Date:         Mon, 23 May 2011 11:05:44 -0700
Reply-To:     BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: So done with side cladding
Comments: cc: "dhanson928@GMAIL.COM" <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>,
          David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
In-Reply-To:  <BANLkTin_UQ7RPNeozSU0GbormJPL=b_1CQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hey Fellows,

Let's try to stay on topic. All steel bodied vehicles rust. Rust on Vanagons under cladding. That's what this thread is about.


Thanks,

BenT
Mod

On May 23, 2011, at 6:29 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 4:52 AM, george jannini <georgejoann@gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>>>> Never buy a vehicle from Pennsylvania (or any rust belt state) without
>> checking out the undercarriage. <<
>> 
>>   I owned an 11 year old well running & reliable Mazda rotary that
>> had so much rust damage to its unibody chassis that you could feel it
>> flex in turns, yet no visible rust on the body.  Gotta love New
>> England.
>> 
>> Geo/ATL
>> 
> 
>  My wife has a 70  BMW 2002 she simply loves..but she hates cars...or
> treats them like she does.  Like many German vehicles of that era, it had
> body rust.  Enough so that things in the trunk would get wet when she drove
> in on rainy days.  She came in one day and said.."Hey Don, could you look at
> my little car?  It's making a funny noise"  I go "What kinda noise?  How
> long, etc etc?"  She says.."Started a few days ago...it kinda goes "Scritch
> scritch scritck when I turn right or hit a bump"
> 
>  I find the whole left rear suspension has rusted out, body is sitting on
> the wheel...the tire is actually rubbing inside the wheel well, the axle is
> 'free-floating'  I go.."Honey, this car is about shot." but she really wants
> to save it somehow.
> 
>  So I took it (in a trailer) to my race chassis guy, a fella who makes
> cages and chassis in Portland, Or..  We 'design' and weld in a tubular
> "saddle-frame" in the trunk...A new structure to attach the springs and
> shocks to.  $300 for the fabrication and the car drives better now....but
> crap in the trunk still gets wet and you can check the tire pressure from
> inside the trunk...You can probably brake like Fred Flintstone, too....foot
> down on the pavement through the floorboards...(yes, floor-Boards!..now)
> 
>  That vehicle must have spent some years in the rust belt...
> 
>  Don Hanson