Thanks for all the suggestions and opinions. Unfortunately after one of the worst days in a long time the whole rust issue and engine issue has become a moot point. When I bought my van in June 2022 I tried to find the earliest Devon at a reasonable price I could. After looking at a few I decided this was the least amount of issues with the lowest price. There was previously work done by two different garages, one garage being worse than the other. I wasn't overly impressed with the standard of work but overall I thought not too bad. There was some bubbling on some panels and front right outrigger and around driver's middle window that needed work. Over the last two days I cut the central belly pan off and it is not too bad behind, with a couple of low down holes in the front bulkhead panel. However, I have carefully removed the rusty outrigger and things have just got massively worse from there. It seems (I already had suspicions when I was purchasing it) that the garage cut the non-sliding middle sill off leaving only an inch down from the floor. An outer sill and side panel combined with fake panel press was installed and a bit of the inner sill was patched. One the sliding door middle sill, they just cut or left rusted out all the metal below the sliding door track and then patched the inner sill and fitted an outer sill. The small bubbles of rust on the sills each side that have appeared are the sills rusting from the inside out, I have now opened those up and found loads of filler around the back arches and rust underneath, along with failure to repair the inner rear arches after cutting out the rusty bits. Basically from the outside and when attacking it with a screwdriver before I bought it seemed good and solid mostly. Now it is clear that the repairs were rubbish and the panels that were replaced have already now rusted through and it clearly wasn't prepped properly before paint. Obviously I'm devastated and right now I have no clue what I am going to do. After purchasing the van, the "recon" engine turned out to be junk, the pop top roof was messed with a key bits removed and concealed, the repairs done underneath weren't done right and inadequate paint/no waxoil was used. To remedy this would require all sills, probably four outriggers, two rear arches, and other bits and pieces. Then the engine, then the pop top, etc. I was really careful and walked away from some real rip off lemons when purchasing, but I have still ended up being screwed. No van for the summer. With the van on the car lift I am also looking at the front arch and rear corner work and seeing inconsistent panels gaps and mistakes when looking at it lower down.
Thats a sad thing to discover all at once but my bus has had similar rot but discovery has been spread over years. People have fixed far worse. @1973daisey's roof collapsed.. Some of the parts you want like rear wheel tubs arent available so you will have to patch or fabricate them. The hanging of sills off strips of the old sills avoids unpicking the bus above the sills to cut the spot welds. Leaving them off after cutting however is saving time and money for a bodge up. It looks like you have a hoist and space to work on the bus, if you can weld or learn to weld and change lifestyle to allow a couple of hours a day work on it, it could still be done this year... Or even pay a welder to come in and weld up prepared sections or do all the work. So options are. Dont worry about badly filled panels that arent rusting , fix the continuous bits that have rotted that you have uncovered now, come back later for the rest. Spend time learning how to fix it, hire somebody to help and train you. Buy another good bus project with a good body and build a bus from the two. Buy another bus and part out/sell the bus you have to cover some of the cost. Give up and sell it for parts.
Grim, but not unusual. Your pics show stuff that's pretty typical of a van that needs the usual amount of work. Mine looked much the same, although, like yours, it didn't look too bad when I bought it. Out with the welder!
When you try relatively hard to not get yourself in this predicament then you feel like you have been conned and made a fool. Quite a bit seems to have been covered by stone chip underseal and the panels with a few bubbles that I thought were just rusting under the paint from the outside are from the rust inside the new parts. If I had managed to find the type of bus I wanted I would have paid more but I couldn't find one at the time. It doesn't seem like you can sit around and necessarily wait for the right van as the market may have lots but not necessarily the type you want for quite a long time. The van I really want is a 1968 Devon conversion with my westy continental interior fitted. There is one for sale on other forums and FB marketplace at the moment but it is a project, been stored for years, they are asking £8000 and all the belly pans are on. Personally I think it is probably worth half that. While my last van was a 17 year mistake of refusal to quit when I should have, the main chassis was actually excellent with original paint and stone chip. I ended up selling it for very little because at the time I had to sell it as I needed the money and the home was being sold so nowhere to keep it. The middle sill on the sliding side was better than this van and salvagable. On that van I did inner, middle and outer sill, outriggers, a front arch, part front cab floor and other bits too. So I can do quite a bit of the work needed on this van but I am again ploughing money and time into the van that isn't really the one I want. Also I am still worried about the work to the rear corners and front arches, I am not sure if they are aligned correctly. The areas I struggle with are if I can't repair the sliding door middle sill as I hear it is a nightmare fitting a new one to get right, also rebuilding the the lower B and C pillars I find hard to get right, also the rear inner wheel arch sections as there is no reference point. Effectively selling for parts isn't an option as there is no interior (i'm keeping my westy one) and the engine is no good. I am going to have to fix and sell the question is whether I put the van on the back burner in storage and do it later or plough all effort into fixing it and using it asap. Again, I can't really find a 68 Devon for sale at the moment. 1. One thing I want to know is whether late and early vans are the same with the sliding door, I noticed that the sliding door seems to just use the upper portion of the sliding track to stop it coming outwards, it doesn't seem to rest and run with its weight on the track. 2. Has anybody fitted a complete sliding door middle sill and is it better than it used to be?
A lot of us have been here. You could repair the middle sill? Do what the last fella failed to do. The rear arch - difficult but I've always fabricated, never replaced the entire tub. If you feel you have to repair to sell (or keep) it looks like you need to repair it. It's disappointing but it could have been far worse.
