Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:19:29 EST
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Rust by window seals
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 11/02/2007 10:11:38 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
Hello again, vanagonauts,
Last week I posted about removing window seals, and
after several of your suggestions I grabbed a steak
knife and went to it. That part was easy enough, and
I've had some good suggestions about the rust repair,
which falls into two camps, cold repair and
welding/brazing. Given the location, I think I'll go
with the cold repair - - POR-patch was suggested so
I'm getting some of that. Now my question is, given
the size of the holes, do I need to pop-rivet a piece
of backing metal into the holes? And do I need to
continue grinding to get all of the remaining rust
pits out? The metal is getting rather thin in a couple
of locations. I inspected the inside with a dental
mirror and no rust appears on the inside of the
panels. I finally got a couple of photos:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t246/mrarachnid/rustedthrough.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t246/mrarachnid/Aftergrinding.jpg
I guess it's not too bad, compared to the recent
postings on East Coast rust!
Gary, the way I have repaired these types of rust spots with holes as in
your photos with POR-15 and Fiberglas matting. The patch will have to be done
from the inside so will entail removing the paneling inside to do this.
Follow the procedures for applying POR-15, apply a coat and lay on a piece of
Fiberglas matting to cover the hole and surrounding metal for a bout 1" around.
Let this get tacky all the while making sure the Fiberglas is well
impregnated with the POR-15. Once it gets tacky apply a second coat of POR-15 and use
POR-15 Patch to fill in from the outside, it does not have to be perfect.
Then before it completely dries prime the outside with good automotive primer
or let dry completely and use the POR-15 primer for use on cured POR-15 to
bond to successive coats of paints. Once you have a good coat of primer then
you can finish levelling off the imperfections on the outside using normal
auto body fillers and surfaceres. I like to use epoxy finishing filler. POR-15
also makes a filler that works well in this instance. This method is the
best by far that I have tried. Welding or brazing causes too much other damage
that requires more clean up work and you still need to POR-15 both sides to
get a good rust free repair. The POR-15ed patch will be as strong as welding
the metal together when your done if done correctly
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007
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