Paint cracking w/rust sliding door & wheel well: How bad is it?

[RiddleMeThree]

First time buyer, looking at a 1985 Westfalia full camper at 137K miles with one big question mark.

The passenger side was repainted at some point, and now has cracking on the sliding door and wheel well, plus some bubbling along the seam. The current seller says there is bondo beneath the cracking paint. Carfax shows no accidents, so I am thinking this is an old rust repair that is failing, maybe with the rocker panel too?

The van has been mechanically well-maintained, and the interior has nice upgrades, so this section of the body is my only concern.

Any guesses for what I am getting myself into for body repairs? ~$5K is manageable, $10-15K is not.

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[E1]

Buy a magnet to know where the filler is — though it’s obvious on this van! — magnets won’t be magnetic on body filler.

That is a LOT of Bondo!

You asked… personally I would keep looking.

Unless everything else is stunning and he wants $2 Grand for it. Easy $10K+ to clean up that disaster. Sorry, I know buyer’s enthusiasm runs high but this does not look buyable.

Spend more now, or spend even more later when you’re way too invested to sell.

Edit:
More clues, looking harder at photos, tires are even scuffed from banging onto curbs, it’s a classic Great Lakes rustbucket…..
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[Glenn]

Bodywork is always worse than it looks and always costs more than you think.
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[jlrftype7]

Quote- Seller says there is Bondo under the Paint. ""
Anyway, as noted, once you're into it, you're IN to IT. To add to your possible woes if you bought this VW , rusting UNDER the bondo has probably happened as well that is more than what the original job entailed, so the scope to properly repair has grown over the years.
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‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Red Ryder]

Patience, Grasshopper. That will cost more than you want to spend in order to fix properly. Lots of Westys on the market right now. In my opinion, spending more up front for a well-maintained van is smarter than buying a discounted “project” one. I’d take a pass on this one…
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[RiddleMeThree]

I am quickly learning to value a non-rusty body over mechanicals. Thanks all for helping me do so before buying.

[E1]

You’re welcome and to wit, it may be wise to search in no-salt states for your van — or get lucky and find a garaged-for-life one, a rarity where you are.

There’s absolutely no doubt this is all a Pay now, or Pay More later, decision. And as parts get rarer and inflation keeps rocking up, it will only get worse if buying especially major parts later.

The right one’s out there — and you’re searching in the best time of year, too!

Besta Luck, feel free to keep us posted.
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If ever twice as rich, we’re gettin’ a double-wide
’84 “Westfailure”/2.1 Digijet/5.43 Ring & Pinion/Peloquin/D-rated BFG KO2s

AI has spoken to further illiteracy, to steal, to cheat, and to replace humans
The caveman’s first question to the headhunter: “Hey, you got any coffee?”

[MsTaboo]

First off - Welcome to the Samba. Note, there is also a whole forum here dealing with body repair for tons of extra info.

[RiddleMeThree]

Thanks MsTaboo!

Here is the undercarriage

Good suggestion to save some money by doing as much of the grunt work myself. I'm totally up for that, and am just working with the handicap of shopping at a very long arm's length. This van is in Colorado. I had a pre-purchase inspection done today at a place that works on older VWs, and specifically asked them about that area, but they punted and told me to take it to a body shop.

I have a good place lined up here in Cincinnati when I do buy - Vogt Auto. I just need to get over the hump of a very limited selection of rust-free vans nearby or rolling the dice and buying one 1,000+ miles away.

[Abscate]

You don’t roll the dice, you go see it and inspect it like any other. If you don’t have time to inspect and travel, then stay out of the Bus game.

That Bus will take $20,000 and consume it I a heartbeat and still be a POS
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[Ahwahnee]

[SCM]

[do.dah]

I live in a part of the world where it rains 400 plus days outta the year.
I've experienced a similar bubbling around the seam in that exact same place.
I also would have a soaked floor around the passenger rear tire. Not damp, SOAKED!
Over the years, I've seen other vanagons around here with the same issue. As is with classic car owners, A few of these other van owners and I would talk as we're filling up or whateva. At least 2 of them asked me if I had issues with the floor getting soaked. I told them I had, and went and popped out the little rubber plug inside the rear wheel well, near the bottom of the van. As had happened with my van, their vans pissed out a quart or more of water.
For whatever reason, the issue seems to only be on the passenger side? To me, it seems the driver side would be more of a prob, what with passing vehicles on the driverside?

Anyhoo,, I can't say what exactly I did to fix the leak, cuz I spent SO MUCH F*&king time trying different fixes. The last thing I did, was to take an old fillet knife and sharpen both sides of the point, and spent a buncha time scraping out the seam just above the rear tire, and filling it with an expensive automotive body seam sealer.
No idea how that fixed the issue, but, I still pop out that plug occasionally, and no water comes out. Also, one of the other owners I'd talked to about my fix, contacted me later and thanked me, cuz my fix, fixed his problem.
YMMV!!

[MsTaboo]

[RiddleMeThree]

I have not seen the van in person, and all of the detailed pictures were provided by the seller without me even asking, so he at least seems to be making an effort to be transparent about the old/repaired damage.

Major items flagged by the PPI are the non-functional AC (already known), front wheel bearings, and inner tie rods.

I am definitely not looking for a show van, and just a nice solid weekender or full camper to enjoy with the family. So dings and scratches don't bother me at all. Major rust repairs do

Good idea on the body shop. I do have a local one we trust, so I'll definitely do that

I'll PM you now

[MarkWard]

On my phone, the chassis looks solid from underneath. The sliding door takes about 5 mins to replace with a good used one. Seam rust is just one of those Vanagon things. The area above the r/r tire is one of those areas. You can access it from inside the van and slow the rust down without getting carried away. I’ve seen a lot worse rust buckets still be driven daily.

Certainly a pristine one may come along, but if it passes a mechanical and you aren’t looking for a trailer queen, based on price I wouldn’t walk away. I’m tripping over a solid side door from an 87 every day. There must be others closer to you.

[zuhandenheit]

Yeah, I don't know what people are freaking out about. What do you want the van for? If USE, the problem area pictured is no big deal. Take a weekend to dig out the bondo, remove the rust, re-apply bondo and spray with a rattle can. The seam is ugly but also reparable -- to the extent necessary to use and enjoy the van!

[jimf909]

[zerotofifty]

Much of what I see is fairly good, looks to me the van was in a fender bender, and he bondo and paint repair is failing . As other suggested, do a magnet test. I am pretty certain they is bondo in the area mentioned, you needto do the magnet test on the rest of the body, if rest of body is bondo free, then this is not an issue of massive salt induced rust, as that problem will be all around the van.
You may remove the interior panel to see the extent of the denting from the inside to gage how much bondo there is

If price is right, this maybe good for you. If you is handy with basic bondo and spray pint, you maybe able to make this area nice for your needs.

The key is that you know if the rest of the body has damage or not, hence the magnet test. a rubberized fridge magnet works well for this test, slide it over the body all around, it should stick uniformily over the body, where it stick poorly, that is a sign of bondo. pay attention to the seams, not only with magnet, but also by close vision inspection, are seams uniform, not wavey, and such?

Good luck
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[RiddleMeThree]