Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all had a little poke today in the van rubbing down and found a little rust, any suggestions! I want to insulate and sound proof but must deal with this first and wonder if I need to replace the whole floor and what to do with the panel over the washer bottle.

Check windscreen seals/repair there first (if not already done)

Mine's like this (only a lot worse, will be doing a Fred Flintstone before long) but I'm not bothering to do anything until I've sorted the windscreen area out.

You're gonna feast on rust, that's what you're gonna do.
You're gonna feast on rust!

aec wrote: ↑30 Sep 2023, 18:43 Check windscreen seals/repair there first (if not already done)

Mine's like this (only a lot worse, will be doing a Fred Flintstone before long) but I'm not bothering to do anything until I've sorted the windscreen area out.

That was my intention to check the screen probably got a little work to do around there but what I wanted to know was is the floor good enough for rust treatment not major repair as I want to soundproof and insulate the cab.

Needs replacing both sides, available as reproduction left and right side from Brickwerks. It could be treated and fiberglassed over if you dont want a big job. Just make sure the area around the throttle pedal rivets is strong.

It is obviously rust from above not below so most definitely coming from the screen, underneath the pans are pretty sound.
I've checked were the pedal has been riveted and it's pretty sound although the pedal is sticky, May be hinge I think.

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I hope this has uploaded, a little video of the water ingress.
Hope this helps anybody else trying to solve this issue, I may not be 100% correct but it will eliminate another issue.

Sorry that was useless but here are a couple of photos, when I lightly spray water just above the light it runs down behind the light and into the well through unsealed seams.
I am not jet washing just allowing the water to run down like rain, next phase now is to remove lights and investigate.

Once you have stopped the leak and cleaned all they back to bare clean metal, if there is any good clean metal left , treat it with vactan then red oxide then undercoat then paint and if you are really lucky it’ll stem the rot for a while , giving you time to save up and find a welder you can trust (Good luck with that )

Floor looks worse in the pics it's actually pretty solid

It wont be for long, its only 1mm thick metal , beef it up with fiberglass after treatment. Maybe screw a small plate on the bottom of the plastic throttle pedal and onto the floor just in case the rivets come loose with the rust.

Think I'll go quick fix give the underside a clean and treatment then just sweep it under the carpet , found the holes and suspect seams so some patch repairs and seam sealer behind the lights. Then Ion to the more important GTI conversion work.

If you treat it with vactan ( very good stuff) don't  rub it down again it'll set the rust off again 
paint straight over it its a great undercoat.