Date:         Tue, 29 Aug 2000 04:16:29 EDT
Reply-To:     JordanVw@aol.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         JordanVw@aol.com
Subject:      READ!! your van is rusting and you dont even know it!!!.....
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for those of you with '88 up vans w/ the fiberglass bumpers (and '87 wolfys
too) take a flashlight and take a peek behind the rear bumper end caps, from
above or below (between the body and the bumper end cap).. what do you see
back there?  odds are you got bad seam rust eating away at your rear
quarterpanels and you dont even know it... go look..you may be be suprised..
  this can also be said for the drivers side rocker panel seam, hidden by the
fiberglass rocker moulding... out of sight, out of mind..  what you dont see,
CAN hurt you (or rather your van).

Also, another thing everyone should do, is take a look under each rear corner
of your van.. where the battery boxes would be if it were a bus.. you'll see
an embossed X in the metal. above this panel, is where water that enters thru
the rear air scoops collects, and sits...and thats where that horizontal seam
is..  water sits in there everytime it rains or you wash your van, and eats
out the seam, and starts to rust out from the inside..

on the aircooled buses and vanagons there is a little drain hole at the
center of the X. this allows rainwater trapped above this panel to drain
out..   For some reason, in '83 VW stopped drilling a drain hole there...why?
 who knows.   Anyway, it would be to everyone's advantage to drill a small
drain hole at the center of the X to alleviate standing water above that
panel...
just a friendly tip to make your van last longer...

chris