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Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:06 pm

I'm not saying that you can't do good work with the cheap dent puller, or that you will do great work with a studwelder, but it doesn't hurt to prepare yourself well. I bought the studwelder some 5 years ago on sale. The great thing is that everything at Harbor Freight goes on sale every month or two, and you can find a 20% off coupon in every major automotive magazine right now.

After some time battling rust, you'll learn to crave dents for their relative ease of repair, and laugh at all of the people in the American SouthWest who cry about faded paint and a few wrinkles. I live in Missouri, with high humidity and a decent helping of road salt in the winter (though we're more fortunate than our neighbors in Iowa, Illinois, and points further North). You can watch your fingerprints rust into unpainted steel overnight in the dead of summer here.

Fri Mar 26, 2010 3:50 am

The sand blaster is your best method to get the rain gutter area as u can't get to a lot of it with a sander. Even after blasting u will still have some rust in the pits that need to be taken care of so use 'metal prep', a water like liquid u brush on and let sit for a bit,wipe off and the rust left will be a black looking area and be neutralized from rusting and the 'prep'is primer compatible. The prep should be used on all rust areas to get the best results to keep from rusting back under the paint. Gutters a real problem because of seams and i find that using a quality body seam sealer as used in new car assembly, put on just before the last primer coat seals the seam pretty well. Water will find a way to penetrate so seal the best u can now. Note that blaster dust is a nasty stuff not like rust dust and requires a mask for this purpose and are marked as such,be careful. Use blasting sand u can get at H.D. or Lowes, forget the reguliar sand for cement mixing/play sand all mess and very little cleaning, The very best is talk to a place that sells tombstones as they blast the lettering and usually will sell some just watch the size if the grit,take the blaster tip with u to check as they also use some larger size grit.

Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:07 pm

morymob wrote: The sand blaster is your best method to get the rain gutter area as u can't get to a lot of it with a sander. Even after blasting u will still have some rust in the pits that need to be taken care of so use 'metal prep', a water like liquid u brush on and let sit for a bit,wipe off and the rust left will be a black looking area and be neutralized from rusting and the 'prep'is primer compatible. The prep should be used on all rust areas to get the best results to keep from rusting back under the paint. Gutters a real problem because of seams and i find that using a quality body seam sealer as used in new car assembly, put on just before the last primer coat seals the seam pretty well. Water will find a way to penetrate so seal the best u can now. Note that blaster dust is a nasty stuff not like rust dust and requires a mask for this purpose and are marked as such,be careful. Use blasting sand u can get at H.D. or Lowes, forget the reguliar sand for cement mixing/play sand all mess and very little cleaning, The very best is talk to a place that sells tombstones as they blast the lettering and usually will sell some just watch the size if the grit,take the blaster tip with u to check as they also use some larger size grit.

Hi,

Thank you for all these advice...
Well today I've tried the portable sandblaster from HF...
let's say that if you have some rust spots it will work fine...
But don't even think avout stipping a whole bus or in my case a roof...
Still with a lt of elbow grease here's where I am with my roof...
I finished the heaviesr spots with my Dremmel and a swire wheel...
It works pretty well... If you have the patience :roll:

I'm almost done with my rain gutter...
Now the next surprise of the day was this really bad job...
Beneath 1cm of bondo I found thi metal plate not even welded but pop riveted... and beneath the metal plate 2 cups of dust, mud and rust :evil:

I'm too tired to do anyting I'm going to bed now :)

Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:40 am

Hi guys,

Update of my work on my bus roof....

. Sanding the old primer and rusty spots : done
. Removing deep rust from rain gutter : done
. sealing rust spots with phosphoric acid : done...
. Sealing with Rust Bullet : done

To do list :
- Sanding Rust Bullet
- Priming with heavy epoxy primer

Now that the roof is weather proof I'v started to work on the rocker panel beneath the sliding door...

Look what I've found :2gunfire:
Cheap metal grill filled with bondo...

Pfff I'm not there yet :?

See ya

Raspa

Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:22 am

Raspa wrote:
Cheap metal grill filled with bondo...

Pfff I'm not there yet :?

See ya

Raspa

perfect candidate for Gersons New Rockers!

Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:48 am

I am just curious, are the structural components underneath this bus as rusted as the body panels? :-k :bay_red:

Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:23 pm

Raspa, you are a brave man. here's to you for saving that por* thing.

* this was a typo but in light of the pounds of POR-15 that will be going into this one, i left it :lol:

Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:32 pm

wampe wrote: I am just curious, are the structural components underneath this bus as rusted as the body panels? :-k :bay_red: n

Hi Wampe,

Fortunately no... Underneath is very clean... Ths was the first thing I checked when I saw it...
I have one or two small holes in the cargo floor area... No big deal

Ciao

Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:59 pm

That's good, it sounds like the undercoating did it's job. I had a rusty old truck years ago and one of the rear brake lines rusted through. Because of the dual chamber master cylinder it still had some front brakes so I was able to get it stopped. Steel brake lines might be something to replace just to be safe. :) :bay_red:

Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:42 pm

payaso de la mar wrote: Raspa, you are a brave man. here's to you for saving that por* thing.

* this was a typo but in light of the pounds of POR-15 that will be going into this one, i left it :lol:

Thank you Hombre I appreciate the support... Especially because today is one of these days when one is a little depressed when seeing the task still to be accomplished... I'm in one of these days... :cry:

It took me three hours to grind this f...ng outer rocker panel... and one more hour to get rid of half an inch of bondo on the rear right corner... beneath this ton of bondo I discovered that the rear corner is in really bad shape... I don't know where to start whth this one... I feel like the patch panels on the market won't cover all the damaged area :roll: ... Well tomorrow will be another day...

Hasta luego

R.

Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:00 pm

Sorry to hear that. Rust sucks! :-& :bay_red:

Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:31 pm

seems like my previous post vanished in a time space vortex...
So let's try it again...

Hi folks how are you...
I'm working hard on my bus... my hands can tell...

I have a small problem... I think I found a beautiful pair of used doors to replace mine...
Except neither me or the present owner are able to say what year are these doors and if they'd fit my 71' DEluxe...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=768414

What you think guys ?

Thanks

Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:00 pm

I have a '71 and they look identical to mine. How are the mechanisms inside the doors, the glass and the seals? :bay_red:

Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:34 pm

If that's an OG color on them they're 76+ and may have different hinges, ask him for some more pics.

Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:12 pm

They have the belt line trim, so they came off a '72 down deluxe. They should fit then as long as they are not off a '68, if they are '69 they will not have the ventilation holes in the front for the door vents which if you have a deluxe its not a big deal since you should have the integrated armrest and rear vent setup. '68 had push button handles and the locks are on the window sill. I think it was '74 that they changed again and put the lock pulls back on the window sill and moved the inside handle forward a little.

Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:14 pm

I took a closer look at the pictures, is that paint or trim? :?:

Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:15 pm

kjbtsi wrote: They have the belt line trim, so they came off a '72 down deluxe.

Look closer, thats a sticker :wink:

Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:29 pm

Hahaha, damn old monitor. Wow, so just ask if it has the lock oulls on the window sill, if not you should be good.

Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:42 pm

kjbtsi wrote: I took a closer look at the pictures, is that paint or trim? :?:

Hi,
Thank you for this detailed answer...
Regarding the the paint or trim... I don't know... The owner is going to send me more picts this week end I'll let you know...

Thanks guys

Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:40 pm

Hi all,
It's been a while...
Here are some updates on my work...

My roof is 99% ready to be topcoated....
After hours and hours of work...

here's what I did...

. Sanded to OG paint or to bare metal where pretty rusty...
. Treated rust spots with phosphoric acid...
. sealed rust spots with Rust Bullet...
. Used rage gold filler to come to level...
. sand sand sand sand...
. 4 layers of filler primer... block sanding between each coat...

I need one more layer of primer sealer then top coat...

In the meantime my brake booster committed suicide :roll: ...
so now I use my two feet to stop the bus... plus the parking brake for emergency stops... :shock: I've checked the lines and hoses the'y re almost new and the only suspicious piece was removed and replaced so it's coming from the booster itself... I'll have to wait a little bit to have it rebuilt since I'm completely broke...

to be continued