep for rollering. i have gone at some of the seam rash with wire brush, sanding discs etc and given all affected areas a good coating of vactan. prior to doing this the seam rash and bubbling was not too bad, but noticeable. i have done my best to get to the back of some of the seams with wire brush and vactan

what i am seeking is advice re filler/putty. Some of the areas around the seams have suffered a bit of pitting. is it ok to apply a small amount of filler, smooth then go straight over with the rustoleum or do i need some other primer/application prior to doing this

any advice greatly appreciated. in an ideal world i would replace the affected panels but i cannot afford this. to be honest the problem areas are quite small. i just want to get the van on the road for the summer as it is in mot and mechanically solid.

any advice greatly appreciated

this is the sort of rash i had, not too bad all things considered:

Vactan, prime (I used red oxide) then Rustoleum. Sod filler, only makes it worse in the long run surely. Get using the van. If you've cut away the seam sealer you may need to redo that first. I spent ages getting to behind all the seams as best I could from the inside, vactan, red oxide, Rustoleum again. Done me good so far.

If you removed all of the rust from those pits (grit blasting) you would more than likely have holes.
So I'd agree, don't bother with filler as it will just make it harder to figure out how bad the rust is when you get round to tackling it properly.
Just paint over it for now.

When it comes to surface rust tackle it as soon as you see the smallest of bubbles or worm runs, its easy at that stage. How many people see it start and say Oh its not that bad i will sort it out later. Scrape it off with a little craft knife till its shiny metal and touch up with a little brush. Its different if its a vehicle just purchased . My rust problem is rotting from the inside around rear jacking member and sills. Thats something that needs more than a scrape off and a touch up !