Date:         Sun, 30 Mar 2003 07:17:42 -0500
Reply-To:     Jeff Stewart <fonman4277@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Stewart <fonman4277@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: SEAM RUST - a picture is worth a thousand words
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

'Morning Folks,
        Thanks to Chris and others on the list for the info. As a new owner of an '84 Vanagon Westy, and a former owner of 2 Bay Westy's, I'm  no stranger to rust. To restore my first Westy, a '76, I had to learn to weld and now have my own mig welder. On my second Westy, I had to replace the front axle beam, due to rust. I also had to do some panel replacements on both (dog legs and rockers). My '84 has some rust on the drivers side rocker, exactly what has been mentioned here. I believe I said here a couple of weeks ago, that from experience I know if the is rust visible at the surface, it's most likely much worse underneath. That's what always cracks me up when I see ads that say "minor surface rust, not all the way through the metal". I can't tell you how many times I've started to grind away "minor surface rust" to find a panel that looks like Swiss cheese. I don't *think* my '84 is too bad now, but it's going to top priority now to seal up those areas mentioned and do something about the rust I've already got. As the Fram commercial used to say, "Pay me now, or pay me later". It could be a relatively small job now, will definitely be a BIG job later if ignored.     Jeff