While it seemed that the blue-black paint protected the panels longer than the white painted vans, it got to the point that the paint was the only thing left holding the bottom of my panels together. So never having done body work before, or welding, or metal fabricating, or auto painting, I tried it.
To cut down on fabricating, I got Kolkerholm panels from Mill Supply.
As I did not know what I was doing, I started with the least damaged panel first, the left rear:
While cutting out the panel, it turned out that the wiring harness to the rear AC was up against the panel. It got nicked requiring patching. The rusted body panel support brackets on both sides had to be rebuilt. Also, the interior flat panels all around had to be replaced. I had 15g metal to rebuild the brackets - then welded in. The interior panels I essentially glued with auto body seam seal and screwed in.
The left rear front panel was loaded with wet dust
The otherside didn't have the dust
I don't have a shop, and my 9+ clearance garage is not tall enough for the van plus vent.
With no confidence to be able to cut cleanly and close enough for butt welding, I did lap welds:
The trim holes resulted in rust. The right patch is the only butt weld - turned out OK - but I did it on my table.
The sliding door was rust all the way through. I had to rebuild the interior flange.
Then the body filler. Note that I used screws to secure the bottom of the interior and exterior panels. I couldn't figure out how to keep the primer and extra anti-rust from cooking out if I welded.
Primer
Painted. While the paint on the new panels and primer turned out well, the overlap didn't. The overlap is visible in the picture. I have no idea what I did wrong. But it is not enough to worry about, as once it goes back to its normal dirty, it will not be visible.. [Update: I went back with a thinner coat of the same paint - that seemed to do the trick.]
In summary -
5 partial panels replaced
1 partial rocker panel under the sliding door replaced
Sliding door rust replaced
5 square feet of 22g interior panels replaced
And I got to play with a lot of new toys.
To cut down on fabricating, I got Kolkerholm panels from Mill Supply.
As I did not know what I was doing, I started with the least damaged panel first, the left rear:
While cutting out the panel, it turned out that the wiring harness to the rear AC was up against the panel. It got nicked requiring patching. The rusted body panel support brackets on both sides had to be rebuilt. Also, the interior flat panels all around had to be replaced. I had 15g metal to rebuild the brackets - then welded in. The interior panels I essentially glued with auto body seam seal and screwed in.
The left rear front panel was loaded with wet dust
The otherside didn't have the dust
I don't have a shop, and my 9+ clearance garage is not tall enough for the van plus vent.
With no confidence to be able to cut cleanly and close enough for butt welding, I did lap welds:
The trim holes resulted in rust. The right patch is the only butt weld - turned out OK - but I did it on my table.
The sliding door was rust all the way through. I had to rebuild the interior flange.
Then the body filler. Note that I used screws to secure the bottom of the interior and exterior panels. I couldn't figure out how to keep the primer and extra anti-rust from cooking out if I welded.
Primer
Painted. While the paint on the new panels and primer turned out well, the overlap didn't. The overlap is visible in the picture. I have no idea what I did wrong. But it is not enough to worry about, as once it goes back to its normal dirty, it will not be visible.. [Update: I went back with a thinner coat of the same paint - that seemed to do the trick.]
In summary -
5 partial panels replaced
1 partial rocker panel under the sliding door replaced
Sliding door rust replaced
5 square feet of 22g interior panels replaced
And I got to play with a lot of new toys.
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