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Sun May 15, 2022 5:57 pm

Starting to bring favorite tin top back to life…

The body is in reasonable condition with exception of driver side rear where rocker panel rusted through. My plan was to get engine back in running order, start driving again, then as time/$ allows start improving body…then I found this...

I would like to learn to do this work-I have zero welding experience. How big of job is this to repair? Does it look structural?

Thank you for ideas.

Sun May 15, 2022 7:14 pm

that is your rocker panel. the trailing arm is attached to a square tube perpendicular to the mounting bracket. i just made a dozen of those in 16g cold rolled. its an easy job. ive seen them collapse into the body there, but looks like yours isnt too terrible.

Sun May 15, 2022 8:51 pm

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

I fixed the same rust on my van. Link above for pictures to see what you're in for. I made plenty of mistakes as it was my first time doing body work. Here's a tip, cut as little as possible while cutting back to solid metal. You'll need to cut open that area to fix it.

Sun May 15, 2022 10:10 pm

If you have no welding experience, MIG welding is actually pretty easy to get the hang of, I've found 70% of it is getting your machine set (temp and wire feed speed) *just* right, do some practice first on scrap metal to get your technique right and you'll be delicately zipping in pieces in short order. There's another thread running on here about aftermarket panels being thinner - I'd try to source a bit of OEM metal if possible.

I agree it doesn't look too bad. Lots of good videos out there on welding basics - it's kind of fun to be fabricating once you get over the trepidation of 'doing something wrong'. Get a good body hammer too, and spend time working your replacement piece into the right shape and you'll be away to the races.

Tue May 17, 2022 10:55 am

That likely isn't that bad. You want to cut it out and have a look in behind as there is some structural stuff in there that, if it rusts, can cause you problems. But from a cursory inspection of the photos, it would seem that yours is probably still intact. You want to hit it with some rust prevention when you get in there, as it will probably be pretty crusty.

That panel is available from more than one online source for around $30.00 US.

Cut it out, and post some pics of what you find inside. It looks very fixable. You likely can save the bottom of the rear wheel arch if you are careful and drill out the welds. It still looks solid.

To put the patch panel in you probably will need to borrow or buy a MIG welder.

Wed May 18, 2022 2:52 pm

I was wondering i am about to start some body work on rocker panel & pillar on drivers side & i purchased replacement panels, can you attach rocker panel & Pillar cover panels using 3m body panel adhesive?

Wed May 18, 2022 3:08 pm

pushkick wrote: I was wondering i am about to start some body work on rocker panel & pillar on drivers side & i purchased replacement panels, can you attach rocker panel & Pillar cover panels using 3m body panel adhesive?

If it is not a structural piece I use panel adhesive all the time.

Thu May 19, 2022 10:30 am

dobryan wrote: pushkick wrote: I was wondering i am about to start some body work on rocker panel & pillar on drivers side & i purchased replacement panels, can you attach rocker panel & Pillar cover panels using 3m body panel adhesive?

If it is not a structural piece I use panel adhesive all the time.

True. A lot of the vanagon is actually held together with seam sealer, from the factory. It was a weird design.

Sat Jun 25, 2022 12:20 pm

All the info is appreciated and instilled enough confidence to start the project…Thank you! The link above with the inner rocker panel repair is spot on and the story close to home….I will post as I get further into the repair.

Here is the next we found last night under fiberglass-bondo mess. We removed. Advice on how to approach or helpful links?

Sat Jun 25, 2022 2:56 pm

The good news is yes, you can fix these. The bad news is you have a steep learning curve ahead. I would go around the van and see what other panels are rusted out, damage like this doesn't bode well for the same spots on the other side of the vehicle.

You will need to cut back enough of the outer panels to repair the inners. As you do this make sure you leave enough structure so nothing shifts. Cut back to clean metal, welding sheet metal is hard enough without blowing holes in the rust-thinned original panels. Remember to paint those areas that become inaccessible when the outer panel goes on.

I don't know what the Vanagon sheet metal market looks like, so far mine has only needed a few small window-seal area repairs. You can simply buy sheet metal of an appropriate gauge and cut to fit. Even the curve on the inside of your door is really only in one plane. You will want to buy a small stack of thin sheet metal to practice on before trying it on your van anyway.

Setting yourself up to do metal bodywork is no small investment but the tools are all durable so you'll be ready for the next one.

Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:04 am

I appreciate the thoughts….I dug a bit deeper with screwdriver….and found more rust….Looks like both front wheel wells, both rocker panels from inside. The center of van looks reasonable. It also looks like panels above rocker may have addition adhesive-is the black adhesive factory or repair work? I have been looking over articles about other restorations and also the vw repair manual. So far like a roller coaster…

Driver side wheel well:

Passenger side wheel well:

Inside driver side Rocker Panel:

Driver side Rocker Panel
Passenger side Rocker Panel

Is the black adhesive factory or repair work?

Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:26 am

Looks like someone added sealant or body adhesive to the detached connection where the factory brackets were glued to the outer body by the factory.
I've the same on ours, in the same places.

Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:00 am

The black stuff over top of the factory seam sealer is added at a later date. The factory stuff will be painted over.

That area is fairly close to the gas tank, so be careful welding there. The gas tank is basically a bomb complete with accelerant and shrapnel. It is vented in a number of places so there will be fuel vapours present.

When I did my vanagon's body in the front in the areas you are contemplating repairing, I drained and removed the gas tank first and let the area ventilate, and did the repairs outside.

Looks like your seat belt anchors are OK but I would check anyway. Nothing worse than having one of them pull out on you.

All of that stuff is repairable. Don't cut too much out at once, or you will weaken the area too much. Best to cut out, weld in and then cut out more, in steps, so you don't weaken the area.

Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:22 pm

We have removed fuel tank, engine, transaxle, final drive, z-bed, interior panels…Starting to see a lot:) I appreciate heads up on fuel and the black sealant is aftermarket.

To repair the passenger door sill (I think this will be my first one to work on), it looks like the wheel arch panel and b-pillar are both corroded through in the picture below. How is it best to start the repair-is it advisable to remove wheel arch or try to repair with it in place? I looked over vanagon repair guide-there is schematic of where to cut to remove entire wheel arch. The rust is only where you see the hole and in the vertical seem in the wheel well.

Thank you

Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:04 am

Do you need to remove the wheel arch? From the pictures, it looks pretty good.

Also looking closer at the pics, the fuel filler is deleted, is this a synchro?

With that area of the Vanagon, you have to be careful how much you cut out as it is a structural area. I would say cut out in stages, and weld in as you go. Don't take the entire area apart, you will start warping things.

If the wheel arch is good, then just leave it. There is no point in cutting out good metal.

Wed Jun 29, 2022 9:05 am

Thanks chrissev2, I appreciate the advice. it is a Syncro. More I look, I will try to cut our rest of rusty metal on B-pillar, then patch and work my way out.

Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:20 am

Only cut out the rusty bits, leave as much original metal as you can.

I can't say this enough, practice practice practice...and not on your van. Scour YouTube for tutorials on welding in patch panels. Don't rush. The last thing you want to do is end up with a ton of bondo work after the metal part is done.

Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:41 pm

Borg wrote: Only cut out the rusty bits, leave as much original metal as you can.

I can't say this enough, practice practice practice...and not on your van. Scour YouTube for tutorials on welding in patch panels. Don't rush. The last thing you want to do is end up with a ton of bondo work after the metal part is done.

Will do...thanks! We removed 5 bondo areas with a torch-they had not been finished by the PO. Each one only had very small, almost unnoticeable dents that we were able to minimize even further, I think I am going to primer-rattle can until a future paint job and settle for a small imperfection instead of bondo.

Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:35 pm

[quote="chrissev2"]The black stuff over top of the factory seam sealer is added at a later date. The factory stuff will be painted over.

It looks like the black stuff is not quite connected to the panel on a couple of the brackets-1 on each side of the van. Do you what the black stuff is?

Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:56 pm

Available through various online retailers is a great little book "The Key to Metal Bumping" by Frank Sargent. Slim volume but it does a good job of explaining how to move metal around with hammer and dolly. Proven ways to get to a minimal bog finish, it has helped me a lot.