Body work

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:20 am

Colin and I discussed this weekend my list of body repairs, so I start this weekend. Going to bondo my doglegs, and start the undercoating up front. I am actually excited, I imagine that will fade at about 1:00PM Saturday though!

Anyone recommend a bondo, rust converter, and rubber undercoat that is possibly available at a NAPA, or local FLAPS that I don't have to order from California?

Runamuck Bus · Post by **Runamuck Bus** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:22 am

No, I can't recommend any o-t-c 'Flaps' stuff. I ordered Rust Inhibitor and Undercoating over the net, ate the shipping cost, and had the products delivered to the door:

I am happy with the results so far but it is important to note - my bus is a 'garage queen'; none of the products have ever seen the 'light of day'!

Post by **Amskeptic** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:59 pm

Sylvester wrote:Colin and I discussed this weekend my list of body repairs, so I start this weekend. Going to bondo my doglegs, and start the undercoating up front. I am actually excited, I imagine that will fade at about 1:00PM Saturday though!

Anyone recommend a bondo, rust converter, and rubber undercoat that is possibly available at a NAPA, or local FLAPS that I don't have to order from California?

Any aerosol spray rust converter, like One Step or RustAway or anything with the picture of the rust (before) and the black result (after) will be fine.

I will reiterate for the viewing audience that aerosol rust converter does a better job of actually getting into (nice low viscosity) the crevasses and over/under/inside all of the complex surfaces you must reach for a successful job. It is key/critical to use it through the little rust holes that have perforated the body sheetmetal. As you saw, there are multiple/compound/composite sheet metal stampings all spot welded together at the dog leg. You want to wash blow wash blow wash blow wash blow all rust particles/chunks out of the internal passages and you want to let them dry thoroughly, I think I mentioned a couple of days at least, before you spray (compressed air alongside your spray is a godsend for saturating the internal box sections and rocker passages. The can says allow 24 hours to dry, I say 60 to allow the internal passages sufficient time to dry particularly with the runs you will never see. Then I use any cheap-ass paint as a topcoat for inside passages and under the bus, black Brite Touch @ $3.49 works. Let it dry tacky before you then applay rubberized undercoating to the underside of the bus (you already promised me you will never ever allow drain holes to get blocked).

Ryno · Post by **Ryno** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:54 pm

What kind of holes are you trying to fill?....Big rust holes, or just some pin holes?....Once you start removing bad metal, the holes multiply in size pretty quickly and that will determine the type of filler(s) you may need. Would it be possible to post some pics of what you're up against?

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:44 am

Ryno wrote:What kind of holes are you trying to fill?....Big rust holes, or just some pin holes?....Once you start removing bad metal, the holes multiply in size pretty quickly and that will determine the type of filler(s) you may need. Would it be possible to post some pics of what you're up against?

Weather permitting, I'll be doing a bit of both tomorrow. I will post pics as I go.

Bookwus · Post by **Bookwus** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:36 pm

Hiya Sly,

You might want to contact Willy (wild3) the body and paint guru up here in the PNW. When he worked on my Bus he mentioned that he was using a body filler with metal content. He said that was the only way to go. Dunno anything about it other than that, but I'm sure W can fill you in (sorry I couldn't resist that one).

satchmo · Post by **satchmo** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:43 pm

Bookwus wrote:Hiya Sly,

You might want to contact Willy (wild3) the body and paint guru up here in the PNW. When he worked on my Bus he mentioned that he was using a body filler with metal content. He said that was the only way to go. Dunno anything about it other than that, but I'm sure W can fill you in (sorry I couldn't resist that one).

Yes. I do not care for 'Bondo' brand stuff. Evercoat makes good filler and I like their 'Metal to Metal' product for doing anything beyond just a skim type coat.

Tim

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:39 pm

Well, it is a lot worse that I expected, did the under body rust converter and rubber coat, but passenger dog leg and under the slider door are filled with bondo and holes. So, I have to get this covered up for now, until I can get more time to do it right. Not sure at the moment how. Also ripped all the side 13mm bolts off in the doglegs, great. I hate when a 2 day project becomes longer. Will have to tap those bolts out and hey, I have no tap kit. No front bumper now. On the bright side, I got to hit all that rust under the bumper. This really sucked. Add to it, when I was underneath the Bus and in front of the rear tire, I kept hearing a buzzing sound. I could not figure out what it was, until a big friggen red wasp dropped out of one of my drain holes and landed right on my arm! I struggled to get out from under the Bus, he struggled to hang on to me and teach me a lesson for getting near his nest he was making in my Bus! I won though, I shook him off my arm, and got out without klonking my head and smashed him into the pavement. Now I have a massIVe headache, and still have holes in the Bus and no front bumper. I am thinking now I should have saved this for another day. Here is the dogleg, it is cheese holed in the front, the back and the end:

And here is under the slider door, it has a long hole, this will need replacing in the future, but now I just have to get it covered:

It looks worse, right now it is just covered with primer and rust converter.

dtrumbo · Post by **dtrumbo** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 5:31 am

Sylvester wrote:Now I have a massIVe headache...

I hear those are the worst!

Sorry to hear about all the hassle and especially the hornet's nest. Glad you got out unscathed. If it makes you feel better every one of my two-hour projects turns into a week-long fiasco!

vdubyah73 · Post by **vdubyah73** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 6:17 am

We have a flaps chain here called Car Quest. They don't all carry a large product line of auto body repair supplies, although if you know what you want you can order it. There is one store that does stock quite a bit of stuff. When i was fixing my Bus up I found a steel foil tape made by 3M Scotch brand That I used on one side to repair the rocker. It has held up for 3 years after being bondoed and painted. It is starting to fail now. I fixed the other side by making a rocker out of an extra sliding door hinge cover. It is still solid. Wasn't to hard though there was some cutting and shaping involved, Then welding it in to place. Some just cut the outer rocker right off and paint the inner rocker. I've done that on a 72 and Colin did that on his old girl. Depends on how anal you want to be about correctness. Me, I just want a solid reliable Bus with heat.

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:41 am

vdubyah73 wrote:We have a flaps chain here called Car Quest. They don't all carry a large product line of auto body repair supplies, although if you know what you want you can order it. There is one store that does stock quite a bit of stuff. When i was fixing my Bus up I found a steel foil tape made by 3M Scotch brand That I used on one side to repair the rocker. It has held up for 3 years after being bondoed and painted. It is starting to fail now. I fixed the other side by making a rocker out of an extra sliding door hinge cover. It is still solid. Wasn't to hard though there was some cutting and shaping involved, Then welding it in to place. Some just cut the outer rocker right off and paint the inner rocker. I've done that on a 72 and Colin did that on his old girl. Depends on how anal you want to be about correctness. Me, I just want a solid reliable Bus with heat.

That too is what I want, solid, reliable Bus. I will have to hack it because I am not an expert, don't have the money to hire one, and have no enclosed facility to do so. And alas I am going to have to do this on a phased approach, no part of this is going to get done in a day or weekend. How exactly did you do your doglegs? Can you explain, maybe a picture too? I also need to purchase a busted bolt removal kit. With the front bumper off, I can do it on the side. BTW, I have no access to a welder either, so this is glue, epoxy and JB weld land. Sort of working with Crayons and Markers.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 11:26 am

Sylvester wrote:I am going to have to do this on a phased approach, no part of this is going to get done in a day or weekend. I also need to purchase a busted bolt removal kit. With the front bumper off, I can do it on the side. BTW, I have no access to a welder either, so this is glue, epoxy and JB weld land. Sort of working with Crayons and Markers.

You're doing fine. It looks hairy in the beginning phases, but do not demoralize yourself. Drill the bolts out and tap. Did you PB Blast them a few times before you tackled the bolts? Anything you touch under there needs to be awakened and loosened and lubricated. . . as with anything in life.
Colin

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:54 pm

Amskeptic wrote:You're doing fine. It looks hairy in the beginning phases, but do not demoralize yourself. Drill the bolts out and tap. Did you PB Blast them a few times before you tackled the bolts? Anything you touch under there needs to be awakened and loosened and lubricated. . . as with anything in life.
Colin

Oh yeah, perhaps not long enough for a soak. That is really a bad spot to soak anything. Any recommendations for a tap kit?

vdubyah73 · Post by **vdubyah73** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 3:08 pm

Find the tape first. Grind and treat the rocker. Put the tape on and seal the edges with seam sealer so the weather doesn't get under it whilst hummin' down the highway in the rain, and paint it. Use a brush on paint as it is more durable in the weather at 65-75(?)MPH. The Tape starts to lift and the edges appear. The doglegs, I cut sections out of a donor Bus and welded in. The doglegs are falling apart again as well but not the repaired sections though. Rust is like cancer it comes back. Bus's, in New England anyway, seem to rust from the inside out. What looks good one day shows a paint bubble the next. It's time for me to redo mine, lasted about 3 maybe a little more years.

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Body work

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Re: Body work