I's fixable. get the bumper off of course. dig out ALL the rusty flakey stuff you can, and then some. get to just non-rusty metal. Surface rust is fine. treat that with Oshpho.....or some other 'rust stop' treatment. Hardware stores have it. Be careful with Oshro- nasty stuff, but the metal will never rust there again, more or less. I wouldn't use JB weld. Just not the right application for the material. what is bomber good though ..........and expensvie a little...... is Duramix 4525. I consider it space ship grade materal. It's professional grade, bonds metal like you wouldn't believe, and is flexible a little when cured. The perfect material. Just expensive. But it's 'the right stuff' If you get some material , sheet metal, galvanised thin plate, etc. .................cut it into small plates, and bond those to the existing metal ..........say overlap at the edge of hoses about half an inch ...... and overlap mulitple plates a little.........if you do that in dry conditions .......... to bare treated metal...........the rest of the van will rust away before this repaired area will. It's a difficult area to address ........if it's down in the body there. if you need a piece cut off a non-rusted vanagon, I have that sort of stuff. the most important thing to do immediately is ........pick, dig, grind all the flakey metal out of there, then treat it ...........spray 'rust converter' ........apply oshpho etc. then it can't rust. if doing metal work on top of it, start there. if not doing metal work on top of it, paint with a primer, then top caot of your choice. But stop the body cancer, that's the first step. If you don't , it only gets worse. Once you clean the old out, and treat it, at least it can't keep getting worse. Scott www.turbovans.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "neil N" <musomuso@GMAIL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 3:16 PM Subject: Re: 82 Westy body rust fixes
> On 8/12/09, Pete Geisen <geisenpa@gmail.com> wrote: >>..... I am left with a 2.5ft x 2" rusted out hole in the front behind >> the bumper that is slowly creeping out. Here's the shot: >> >> http://geisenpa.home.comcast.net/~geisenpa/vanagon/frontbumper.jpg >> >> I'd really rather not have to take it to a body shop, though I know >> that's probably the answer (not trying to mistreat the old girl, just >> low on cash, looking for other options). Wondering if any of you had >> DIYed a hole this size. I don't have a welder, so that's out. Would >> cutting out the section and JB welding some sheet metal do the trick >> (with some serious patching), POR15 and painting and all that? Any >> tidbits from you guys would be greatly appreciated. I'm tired of >> looking at that gaping hole. >> >> Pete >> > > > Have a look at Ben (of benplace.com) and Scott (Turbovan) posts. I > know Scott has a product he uses to "glue" a patch on. I'm just about > certain Ben does too. > > Caveat: looks like this might be the beginning of structural damage. > Not sure. Don't know the body that well. > > But, the adhesive Scott uses is supposed to be "permanent" i.e. uber > strong. > > Best of luck! > > Neil. > > -- > Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco" > > http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/ > > http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines |
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