Date:         Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:55:56 -0400
Reply-To:     BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Subject:      Re: body work vs. mechanical work
In-Reply-To:  <200803102115.m2ALFFXT011357@barrierN241.nike.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>> Its body is pretty darn straight, but seam rust is creeping along and a
body shop just quoted me $1500 to fix all the rust (windshield too) and
parking lot dents. <<

You could go on the "rust repair plan" that some of us are on. It involves
grinding out the rust, POR-15'ing, fiberglassing, primering and then
PaintScratch.com 'ing the spots. Repeat every 1-2 years. Costs, about $100
;)

Anyway, you can save money on that since the seam rust on the drivers side
will require you to take out the camping gear to fix. The bodyshop guy is
ether going to charge you a fortune to do it OR not do it at all. At LEAST
pull the gear out yourself and save some $$$.  And if you do pull the
camping gear out buy some new panels and have them welded in. Don't spend
many hours removing the gear only to fiberglass the rust like I did.  I got
impatient last year, I wanted to fix the rust but all the body shops were
backed up 10 weeks due to all the snow related accidents.  If you bang on
the side of my van near the bottom it feels like a Hobie Cat.

Bryan