Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 20:01:19 -0700
Reply-To: zzIML-VANAGON <IML-VANAGON@I405.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: zzIML-VANAGON <IML-VANAGON@I405.COM>
Subject: Re: Lots of talk about Rust...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi,
I own a 1963 Double Cab and a 1967 Westy... I just purchased the Westy and
am going through it. I live in Seattle area, where we don't have the salt
road problems but we have moisture... And even though this Westy was in
California all life, I find rust where things were not taken care of. And
the general neglect of paint is often a big cause.
Chris may say just drive it until it rots then find a new one... but that
gets pretty difficult and expensive for me :) But I agree with some of what
he says about not being afraid to use spray paint.
Some tips:
1. If paint is scratched or an area is banged and paint is damaged, PAINT
IT! Don't leave exposed areas, even if just the primer is exposed. Cheap
spray paint is better than no paint.
2. DO PROPER REPAIRS. You have to cut off rusty parts and paint the cut.
Don't just clean it a little and bondo it... you have to get all the "black
spot" off the metal... clean grey / silver metal before you paint. People
just slapping bondo over rust to "hide it" are making it worse.
3. Avoid PAINTING OVER RUST. You have to get the rusty metal off. If
the area is easy to access (like a rocker panel, rear corner, front nose,
etc.): Find a friend with an air compressor and a front yard and sandblast
it. $15 for a sand blaster at Wal-Mart and $5 for 100 pound back of sand at
Home Depot. Park on the yard, the sand is good for the grass and nothing
to clean up (except your van which will have sand in it, even if you are
just blasting the outside).
4,. Especially in salty areas, WASH THE VW after you get off the road.
Get that crap from the underbody off. Clean water generally does not cause
problems.... salt water and other contaminates does.
5. Don't get new paint on your bus without taking care of rust. You are
just killing it sooner. Heck, dents are better than rust. YOU MUST CUT OUT
the rusty parts ... welding new metal is really the only proper repair ...
bondo and other stuff is only good if it is a few mm thick. If you want
your bust to be around in 15 years for someone else (or yourself) to enjoy,
don't do the chicken wire and bondo things!!
Chris makes an excellent point about "not waiting until you do a proper
repair" -- do something NOW. So what if your spray paint color doesn't
match... rust doesn't match your bus either!
I have some photos I took up at http://www.i405.com/vw/67Westy/NoseBlast/ to
show that I practice what I say :)
I'm still new at this, but you might want to talk to some on the Type2 (1979
and earlier) mailing lists... http://www.type2.com/ as rust, less
sophisticated paint technology, and age present a lot more problems to us :)
Stephen Gutknecht
Renton, Washington
1963 VW Double Cab Truck http://www.i405.com/vw/63crew/
1967 VW Westy http://www.i405.com/vw/67westy/
-----Original Message-----
From: JordanVw@AOL.COM [mailto:JordanVw@AOL.COM]
Sent: Monday, September 27, 1999 7:16 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Lots of talk about Rust...
In a message dated 9/27/99 5:59:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
EdGoodrow@AOL.COM writes:
<< Does anyone care to talk
about how to prevent rust problems for those of us who haven't had the
pleasure of dealing with that problem?
>>
yea. dont drive it daily in the roadsalt :<) seriously - if you live in
the salt belt, and you drive your van on heavily salted roads, daily, it
WILL
rust, no matter what you do to try to prevent that from happening. best
thing i can say, is keep your van clean, and waxed, touch up any rust you
see forming before it gets to be a prob, (ie- dont let it go till "i get the
money to do it right" which usually never happens - you'd be surprised what
you can do yourself with a little can of touch up spray paint ) there has
been different ideas about spray on types of undercoating, but i've parted
my
share of rotten vans that had been undercoated by Ziebart and related
places..
or, just drive it till it rots out, then buy another one from california
with
a blown engine, do the swap, and you're good for another few years :<)
chris
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