Vanagon Seam Rust

Seam Rust…

This page and van repair work is a work in progress in every since of the word.... today I started jerking the interior out, what a beeeeeaaach. This has been the biggest disappointment in owning the van, the mechanical things I can handle for some reason, miles and age , well it's comes with owning a Westy and if I keep replacing stuff I get a “newer” van. Until the day comes they make a Sprinter camper van like our Westfalia interior has now; the van will stay.

The seam rust/seams is just a terrible design from the word go, all they had to do was spray a rubber/tar based spray or something on the seams and this wouldn't be going on. You think the anal Germans would have done this. My other van was only 6 years old and was way worse than this 20 plus year old van. If your van doesn't have it now it will later. I like how I see a Camper posted on EBay were it states NO RUST ! ! ! .....yeah right ………..Yeah and I’m a Chinese fighter pilot named Wang Chung……… Open a panel… ….sorry I digressed….

I will be adding pictures of the progress of using POR-15 on the seams, and the removal of the components to get to the rust. I already plan on a short cut if you can call it that. The linen closet will not be removed I will open the cabinet, and make it accessible. I do not want to remove the A/C cabinet either. It works well and messing with it will open up a can of worms... Getting to the rust is more important on my list.

back passenger side rust rear wheel well

Day one:

I have just completed giving the motor a tune-up including all the filters, and started removing all the camping gear, and removed the rear seat, passenger paneling and starting grinding and cleaning on the rust. I feel kinda rushed though, I might have shoulder surgery coming up due to a kayaking injury and I want this completed before it does, hard to work on a van with one left hand. So I’ll keep plugging along…..

Day Two:

Well I'm at day two and I got the remaining cabinets out, just taking my time. I cut some of the backside of the cabinets (frig and sink) out with a jig-saw. I want access to get back in there and not have to remove everything again. Just want to do this once. A lot of rust came from water coming from the Exhaust vent of the frig, and the penetrations where the gas line comes thru the floor, and the opening to the water tank in the floor. The floor was soaked. As soon as I touched the penetration gaskets they vanished to dust, think I write VW for 20 year old gaskets failing.(That was a joke……..)

The scariest thing I found so far was 110 volt AC electrical circuit; the green #10 awg wire the bonds (connects) the metal receptacle box to the van body, had severe corrosion. Also the lug that that attaches to the body was so oxidized that it did not have continuity. This is scary because a lot of people with trailers get “kilt” because of the same problem, if something is going to ground, and there is no ground you become the ground. You grab the door knob (metal door) and you then get electrocuted or if you’re lucky you get shocked. I will be replacing the standard receptacle with a Brown GFCI receptacle for added protection. I will get one that has a L.E.D. light to let me know it has power for that warm-fuzzy feeling.

During the week:

After work during the week, where they isn’t seam rust, I am spraying a wax like petroleum based rust and corrosion inhibitor product in all the door panels and crooks and crannies. I used an Aerosol spray extension to the spray the inhibitor in the corners and cracks. The extension is McMaster-Carr P/n# 1428k2 The Spray I used was McMaster-Carr P/n# 105005k27 www.mcmaster.com It is made by CRC. The stuff is rated for 2000 marine use hours, I got the idea from Terry K’s website.

I also plan on, once I POR-15 the seams, is to give a final spray of the inhibitor everywhere I can for the final once over. Overkill is not an option on this project. I plan to only do this once

I have called the local body shop supply house and ordered some spray on bedliner that comes in a spray can made by Morton www.uschem.com , Thanks to Terry K’s legwork on finding the bedliner in my neck of the woods. I will bring the van down later to the body shop supply house, and get the color of the van matched. The game plan is to put the bedliner on the lower rocker panel below the hookups, and the upper rocker panel behind the rear wheel wells, POR-15 the seams, then finally paint over the bedliner to make it match. I also plan to spray bedliner the inside cab wheel wells later and inside the step of the sliding door, they get scratched from going in and out of the van.

I am kicking around on what kind of insulation to go back with, the batt. insulation was a rust sponge. Could go with some Styrofoam boards, but it won’t get everywhere it needs to be. What I am thinking of doing is going with the spray foam and making a dam, so I won’t get on the seams. May not go with anything. I might go to the local pull-a-part and wipe out a mini-van and get the sound proofing material out of it. Would be nice to have a quite Westy. No matter what I plan on keeping the seams open to avoid moisture being trapped. That’s what started this!!!

Day 3

Well I got good weather and I’m moving on, I got the grinder out, and worked hard on the seams, I followed the POR-15 instructions to letter, using the Marine Clean and once done …..I got out the heat gun to speed up the drying prep/cleaning time, I WOULD NOT use a hair dryer,(you would burn one up) the seams hold so much water/moisture I now see how it rusts, (It wicks and stores the water) I got the heat gun; set it 1000 F…. you could watch water boil out of the seams, I feel this might have been the best thing that I have done so far. Waiting for it to dry on its own wouldn’t have worked, and would have trapped the water. I also used the Metal Ready, and once done…. I got the heat gun to dry it again. I want no mistakes for the POR-15 to stick. I only want to do this once.

The biggest screw up I did, I tried spray in insulation foam, it didn’t work at all, in fact it made more work ….I got to get it out, so went and I bought new R-6 insulation from Home Depot and glued it in. I kept it away from the POR-15. It came in little bags and seemed perfect for the Westy. The old stuff held rust and a lot was wet and I didn’t want to reuse it. I left a gap were the seams are to keep them open and dry just in case; I will spray the CRC Rust Inhibitor listed above; when done, and also to do inspections once in awhile.

Later that afternoon…..Well the POR-15 is dry and the stuff is rock hard, and works as described. I used POR-15 Patch on the seams and the holes, then I painted the POR-15 Top Coat Primer on the outside, and I will get back to dressing the outside later, it needs 24 hours min. to completely dry. Starting to put the interior back in and I got the water tank and RTV the thing on the bottom to give it more support, and I RTV the water drain, the gasket was shot, and this was another place that water got in, I got it from the top and the bottom……later when it dried I shot bedliner around the gas and water penetrations and the seams.

Day 4

Well I got going on the interior, just slow steady work, while putting the interior in I used POR-15 Straight-Line Body Filler and filled in the rough spots to fill and feathered primered the outside seams. Labeling the wires paid off while I reinstalled the interior while the primer dried. Later I sprayed bedliner on the bottom of the van and once fully cured I will paint over the bedliner. This should keep the exterior protected while on the logging roads, and the keep the seams from shrinking, once painted over it should blend pretty good. I seen the hard core 4x4 guys do their trucks this way and it is bullet proof. I want no rust. This will also help me get by until I have more funds and time/weather to paint and make the outside look pretty.

So here quick list of the tools/material that I used for the seam rust project:

POR-15 Material I ordered:

2 each POR-15 starter kits, get the small kits once it is opened it is ruined (southern humidity), small cans are better, and 1 kit is good for 1 coat on the outside and inside seams.

1 Pack of POR-15 ½” Brushes, they hold the paint really well. You need these for the Primer.

1 tube of POR-15 PATCH, great for small holes and seams.

1 Pint of POR-15 Tie-Coat primer

20 oz of POR-15 Straight-Line Body Filler

1 Pack of Latex Gloves there is isn’t enough in the kits. I’m rough on gloves.

I ordered from here Ben sent me a Fed-EX conformation e-mail and also an order conformation e-mail….to me that speaks volumes……no more guessing if I am getting it or when. He also knows a lot about the product and its uses.

Bulk Material:

3 spray bottles for the POR-15 kit, I got them at the Wal-mart garden center and color matched them to match them (they come in different colors) to the bottles from the POR-15 Starter Kit. 1 ea. For Marine Clean, Metal Ready, and finally hot water.

5 cans Mc-Master-Carr Rust inhibitor

3 Cans of Spray on bedliner

1 Pack of 600 grit orbiter sander pads.

4 rolls of masking tape, for paint and wire labeling.

1 Sunday paper for paint masking.

1 Box of zip lock 1 quart bags and a Sharpie marker for bagging the screws. Make a lot of little bags for each part of the van, it will help jar your memory where the parts go.

4 rolls of paper towels.

1 can general adhesive for the interior parts, cheap…if you double coat and wait until the first coat to dry it works just a good as the 10 dollar can stuff.

Tools:

1 grinder with a wire brush, you will burn a drill motor up if you use it for grinding.

1 battery drill motor to help remove the interior, keep a battery on charge.

1 orbiter sander,120 volt

1 1000f Rated Heat Gun, you will burn a hair dryer up, and it doesn’t get hot enough either.

General hand tools, with Metric wrenches and sockets.

1 Shop-vac

1 Drop cord for the electric hand tools.

3 Scotch-Brite Pads, for cleaning the inside, and scuffing for primer.

1 Fractional Drill Index, you need this to remove the snaps on the left rear panel, and the cabinets will not line up all that great when reinstalled.

1 Jig-saw

1 Digital Camera: to help you remember where the stuff goes, and you can look at the pictures later to question your sanity of owning a Westy.

Most Important:

“Paintence”: “Paint’enc” You need this; to give yourself enough time to let the paints dry properly…don’t rush things.

Other POR-15 projects:

Battery Compartment: Starting to sound like an info-merical ????

I plan on removing the battery and using POR-15 on the battery compartment for overkill on it, I beat down the metal to install a larger Volvo battery last year, I plan on using POR-15 Patch on the beat down metal, and then I will use a POR-15 Starter Kit. DONE!!!! I’m glad I got to it, the rust had white fuzzies growing on it from battery acid.

Exhaust System:

I would love to have a Ceramic coated exhaust system, but I work for a living, so I am going to install POR-20 on the exhaust system. It is rated for 1400 f

Propane tank:

This is way down the road but when ever I do have to service the tank I will coat in POR-15. Cheaper than powered coating the tank. I’ll spend 20 bucks? Gowesty wants to nearly 300 bucks….don’t think so….

Questions I’ve been harassed:

I been emailed by a couple of people asking how will I get paint to stick to the bedliner well, that’s easy….I’m going to use more POR-15 products!!!

I plan on using their Top-Coat Primer, with a scotch-brite pad: if it will stick to POR-15 it will stick to the bedliner, both the bedliner and the primer are polyurethane based. I also plan on using their Straight Line body filler; it’s made to stick to POR-15 also. (I found a couple of places I’m not happy with.) After that is all said and done I will go down to the paint supply house and have them mix up a quart to match the brown. I plan to roll it on, with a nap roller hence why I went with the crinkled bedliner liner look. I won’t need a gun. They have clear-coat in spray cans, so once the paint is fully cured I will shoot clear-coat, I will have to wait FOR A FULL CURE; due the amount of thinners in spray cans, another reason I want to roll the paint on, I think the bedliner look, looks cool. Also the bedliner will not shrink the seams and crack open like the 3-M seam sealer that was used before.

But before all that I got to save money, the #$%^^& money pit is killing me……. (….it can’t hear me)

Where to get it:

PRP PORSTORE

2701 Beech St. IN. Unit H

Valpariso, IN. 46383

1-877-692-7878

www.PRP-PORSTORE.COM

Links That I found that can help you share your pain of seam rust:

This is where two guys go at it and really make a rust repair L Must be nice to have a indoor work shop…..

http://www.rustbuster.nl/Bus_zijpaneel/index1.htm

Here is a write up from Frank C’ who is noted on the Vanagon.com board for really good advice.

http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/vpaint.htm