Club 80-90 Forums

Got van back from mot last week and was having poke about and found the below surprises.

It looks pretty bad to my untrained eye. I put in finger in the hole and could feel it filled completely with loose rust so assume it's even worse behind the scenes

So I guess my question is firstly is this still safe to drive (not mentioned on mot) and is something I could sort out on the driveway with my mig welder? And is the repair a interior out job?

Cheers

How did that pass !  Thats been bodged over before hiding some serious rust issues, its not safe to drive and its going to be a big job, once the area above is opened you will see it needs a lot of new metal including trailing arms. Has that grey paint been applied to the rest of the lower parts of the van ?

Thought that might be the case. guess it will be a case of not knowing the extent until I can get a good look inside. There has been a lot of welding done around the area in the past with a few patches.

What's the best access to get a good look? Just cut out the panel above the mount?

Yeah just cut a big section of the thin panel above, what are the sills like ?

They seemed alright last time I was under there. Few patches been done. I have a sinking feeling this could be the end of my van. Just got it to the point mechanically where I was happy with it and was going to start with body work...

multisi wrote: ↑05 Nov 2023, 16:27 How did that pass !  Thats been bodged over before hiding some serious rust issues, its not safe to drive and its going to be a big job, once the area above is opened you will see it needs a lot of new metal including trailing arms. Has that grey paint been applied to the rest of the lower parts of the van ?

The grey paint has only been done on that side as the sills had some work done last year. The other side is better condition but I guess that behind the scenes they will be similar.

Will try and get more pictures in the light to find out if it's lost cause or not

I know it sounds extreme but swapping all the good running gear into another shell would be a better option. Your van looks like its seen a lot of salty water in its life.

Been out again to check the sills and they seem in OK knick to me as does the trailing arm itself.

Might want to address the spring retaining thing that's bust off, Bricwerks used to sell a repair piece.

didn't even notice that

Bryce wrote: ↑06 Nov 2023, 11:53 didn't even notice that

Nor did Stevie 'the MOT man' Wonder either!

The other side is still hanging on. Not sure how all this was missed on mot! All I was failed on was torn steering rack boot which I done and got re test with no advisories!

So some quick Google maths, two new trailing arms, new springs, shocks and jacking points is going to come to about a grand in parts alone.

Then the cost of whatever lurks beneath the filler and repair patches...

I've got the bottom of sliding door to replace, a rust spot on tailgate which needs the glass out to fix, the heater which is a dash out job and rusty guttering which probs hides a serious amount of rust under the high top and finally the fuel filler panel needs done as well.

Anyone know the scrap price of vans

As already mentioned, your trailing arms could be repaired. https://brickwerks.co.uk/blog/vw-t3-tra ... rm-repair/ that would save a load of dosh. What is wrong with the spring's and shocks?