Rescue a Syncro 16

?Waldo? · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 12:27 pm Post subject:

I think that any residual foam left over could get soaked by something like fluid film and if it's open cell it will help with the rust proofing. If it's closed cell it won't hurt anything if there is residual.

tschroeder0 · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 4:03 pm Post subject:

as I have posted before, 14 years ago I put foam in some of my lower panel areas, in my recent and ongoing build including cutting out of all rust and replacing with new metal I found one clear thing i replaced metal in 4 areas around the van.
-above each front wheel well...rusted in the seam extensively and you could hardly see it
-passenger side panel behind the slider rusted out at the bottom- no foam open to air
-rear most panels on both side back by the bumper-open to air
-and the seam just above the rear driver side wheel well- open to air
BTW you can see those areas for yourself and see there is no foam in those panels on my build thread.

after taking it all down to metal I found no rust, none at all, in any of the foamed areas, in one of the panels I was curious, so I cut out the foam out and used a dremmel with a wire brush to get all the way down to the seam. No rust there at all.
My thought is just like when you get the stuff on your hands and nothing takes it off, it does the same on the seam...of course if the seam has not been protected from the outside and its getting blasted then it doesn't matter it will rust.
for fun i took a dollop of foam and ran it through the dish washer a few times last year...still intact and when cut open it was dry...so then I put a little on a raw piece of flat steel, put it in the dish washer and then let it sit outside for a couple weeks. I scraped off the foam...everything else was rust around it but right where the foam was, was fine.

I am am not trying to expound the virtues of foam I was just very curious about my own van.
What I know is mine has been road tripped and driven in every imaginable condition in colorado and the west and it did not rust in the foamed areas. The problem areas, every last one of them that I have delt with since buying the van(in Colorado) occurred from the 2 seasons of winter driving
in good ole' Wisconsin.
this van was pummeled by the salt, and it does not even seem we know what the condition of it was when anything was done...if that is unknown then its pretty hard to draw conclusions...just sayin.

Edit- just for my own wondering do you have a photo of the exterior of that drivers side rear panel that was all foamed in, was it rusted out? thanks
btw- if you are going to dive into this I truly applaud you trying to save it!

Merian · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 5:59 pm Post subject:

Waldi · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 2:41 am Post subject:

Im not going to argue here about foam in the van. I have it clear.

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tjet · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 6:58 am Post subject:

What brand/manf are those replacement panels?

Waldi · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 7:59 am Post subject:

tschroeder0 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:13 am Post subject:

Hey Waldi

not at all trying to argue, only trying to offer up more information and tompoint out that two things in the same place(foam and rust) does not make a cusal relationship, especially when there are many other factors involved. I am really interested in figuring uot things that work. These vans rust in the best conditions so it is really tough to determine what makes things truly worse or better...
As I said I applaud you! and am a very interested in your progress, if we meet out there on the road we are all friends..foam or not Laughing

Waldi · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:26 am Post subject:

tschroeder0 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:42 am Post subject:

I think you have a good point , caused by foam or not, once you have rust and also have foam in the cavity that makes for a hard solve. my though would be you could work from the bottom up and not worry about the foamed areas higher up.
If you are cuttng open te panel to replace the rusted seam, I would clean out the foam at least a few inches up, then you could weld in the piece and drill a hole in which to spray the waxoyl, then either spot weld it back shut or use a body plug sealed up, depending on where the fix is. It seems its the lower few inches up a panel that are the most concern...I am sure other will chime,in with ideas

1vw4x4 · Banned Joined: June 22, 2005 Posts: 472 Location: Pgh. PA

I had a guy at my shop last week with a very clean looking vanagon
camper. With in a minute my floor jack went right thru his frame for one of the rear control arm. Big rats nets inside. Another 15 minutes and a quick inspection of the rest of the vehicle I felt it was junk yard material, even with the body so clean. Moral is vanagons can be deceiving. You need to take a very careful look at a list of areas that can rust from the inside out. These are mainly the frame rails. These are also the very same areas that should be rust proofed, not the areas that most people talk about here.