Seam rust sucks. (plus a bunch of other things, eventually)

[VanMan2009]

Well it finally happened, I couldn't put off dealing with my seam rust any longer. I've been wanting to upgrade my battery setup and add a Truckfridge, but if I was going to be in there mucking around I wanted to deal with the typical kitchen rust too. And while I'm doing that, I might as well deal with all of it!

So here we are.... acceptance.

She still cleans up nice.

But up close there's the telltale signs.

Armed with a naivety of what was to be in store for me, I got to reading here and, and then reading some more. I don't have any welding skills, so I'm trying to avoid cutting metal out... but we'll see.

My approach has been to get in as close to the source of the rust as possible, and seal the ever living daylights out of it. I'm trying to do this job once...

I'm going to need reinforcements

My plan is to get access to both sides of the seams, and then wire brush, grind, and blast away the rust to the bare (or as bare as possible) seam. Then Ospho, then steam, then epoxy based primer, then seam sealer (3M seam sealer), then paint. Whew. [/code]

[VanMan2009]

I know behind those seams it's even worse. I'm full of dread thinking about what the inside looks like... Years ago I had the van repainted and I can tell there were many corners cut. I'm committed to fixing this correctly, but man this is going to be a lot of work.

Pulling the interior to see how bad it is.

The whole floor is covered in sound deadening mat. I believe you only need 25% of a surface covered to deaden the panel, but PO covered everything. I've pulled most of it up, and found water underneath, and rust. I think it's coming from wet ski boots, etc soaking through the flooring and finding its way underneath. I'm going to need to find a new flooring solution but that's a problem for another day.

Luckily I have a helper to pull up this old sticky mess

seam under the rear bench, next to the sliding door (post wire brushing). This is one of the worst areas, the other being behind the kitchen.

It's just like everyone says - it's always worse than it looks The more I chased the rust, the more interior I needed to pull.

Might as well just pull it all!

More to come...

[Alaskaberrys]

I feel your pain! It will feel great to have the rust taken care of....I promise.

Interesting on the discovery of water under the sound deadener It does not seem to be an uncommon practice to pave the whole area. I will be certainly keeping this in mind when we add sound deadener.

Thanks for posting that.
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'91 Westfalia, Bordeaux Red Pearl 2.1L 2wd Auto
'91 T3 Syncro Doka, Escorial Green 1.9L TD AAZ “Gremian” (to provoke, irritate, exasperate, vex...)

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[VanMan2009]

[VanMan2009]

Last night I fired up the blaster and went to town on the kitchen interior seams (there's actually 2 that are rusty), as well as the seam on the floor by the slider.

Initially I tried fine crushed walnut in my Harbor Freight media blaster, but the nozzle kept clogging and I wasn't getting anywhere - I probably need a larger diameter nozzle?

Anyway, I gave up on the walnut and ran out and picked up some blasting baking soda. Getting the blaster to blast was a bit of black art! I'd either get just air, or too much soda... or a combo of both in succession. I finally figured out if you open the abrasive valve about half way you get (roughly) the right combo of air to media to get a consistent spray - that took about an hour of trial and error.

These are the 'after' pics from a good amount of soda blasting. I'm wondering if the soda is aggressive enough? It strips the surface rust and paint, but leaves the deeper rust looking like in the pictures (you can really see the current state in the second pic). Is this surface ready for Ospho? Or should I hit the seams with crushed glass media (or something else?) before I paint on the phosphoric acid?

One other question - in the first pic you can see a rust hole It's small, and not in a very visible place so I'm hoping I can repair it myself with decent results. Any non-welding suggestions for this little hole? If not, I have a buddy who has a cheap welder (and enough skills to be dangerous lol).

[VicVan]

Thanks for this thread. I'm in the same place. Similar-looking rust on my van, and similar skills apparently...
Good luck, and keep us posted! Great pics, keep it up.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[VanMan2009]

[djkeev]

Using a rust convertor generally requires some rust to convert.

How you treat your rust is a personal decision that varies wildly from person to person.
Each person swears that their product/method is best.

Ospho, rinse, epoxy primer, sealer, paint.

Dave
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[Steve M.]

I just bought that same Harbor Fright sand blaster and found that if I throttle the lower sand supply valve halfway it puts out a better flow.

I'm also doing the rust thing right now so I'll be posting pic's soon.

Check that area inside behind the rear jacking point and do some preventive spraying of FluidFilm or other treatment. I have Dvr's side rusting inside there and there are a few repair threads on it already so it is a problem area.
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This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

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[Steve M.]

[jimf909]

Thanks for posting this. I truly appreciate efforts to stop seam rust to preserve a van.

On the flip side, I may eventually get around to posting my thread "In Defense of Seam Rust". There is so much worry about harmless seam rust here that I feel the need to counterbalance that worry with:

1 - No camping trip was ever harmed by seam rust
2 - Unlike salt-state van-killing corrosion, seam rust is different (see #1)

Here's some seam rust I've been patiently growing since 2014. Hundreds of camping nights and 60K miles paid no attention to this endearing part of an old van. It creeps, I drive and camp.

My '85 had no seam rust at all (NM van) but I prefer the slightly rusty '90.

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- Jim

[VicVan]

Hi Jim,

I see your point, but to me the idea is that it's better to treat it now before it spreads and becomes harder to deal with. and/or more costly.
I'm like OP, I could deal with the level of rust he has, but holes and stuff, I don't have the skills nor the gear.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[Sodo]

I too am interested in the best way to flog my seam rust, without actually tearing into the van.
I've read other posts about this, but haven't done it.
Can't find that advice in the quagmire of rust posts.

I want to do whatever slows it's advance.
Currently I only have outdoor parking.

I can sandblast it off from the outside ....and treat it, then paint it.
This would be pretty quick and I'd do it if I had proper advice and a little kick in the pants.

I've been doing the Jimf909 method, where "no camping trips were harmed".

Currently planning to sand blast, treat with ospho, paint with epoxy, camp.
Hopefully soon.

Jim if better intermediate advice pops up, come over and we'll sandblast yours too.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[mitch5]

I recently did my seems, luckily there wasnt rust but just cracked and falling out(desert heat). The one advice i could give would be what product to use when sealing it back up.

3m panel bond adhesive, it's pricey and you need a fancy gun but it works very well. about half a tube did my van. Best part is its sandable, so if you goof up a seem it can be fixed

https://www.amazon.com/3M-08115-Panel-Bonding-Adhe...amp;sr=8-1

[bobbyblack]

Funny how this story goes. Mine came with the kitchen rot well along, having the PO admitting to his daughters that he should have fixed it right. Instead, he paved it with Bondo.

I have been picking bits of seam sealer out over the last 6 years, picking at the bubbles, prying up the loose Bondo, and treating the rust with Ospho/steam/Ospho/steam/primer/topcoat for a few years. Every time I see it looking a bit like rust, I go ahead and pull whatever I can out of the bubbles, cracks (mechanics pick) and go at it again. Usually a twice a year thing for me. I have not seen much advancing of the actual rust in all this time. Just keep on it, and pick it out asap, and primer, topcoat with my color (LP7Y) from some place on ebay that does VW colors. Sure, its like $35 / spray can, but I am satisfied for short term. She'll never be a trailer queen, so what.

Long term, I do have wheel well, side wall and floor sheet metal repair panels sitting here waiting to do the full job.

Long story short, keep it picked out, and treated, it won't really move too fast if you do that often enough.

Of significant note on my situation: Iowa, and I run in all 4 seasons, salty roads, and limestone gravel dust. As bad as it can possibly get.

-bobby
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[MayorMcCheese]

Black Diamond is the cheap go to for blasting media last time I checked.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/black-diamond-medium-blasting-abrasives

This cheapo gun works well with it. https://www.harborfreight.com/21-oz-hopper-gravity-feed-spot-blaster-gun-95793.html

Regardless of media it's going to be a huge mess.

[djkeev]

[Captain Pike]

Screened playsand with a good respirator and full hood. 10 mins for a job like that. Clean up takes longer.
Want to blast? Go big time.
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LEARN TO SELF RESCUE
59 Panel bus, 1966 Single cab. 73' 181. 73 Westy. 91' H6 Vanagon 3.3L.
.....................All Current.......................

[RoryGirl]

If I hadn't cut mine fully out I think I'd be trying to find a place that does this and show up with some spray bombs of 2-part epoxy primer


Link

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1991 Double door pop top conversion