My 1973 baywindow had all the usual welding done just before i bought her , however its obvious that no treatment has been given to the underside of the van for quite some time , although it looks a little brown and rusty underneath , a good prod around reveals that its surprisingly solid underneath i have the van in the space,under a first story extension that is open at both ends but there is a roof above it i also have 10 days off work in a couple of weeks time what is the advise that i should take on board re treating the underside of the van i have a grinding cutting machine, a couple of drills , a small compressor , i have a spray gun that ive never used (bought from an auto jumble) i don't mind getting dirty i can get the van in the air so i have about 15inch clearance underneath using ramps and stands , i am repaired to remove items to refurbish (heating ducting etc) and make room i am assuming advise would be so strip as far as possible to original metal - but then what ? how many coats of what and in what order should i apply it ? i don't need to colour code the underneath so i am not bothered about what colour the finish will be but w would like to be able to hose it down to get the mud off now and again i am in the uk so it need to protect against some damp/wet weather so what do people think i should be using? a couple of pictures to show how she is now , i have previously had the engine out and tidied up a little of the rear end with red oxide , i am aware many don't like that stuff though many thanks
i think you have a clip missing off your accelerator link , not sure but i think there should be a sort of clip with hole in on it !
Try this thread http://thelatebay.com/index.php?topic=1260.msg13951#msg13951 After reading around previously i reckon.. Clean/wire brush/grind/sand as much as poss De-grease ?white spirit Jenolite/dinitrol/etc por 15/Tetroseal/epoxy mastic/ waxoyl underseal Ps I havn't actually done this but have just had mine re-undersealed at Gingers in Portsmouth - lovely job
Acc cable just hooks on as pic above. I can tell you NOT to do. And you're lucky nobody has... Don't just underseal over the rust, it'll rust faster than ever if you do. Up our way you can get a company to media blast the whole underside and paint with zinc or other primer for about £200. For the pain and misery you'll experience trying to do it with hand held and power tools + you won't be able to get into the corners properly, I'd go for that for starters. Then take it to a painter with a ramp and get them to 2-pac it. Then underseal if that floats your boat, or leave it so you can keep an eye. £200 is just three fill ups at the pumps.
Zeds right dont underseal over that surface corrosion Wire brushes,sandpaper,scotchbrite to death the underside and use tractor enamel if your doing it diy style Ive used underseal on my bus but the surface underneath was sound before application
our westie was gently cleaned back to original paint (very gently) any rust was painted and the whole lot dinitrol treated along with all of the cavities and door insides. Wasnt cheap but in the long run it will offer protection
hi i am waiting or a day off work then i will go to my local sandblaster and price up the job to just blast it , money is tight so if its 200 pounds then i would rather spend 30 quid or so on abrasives and do the best i can for a few days cleaning it myself. it only needs blasting from rear axle forwards as i spent some time cleaning up the engine bay area to bare metal whilst i had the engine and box out and i red oxide it, but it want quite as bad as the front of the van. i know though but i need to treat the whole underside with further protection , at least now i have a sort of plan , just depends on cost of blasting , and choosing what to treat it with after cleaning the rust away . some good suggestions above thanks all
I think £800 ish to do the job well is not a bad price, its not cheap but its alot of work, and you'll find out its a horrible job when you're working underneath covered in old flaky rust, paint, and underseal Get yourself a big wire cup brush on a grinder and go for it, apply some sort of rust treatment to the rusty bits, key it up again and then add some etch/zinc and then a suitable heavy straight to metal paint such as epoxy mastic/jotunmastic or the tractor enamel suggested by Paradox, then to ideally finish something like schutz under body seal, or waxoil (in my opinion horrible stuff as remains tacky!) Whilst your're there you should be injecting te box sections with as much wax as possible as most of the rust starts from the inside -to out Theres loads of ways to do it, but essentially its success will depend upon the preparation, how much time you put into it and to some extent the materials you put on.
