What does this rust mean under the rear seat on a Syncro?

[syncropatrick]

Hi,

Upon removing my rear seat to start the camper conversion I find this:-

Closeups:-

and

Does this mean petrol tank strap rot? It looks bad rusting, how bad is it?
cheers
Patrick.

[toomanytoys]

Arent they the rear seat belt mounting points? looks like the rust has come from behind the bracing plate... doesnt look good does it...

[sandwedge]

Mot failure point if belts are fitted I'm afraid

[Russel]

That means gearbox out, tank out, cut out infected area replace with 1.5mm to 2mm steel with captive seat belt nuts.
Sorry but no short cut to this.
If this part is this bad then i dont have much hope for your tank straps either.
Russel

[syncropatrick]

Rollocks, I thought as much. Thanks chaps. Another rust area to tackle.

Van was registered at import as a 4 seater but came with no seatbelts on the rear bench seat. The MOT is coming up soon, so I hope it'll pass as it is - no 3rd and 4th seats and therefore no seatbelts.

Has Baxter got good tank straps yet?

cheers
Patrick.

[spaceboy1]

Is this a common rust problem on the T3, found the same when i checked mine 2day, what causes it to rust in these two places beside
the seat belt anchor points, is this really an Mot fail?
take it it will be a pricey job to get fixed ?

[Simon Baxter]

Cover it up, if the tester can't see it, he can't fail it.
plus, it's only a fail if seatbelts are mounted to it, he can't fail some random rusty patches that aren't anywhere near a suspension, brake or steering mounting point (or a seatbelt that isn't in use mounting point for that matter)

[Mudlark]

Is this a common rust problem on the T3, found the same when i checked mine 2day, what causes it to rust in these two places...... ?

most likely the space between the fuel tank and body has filled up with crud over the years; stays damp for long periods and accelerates the rusting process.

[spaceboy1]

Sorry for Highjacking your thread syncro patrick, a question to baxter, I know this sounds stupid but worth a go ,does this mean if you have lap belts fitted to what was originally a caravelle, but fitted a rr seat bed from a bluestar, could you get away with removing the lap belts for the MOT? or do they need to be attached if they were originally in the van?

or am i breaking the law

thanks mudlark

[HarryMann]

most likely the space between the fuel tank and body has filled up with crud over the years; stays damp for long periods and accelerates the rusting process.

That'll be it, then when damp the soundproofing doesn't help much either.

Patrick you should also check the floor above the cross-member, just below that area, as the flanges fold up to the sloping section. The very corners above the jacking points too.
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ar ... _door_side

Rake around through the 1" holes in the end of the rear cross-member that are just fwd of the outboard traling arm mount bolts. If a lot of crud is in there, then suspect the ends of the cross member are thinnned severely.

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ar ... oss-member


But lets think +ve, it could just be the seat belt anchor area, although its a warning to clean out all the sills, cross-members and chassis members (rear partic)

At 20 years +, it's probably a good time to punch decent sized inspection/access holes in a lot more places to keep them raked out and treated. Presonally I think just squirting loads a waxoyl is NOT the solution, it just prevents getting most of the crap out. Drying with hot air and raking then vacuuming (repeating ad nauseam) before treating is my belt'n'braces approach, but not everyone agrees

Tank straps are available from Germany (expensive) or in fact not really that difficult to make up - retain the end fittings from old ones helpa a lot.. Thin s/s strip is good.

PS. It's the fuel pump you should worry about, not the tank falling out.. check pump for corrosion of main body