Date:         Wed, 6 Mar 96 15:31:58 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jag@cs.rochester.edu
Subject:      Rusting seams and other hard to fix rust problems.



vw85westy@aol.com wrote:
> I am assessing the future of the bus, and want to know what to think of
> emerging rust along seam, driver side.  This is the seam that joins the
> panels holding the middle and rear windows.  Rust discoloration is starting
> to show up about two thirds of the way up, and a bubbling rust spot the size
> of a dime has emerged about a foot up the bus.

and

"Tom Forhan" <TFORHAN@hr.house.gov> wrote:
>     Peter and Zippy,
>
>     Sorry you did not hear a direct response from listmembers.
>
>     After Bob Hoover's eloquent writings on rust, everyone else was
>     probably afraid to post, fearing literary humiliation. Check the
>     archives, or the Sermons at http://www.sky.net/~rmk/hoover/ .

Rust is the worst threat to our busses, so maybe this subject needs
to be dealt with in detail. The body of my '82 Westy is perfect, except
for three sore spots. The depressing thing is that despite I sand,
naval-jelly, prime and paint these spots, the rust always comes back
after the winter season. I read Bob's sermon, but I still don't know
what I should do better.

The three areas are: The body seams Peter describes, the front seam
between the lower grille and the bumper, and a tragic rust through
just under the Westy hookups. Theses three areas have in common that
the root of the problem is on the inside, and the inside is (almost)
inaccessible. 

The rust under the hookups was caused by water leaking in though the
hookups and puddling on the body reinforcement beam some 10 cm below.
Eventually it started rusting between the beam and the panel. The 
rust near the bumper is similar: The reinforcing box beam under the
bumper is welded to a 2-3 cm wide "lip" of the front body panel.
Water must have gotten in between the two overlapping metal surfaces,
and it's evidence, in the form of brown streaks is coming out
through the weld. I have no idea of how to cure this problem.

The body panel seams should be somewhat easier to treat. When it
gets warm enough I will redo the sand-naval jelly-paint procedure,
but this time use a flexible seam sealer in the seam instead of bondo.
This should hopefully last longer. I was also thinking of using
rustoleum paint over rust primer on the inside of the seams. I've
had good luck with this primer on the under carriage. The drawback is
that it isn't very suitable to be painted with the automotive top coat.

/Martin J

PS The document I'm referring to is:
http://www.sky.net/~rmk/hoover/rustyseams.html

PPS: Take warning from Harry Y and my experiences with leaking
flue and hookups. I discovered it only one year ago, and then it 
was too late. It had already caused the rust though. See my
post last spring for details.