TheSamba.com :: View topic - another kitchen rust project (warning: long and TBC)

Wed May 07, 2008 3:09 pm

Hey, I think I might know that CA van (the one with the stars painted on it)!! Where did you get it/ who did you buy it from??

Wed May 07, 2008 3:23 pm

howdyhoss wrote: Hey, I think I might know that CA van (the one with the stars painted on it)!! Where did you get it/ who did you buy it from??

funny,
I bought it a about 4 years ago while I was living in Berkeley, CA.
it was a very cool couple that sold it to me. In fact I believe they moved to Oregon shortly after they got rid of it.

And did get the panel epoxyed in this afternoon, pics and description to follow shortly.

cheers!

Wed May 07, 2008 3:55 pm

Ok, so as mentioned above, I was able to get the panel glued in this afternoon. I only spent a very short time on the project today.
First thing this morning treated the last bit of rust I found yesterday evening.
after returning from a couple successful job interviews I felt confident enough to get after the final glue up.
Now, I was a little nervous about this, as can be seen in the disorderly epoxy beads.

but the SEM Weld-Bond was easy to use, and even though the gun was more than the epoxy, it was worth it (as long as it holds of course).

The Weld-Bond instructions say to use a "spreader" on the epoxy applied to the new panel. Well, given that my garage is in disarray I was unable to find any of my putty knives, or anything that even somewhat resembles a "spreader", so here is the new (perhaps to be improved) spreader

The epoxy was quick and easy to apply, and in no time at all it was clamped up.

I'm pretty sure that I over did it with the C-clamps along the bottom edge, but I had the clamps so I figured I might as well use them.
A little bit of clean up and it was done.

All said an done (as long as it all holds together of coarse) there is not much I would do differently in this stage.
i probably would have remembered a drop cloth to catch the few globs of epoxy, and would have had a fan blowing, my garage door was open, but the odor was very strong.
the thing I really forgot was the cold beer, I had to make a run after I finished (bad form) it would have been much more satisfying to crack one open immediately afterwards (perhaps before-that might have helped my shaky epoxy beads)

so, now I wait, tomorrow I will remove the clamps
and report back.

cheers all.

Wed May 07, 2008 8:39 pm

guavajelly wrote: howdyhoss wrote: Hey, I think I might know that CA van (the one with the stars painted on it)!! Where did you get it/ who did you buy it from??

funny,
I bought it a about 4 years ago while I was living in Berkeley, CA.
it was a very cool couple that sold it to me. In fact I believe they moved to Oregon shortly after they got rid of it.

This is crazy- I think it was probably my good friends' Mark and Florie who lived in Berkely during grad school. I remember riding in it when I went for a visit when they were living in Santa Barbara. Small world.

rg

Thu May 08, 2008 3:32 am

howdyhoss wrote: guavajelly wrote: howdyhoss wrote: Hey, I think I might know that CA van (the one with the stars painted on it)!! Where did you get it/ who did you buy it from??

funny,
I bought it a about 4 years ago while I was living in Berkeley, CA.
it was a very cool couple that sold it to me. In fact I believe they moved to Oregon shortly after they got rid of it.

This is crazy- I think it was probably my good friends' Mark and Florie who lived in Berkely during grad school. I remember riding in it when I went for a visit when they were living in Santa Barbara. Small world.

rg

funny indeed, I did not get it from Mark and Florie (the other couple i mentioned only owned it for a very short time)
but I still have all kinds of maintenance records with Florie's name on them.
small small world.

Thu May 08, 2008 10:22 am

Yo guavajelly:

That's my old bus!

I had it from 2000-2003 in Berkeley and Marin County. I bought it with the money I received from the Peace Corps. I painted those stars on.

Florie

Thu May 08, 2008 10:37 am

florafloja wrote: Yo guavajelly:

That's my old bus!

I had it from 2000-2003 in Berkeley and Marin County. I bought it with the money I received from the Peace Corps. I painted those stars on.

Florie

Sweet!

as mentioned above, I bought it while I was in Berkeley (grad school), and have sense moved it to Wisconsin and soon on to Kansas.
I have really grown attached to the stars- although with this body work (and the passage of time) it is due for a paint job.

My wife and I have loved this van, and have traveled many miles and have many fond memories.

So cool.

adam

Fri May 09, 2008 10:04 am

Ok,
so I didn't get much accomplished yesterday, but, I will say that after pulling the clamps I was very pleased with the results. Now, onto the steps I have very little patience for, body filling, sanding etc.

but a small detour first,

after I pulled the interior panel behind the kitchen, I not only found the seam rust. There was also a small amount of rust peaking out from behind the top of the horizontal support midway up the side panel (just below the water/ electric inlets)

Deciding that there was not time like the present to deal with it, I drilled out the spot welds and pulled of the support member.
not to bad, but I'm very glad I found the motivation yesterday to do it.

and on the inside of the panel (sorry it is blurry)

It was sort of a PITA to get it off, but realistically it was my sour mood yesterday afternoon that made it seem worse of a job that is actually was.

so with an attitude adjustment this morning I went down to the garage to clean the rust up and procrastinate on the exterior body work.

the grinder made quick work of the rust,

I cleaned the interior as well, but the pic didn't turn out.

now I simply need to dig out a tube of silicon adhesive and the support piece will get put back in.

Meanwhile, I've also begun to fill the tiny seam between the new panel and the existing one.
Normally I'm a pretty handy guy, but I am all thumbs when it comes to body filler. It is not even noon, and this job would put me well into a 12er, but I've shown restraint this morning and kept my consumption to a minimum.

Shortly I will head back down and slog through it. Any moral support is appreciated.

cheers!
adam

Fri May 09, 2008 5:01 pm

guavajelly wrote:

Shortly I will head back down and slog through it. Any moral support is appreciated.

cheers!
adam

here's some moral support...thanks to you and Ben. I have a little more to do but I've almost got mine done.

Fri May 09, 2008 5:30 pm

Home Team Bus wrote: guavajelly wrote:

Shortly I will head back down and slog through it. Any moral support is appreciated.

cheers!
adam

here's some moral support...thanks to you and Ben. I have a little more to do but I've almost got mine done.

sweet! way to go!

PS
Home Team,
where is ILM?

I was 9 or ten beers into it when i finish this evening, with a coat of primer, it looks decent, we'll see how it is in the morning.

Sat May 10, 2008 12:22 am

ILM = wilmington, NC

Thu May 22, 2008 12:00 pm

Any more updates on this project? I'd love to see how it turned out.

Thu May 22, 2008 1:05 pm

well, I'm about to do the same project and i really appreciate al the info and pics.

By the way. I read you have had the van in WI at one point, it looks very familiar to me also, was it ever in Madison?? Thanks, again. Todd

Thu May 22, 2008 2:03 pm

I got mine done and the Weld Bond seems to have worked great. The hardest part was getting the panel to fit just right but the weld bond was easy to work with.

Fri May 23, 2008 4:48 am

Ok.
so I've been a Samba Slacker. The new job has taken away from my Samba time.

but to answer a few questions...

Yes the Van has been to Madison I live in Nashotah (almost half way between Madison and Milwaukee)

and an update,

I would call it a complete success, I don't have any really good photos at the moment. but a person would have a hard time picking out that it was a patch job.

In fact, I've been so inspired that I have decided to get after the stars and a new paint job, it is long over due.
here is the kitchen side minus the stars. The Stars where great, but a real bear to remove.

I'll be completing the sanding and a little body work over the weekend.

I'm glad to see so many folks tackling the kitchen rust, its kind of a pain, but better to get to it sooner rather than later.

Cheers!
adam

Fri May 23, 2008 5:25 am

guavajelly wrote: Ok.
so I've been a Samba Slacker. The new job has taken away from my Samba time.

but to answer a few questions...

Yes the Van has been to Madison I live in Nashotah (almost half way between Madison and Milwaukee)

and an update,

I would call it a complete success, I don't have any really good photos at the moment. but a person would have a hard time picking out that it was a patch job.

In fact, I've been so inspired that I have decided to get after the stars and a new paint job, it is long over due.
here is the kitchen side minus the stars. The Stars where great, but a real bear to remove.

I'll be completing the sanding and a little body work over the weekend.

I'm glad to see so many folks tackling the kitchen rust, its kind of a pain, but better to get to it sooner rather than later.

Cheers!
adam

Adam, just a suggestion if a may. All deeply sanded spot that hit the metal should be filled, the small deep one use putty, and a good brand.
http://www.evercoat.com/productDetail.aspx?pID=5
For me, it's simply the best i found (bound in minutes)

Now, for the larger area, use a high built primer like Pro-Form
http://www.proformproducts.com/en/products/detail/?id=201

What i do is I spay the deeply sanded area until it's filled, after, i sand the edge.

We often think that it's not gonna show, but it will

On those 3 pictures you can see what i mean...i hope :-)
http://www.benplace.com/fabian/fabian4.jpg
http://www.benplace.com/fabian/fabian6.jpg
http://www.benplace.com/fabian/fabian11.jpg

It just take a little more time and it will look awsome.

Body work is just about patience!

Nice work and good luck.

Ben

Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:28 am

Hello, I have been searching and reading all of the seam rust and rust behind the kitchen threads. I pulled my fridge from my 82 to replace the cooling fan. I know all the ways to treat the rust etc, but have a question about the above replacement panel. What are you doing about the area between the outer skin panel and the interior floor that is actually rusted out?

As best I can tell, the factory seamed the lower rocker section and the side panel. It looks from Ben's website the lower rocker panel is what created the "short" floor section between the outer skin and the actual floor. Is this peice just "omitted" when installing the replacement panel?

Like most of us, a simple project usually takes us on a path we were not ready to go down at that time. My plan was at some later date strip the van down and address all the body work at one time. I'd like to just address the rust in this area for now. I ended up removing the stove/sink cabinet to have better access. I can grind, clean, and rust prevent what is there. The short floor panel peice has some rust through in places, but is fairly intact. I could then come back when I am ready to do all the body work and deal with it properly.

My other choices are to just cut out the narrow floor section leaving the seam lip on the outer skin. This would give me better access to clean and treat the rocker panel area which is still solid and the main floor area. Another option would be to cut a peice of sheet metal or even aluminium and using the "weld adhesive" install this directly over the rust treated floor section. There is a fairly stout welded lip on the main floor that looks like it would have had the interior panel attached to it on a passenger van. Any insight to how the section of rusted floor is addressed when the replacement panel is used would be helpful. Thank you mark

Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:23 am

Great resurrection post and timely as I will be tackling this project in the next few days as well.

I haven't looked behind my interior panel yet, but I know for sure that it will be rotten through and through. :(

Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:19 am

rsxsr wrote: Hello, I have been searching and reading all of the seam rust and rust behind the kitchen threads. I pulled my fridge from my 82 to replace the cooling fan. I know all the ways to treat the rust etc, but have a question about the above replacement panel. What are you doing about the area between the outer skin panel and the interior floor that is actually rusted out?

As best I can tell, the factory seamed the lower rocker section and the side panel. It looks from Ben's website the lower rocker panel is what created the "short" floor section between the outer skin and the actual floor. Is this peice just "omitted" when installing the replacement panel?

Thank you mark

I've got this repair and more pressing, the sliding door track. Does anyone have a thread for this?
Al

Tue Jul 05, 2011 12:07 pm

Ok, I think I found the answer on Ben's website. He is adding a peice of sheet metal from the replacement skin peice to the main floor structure. Mine is not as bad as the one he is working on, so it looks like I can cut and add a peice if I choose. Here is the photo I found.