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Date:         Sun, 23 Apr 95 16:13:28 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ja@decws3.coe.wvu.edu (John Anderson)
Subject:      Re: stripping the undercarriage

> >Well, with a plastic scraper, a screwdriver, and a wire-brush, it took me > >3 hours to clean up, oh say... 10% of the area. :( At that rate,I would > >have to spend *every* Saturday for the next 2 months, just to strip all > >that stuff. > > > In a nut shell... powertools! get an electric drill and various size wire > wheels and a wire cup. The wire cups will rip off undercoating very quickly, > If I may suggest, use wire brushes, particularly the cup shaped ones on an angle grinder, in general they will work 500% better than on a drill, plus you will find hundreds of uses for the angle grinder working on VW's. Buy a good quality 4 or 4.5" model, have had a Skill Professional model for 6 or 7 years and it's in great shape except for an often ground through cord. BTW, I say peel off all/as much as you can of the undercoating first with spring steel scraper putty knives, it will save much brush work plus then you only have to wire brush rusty areas and not places where the paint is still good. Removing old asphalt based undercaoting is of prime importance because water gets under it through cracks and is held against the body. Following up with POR-15, rust converter or whatever then re undercoating with a rubber based or wax based products should stop that pesky rust.

Incidently has anyone ever tried adding some sort of sacrificial electrode material to the body? A friend's dad has a '65 Ford truck in incredible shape because he bolted Zinc or Magnesium electrodes to spots ground bare on the body, the electrode dissapears but the steel doesn't. My '86 Quantum had zinc (I think) washers bolted between the body and front fenders for much the same reason, I believe. Seems along the lines of that B.S. Whitney's electrical system but is a passive system. I know the phone company and gas companies use Magnesium electrodes on their underground lines or jackets to combat corrosion, seems it might be just the ticket on a Bus.

John Anderson ja@coe.wvu.edu '71 Westy, '90 Corrado G60


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