Club 80-90 Forums

Behind the rear light clusters are spaces which have foam glued to the inner panels. I ripped it all out last week because it was causing water to collect in all sorts of hard to see places and that could cause rust. I presume it was there for sound and vibration deadening purposes though since removing it I haven't noticed the difference.

Is there anywhere else I might find even more foam which I can safely remove? I noticed that the engine has a sheet metal casing protecting it and that there is dense black foam inside that too. Can I go ahead and remove that or will my gearbox fall out/ windscreen wipers stop working/electric mirrors start to work etc?

Hasta Demister,

hv

Not sure about the engine bay, but have you got insulation in between your interior panels & your body panels?

I've heard that this gathers mosture & rots your seams. You can get rid of that stuff to save your bodywork.

I've got rockwool in my panels & plan to replace it with something else later in the year. My seams are already starting to go.

Hi. Before I go pulling the panels off to see what goes on behind them, I have to have a load of panel pins to hand so I can put them all back again after. I also have to find a way of removing the panels without either damaging them or the bodywork as some of the pins are old and stiff.

The rockwool idea seems to be a good one as long as it's properly bagged to prevent it soaking up moisture and holding onto it. The second link has some good ideas about dealing with that issue.

Here's some very interesting and useful information about what some folk have done to deal with rust and insulation.

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Bo ... Insulation

http://www.type2.com/library/heat/heat-soundproof.html

Rust and insulation are my priorities at the moment, so big thanks and credit goes to Harry Mann for the info and links. The second website link is well worth reading from beginning to end as it's quite humourously written and has some very good ideas.

My ideal solution is to have some space to be able to remove the seats etc and do a very thorough job on it. I already have the slabs of asphalt/rubber ready to mould into place and it would be a lot easier than doing little jobs on the roadside.

Let us know what you do as you might have some ideas I hadn't thought of.

regards,

hv

Get panel pins from the T4 ...those screw out again, so it's easy to check for rust annually.

As for removal of the old pins: If they're not too hardened, a spirited whack from the side with the blade of a biiig screwdriver will do the trick. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend cutting them crosswise with a cutting disk on a Dremel an then peeling them out.

I'm just after doing my whole van and that's what worked for me.

Cheers for that Peasant, that was really kind of you to mention. Panel screws from a T4? I'll dig around for a supplier.

I like your attitude to annual checks as I tend to do mine as regularly as I can. This might sound a bit nuts but I clean whatever I look at. If I could dismantle the engine, clean it, paint it and rebuild it, I would. I've always sold on vehicles in better condition than I bought them in and that's absolutely fine. Shame more people don't take as much care as we do.

If you have any other suggestions, i'm always open to hear them.

hv