clear coating/repainting/rust proofing metal interior

[Mckinleyvillian]

howdy!

I'm new to this and have been digging through the forums like crazy over the past few weeks. It's super helpful, thanks for all the contributions.

To clean out 36 years of dog hair and cigarette smoke I've got the interior of my 85 GL completed gutted excluding the driver seat and headliner. Renting a carpet cleaner/extractor for the seats and headliner soon.

As it spent most of it's life in south central Oregon, the van is in excellent shape with no rust or rot. The paint is even looking good! But while I've got the interior pulled apart, panels removed as well, I'm wondering if I should repaint the bare metal interior or at least coat with something for rust prevention since the van is now living in the climate of damp redwood forests.

What do y'all think? While I've got everything out for deep douching I plan to at least start the process sound proofing, cutting new panels, etc and want to do it right from the get.

thanks!

[kguarnotta]

I'm all for painting any bare metal - I'm not familiar enough with these rigs - is it really bare metal? I've just torn apart the earlier air cooled, and all metal was painted - usually with some sort of grey paint. If the paint is in good shape - I wouldn't touch it - just leave it as is.

If it truly is bare metal - then YES definitely paint it. I'm sure you'll get a whole bunch of thoughts on which paint is the best etc. But if you have a rust free shell - I think anything would be decent. I've been very happy with MAster Series - but I used that for going over lightly rusted stuff.
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-Kevin
Lincoln, MA

'86 Triple Knob Syncro w/EJ22
'78 Westy
'69 Single Cab
'65 Kombi - EZ-Camper

[Mckinleyvillian]

[Tbob]

For rust proofing, I look to places that have miserable weather and see what they do. The Brits have a oily product called Waxoyl that I think is sold in the states by Land Rover. I think the concept is that the oily stuff never really dries, gets down into the pores of the rust and hopefully seals off the oxygen and further moisture from reaching the base metal and further damaging it. II think I have had the best success with that type of approach. Much more so that with rust converters and POR-15 and sorts of sealants that are suppose to do the same. There are easily available products in the states here such as Fluid Film(lanolin based, I believe) and I think Sta-Bil puts out a product called Rust Stop. The problem with oily products is that they never dry, and will ooze out of crevices, and some of the painters I respect say it is either difficult or impossible to get it all off the metal come repaint time, which could be a real problem then.
But in my experience, those sorts of products are all I have found that really seem to work retarding rust on places where air can't get to it to dry it out, or the air is so damp even the sun cant dry it out.
As far as removing the yellowish cigarette deposits/stains from almost anything that can be cleaned, nothing beats a product called Purple Power, in my opinion. Available almost everywhere, it was my go to product for cleaning when I was a housing provider to low income clients(that's slumlord in non PC terms). But I tried to not give poor people slums, and cleaning all the cigarette smoke deposits off of everything was part of that battle. Purple Power was my go to cleaner.
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1969 Deluxe, owned since 1973
1973 Westfalia, owned since 1983
1980 Westfalia, watercooled conversion
1985 Westfalia, stock!
1986 Westfakia, Audi I-4 conversion
A couple of trucks and a couple of Jeeps

[joetiger]

Similar to Amsoil, Fluid Film is well-regarded for spraying into crevasses and corners to seal up clean areas that might be vulnerable to rust.
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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[danfromsyr]

the vanagon bare body shell went into a thinned paint solution dip on the assembly line. so the interior and all nooks are covered in this thin paint/primer.
there are many body cavity sprays/waxes/solutions..
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[charleslabri]

I just went through this. Its a lot of work. You’ll need to sand (in lots of places by hand) every inch of the van.

You’ll have the forearms of a 13 year old when you’re done
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