Vanagon body work - looking for your knowledge and opinions

[Dormungus]

Hi,
As a get closer to finishing my seemingly endless list of "vanagon road worthy" projects, I'm starting to look at the body panels.

Are the panels on the market decent quality or am I better off hammering out my blemishes and using filler to "straighten" everything out?

I can weld but all these body seams have me leaning towards adhesive if Im going to change some dinged up panels.

[Corwyn]

My van is undergoing a full resto in California. The shop is taking panels from a donor van - they say the market panels are thinner.
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'90 White Westy ("The Longship")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604813&highlight=baja

"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
~ Captain Ron ~

[Mateo83]

I pulled some pretty big creases out with a puller and time. Better to go that route that start chopping and replacing.
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83 Air-cooled 2.0 Tin Top

[minimart]

i forget what's the brand name, but the silver weld-thru-primer-coated panels seemed to be much better quality than the black panels. the worst i've seen was the lower inner sliding door panel which didnt have any drip holes or bracket holes which would've been a complete pain to install. ended up getting a used door instead. i've used replacement panels for the visible body repairs and made my own panels for the floor/frame sections using thicker gauge steel.

the new panels being a bit thinner means adhesive is an excellent idea, otherwise you'll be chasing holes all day with the MIG.
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1988 Get Away Van [sold]
1986 Panel T3
1976 vtec mini (ex ice-racer)

[d3von2]

I glued my panels in because I was too lazy to remove the interior and insulation but I have also had great luck with adhesives. I replace many panels at my shop and find that with glue there is no raw metal to rust. When you weld the interior side is left burnt and raw even with weld thru primer. Get 3m panel bond if closing this route. DO NOT WELD WITHOUT REMOVING INSULATION. Even a spark from cutting the panels out is cringe. Have an extinguisher by your side. good luck

[charleslabri]

i spent a lot of time on the body work on my van.

I did a full strip down to the metal.

It was easier to work with existing metal than to weld new panels in.


I purchased some of the `black` panels for my rear quarter panels (the ones that rust out on every van). They didnt fit awesome, as the minor shapes of each van are slightly different. Will require some work to get them right. They were also slightly thinner metal than my body, and that made it a PITA to weld the two different metal thicknesses.

Remember that filler is only supposed to be max 1/32" thick.. anything more may flake off under stress
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My Build Thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=730525&highlight=