Vanagon windshield rust repair (newb here)

[Slimvest]

Hey all,

After reading through multiple helpful threads on rust repair, I'm still a little foggy on how best to work through the botch job my local body guy did on my vanagon's windshield 3.5 years ago. Tired of it still leaking, I finally pulled the windshield to discover a pitted mess of paint, rust, possibly por-15?, and a couple holes.

I'm hoping to follow these steps to a sealed and semi-repaired windshield:
1) wire wheel out as much of the filler, rust, and paint possible
2) treat surface with a rust converter I have (Permatex Rust Treatment)
3) Fiberglass body filler over small holes (I don't have a welder)
4) body filler or glass microballons on all remaining pitting (sand, repeat)
5) primer/sand/primer/sand
6) paint

I have an angle grinder, rotary sander, and drill to do the body work, but it's tough getting in the small angles of the windshield.

I did a little grinding last night and, man, progress is slow! Any input you can share would be a great benefit.

Worst spot with holes, filler, and incomplete gasket lip

Base of sill (aka: craters of the moon)

driver side corner

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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[Slimvest]

Went for it. Grind, grind, grind. Clean. Permatex rust converter (black areas in pics), followed by multiple rounds of USC All Metal filler. I did a couple more rounds after these pics were taken.

Got primer and top coat on last night too. Clear coat tonight. I'm using aerosol cans from Paintscratch.com.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the work I've done. Never attacked something like this before and even though the sill isn't perfectly smooth, I happy knowing what's there in case I have to do this again in a few years.

Passenger corner:

Center:

Driver corner:

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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[sciroccojim]

Nice work. That USC filler is good stuff. Hard to sand, but good filler.

I'd suggest you cover that with some 2K epoxy primer. So many people use rattle cans because they're intimidated by the thought of mixing paint but the primer is easy. You can buy a quart from Eastwood, along with the hardener. For that job, the cheap Harbor Freight HVLP 4 ounce touch-up spray gun (46719) is ideal:

You could even use that little gun to spray some color over the primer and some clear if you're ambitious and not looking to clear the whole front panel. It's a small gun, so a smallish compressor (preferably oilless) will do the trick for spot repairs.

I've done spot repairs on silver and used an aerosol can of blending solvent to blend the new clear into the existing in order so avoid clear coating the entire panel (which is the proper way to do it).

Once you start messing around with catalyzed paints ("2K"), you won't want to use a rattle can. The paint is harder and can be applied much smoother.
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1987 Westy Camper

[Slimvest]

Well, it's "done". I tried to allow for some overspray buffer when I masked it but was still left with a tape line edge. Any thoughts on how to smooth this? I thought about another light 600 grit wet sand and then another shot of clear coat. My paint match and clear coats don't look the best either, but it was rattle canned.

It's not perfect, but I'm confident I can do a better job the next go around, which hopefully won't be for a few years at least! Maybe this will give other newbies some gusto to just try and solve issues like this on their own.

I'm paying to have the glass installed tomorrow to get the local shop's lifetime leak guarantee.

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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[jwallis]

Dude it looks pretty good to me. It looks like some did a seam fix on your driver's side seam. I'm pretty sure i'll have to do this as I have a leak that I'm pretty certain is not coming from the windshield, and my seams are cracked to hell
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[Slimvest]

[buguy]

Only real way to do better on your clear blending is to get a clear coat blender. They do sell it in spray cans and I actually prefer them to running it through a gun. What you do is mask your edge, but go away from it a little further than you want it. Then use some 2" tape and only stick half of it to the tape you just put on. The use some more tape to "roll" the edge by pulling the outer edge over the rest. If that makes sense. Your just rolling the tape long ways. But dont spray the clear down into the edge, spray away from it. That will "fog" that edge. Then pull your tape right away and very very quick burst passes on the area where you blend with the blender. Just a couple because it runs super easy. This will melt the new clear and the old together. Same thing applys to doing single stage paints.
Search "bending clear coat" on Youtube. Seeing it done will give you a better idea what I mean. Be sure to mask and spray the clear further out than you did the paint. That will help you avoid a hard edge.
Once its all dry you can very lightly sand the blend if you need to and buff it. But avoid that if possible.

[Colonel Mosby]

I think you did a great job. Turned out very nice. I bet this will hold up for a good while too. If you get a chance. Inspect all of your windows and this same repair can be repeated saving you big bucks. Best wishes! I did the same thing but used POR 15 as well. So far so good.

[CinnabarVan]

Great pictures and work.
I'm about to undertake the same project on my 89 Westy. I uncovered a rust hole on the driver's side.

My question is: Was it common from the factory to have some sort of black glue between the metal and the rubber weather strip?

My windshield had never been removed and when we pulled it there was black glue on the seal and body. The black glue come off relatively easy with a heat gun and does not require full sanding to clean.

I have read other threads that someone used Black RTV silicone to seal the weatherstrip and metal, so I may try that.

I am using the POR-15 POR-PATCH product to plug up my cancerous rust. I have used this elsewhere and works great, and not too bad to sand smooth.

Thanks,
Joel in Rochacha.

[jwallis]