just started to sand back 3 small bubbles that apeared to have grown in the nose of my bus in the last couple of months, thought i would rust proofand fill, start getting ready for the paint job to come later this year. i soon found that the bubbles were the only bit of metal left. most of the corner was missing completely, stuffed with a mixture of bog, LOTS of SOGGY newspaper, foam, then, where there was SOME metal, a layer of fibreglass added, and where there was nothing the guy had built virtually 3/4 of the hole you see there with PLASTER, covered by filler and paint. he did a damn good job, too, you couldnt tell it wasnt metal till you started pulling it off, and even then i was continually fooled into believing it was smaller them it really was. i now have a few questions:
does anyone know a cheap mechanic around me that will do this sort of welding?
what should i do to keep it safe while i wait to gather the $$ for the repair (i will replace the windscreen rubber and install my spare windscreen at the same time)

PLEEEEEZE HELP!

Hey BBCK,
I guess what I'd do is get the front screen out- get the area sand blasted and find a wreck you could cut that section out and weld it up...
i guess it all depends on how much you can do yourself....

W

Pretty good advice from split decision, get all the rust you can out, check the channel at the bottom of the inside of the front clip as well, if the screen was leaking it is a safe bet that there will be corrosion there as well, if there is and you cant afford to replace the whole clip, liberally coat the corrosion with rust converter let it dry, and then saturate the affected area with a good quality fish oil followed with a coat of TECTYL this will hopefully slow the rusting process right down, and if you are lucky stop any further decay, until you can get it cut out and repaired properly.
You will have to get the screen section welded up first of course!
Rob......

baybuscamperkid..

The body on my 76 transporter is in very good shape, perfect for cutting rust repair sections...You can have it...

Q? how do you get it to VIC

thanks for the offer. im going to look at one in a local wreckers soon, but was wondering... i have come across an aluminium mesh for body repair, if i remove all rust, patch the holes with the mesh and bog (the original system held up well if it werent for the newspaper) and replace the windscreen rubber at the same time? is this a reasonable idea?

Wouldnt it be better / easier to change the nose?

if you got that sort of rust i would be running around the whole car with a magnet and seeing if there is more body filler and rust lurking any where else otherwise it is just wasting your time and hard earned money
david:o:o

[Edited on 24-4-2003 by david]

In fact if there's any more rust in your current body it might even be easier to go the ultimate solution. Buy DakDat's good '76 body and transfer all your mechanicals to it. Even cutting a hole in the roof for a pop top would be easier than properly patching dozens of rust holes in a rotten body!

What are your wheel wells like? Roof gutters? Door jambs? Front floor? Rear battery tray? Bottom sills?

im 98% certain that they are 2 or the 3 worst rust areas in the car. floor and step were PROPERLY repaired when i got it and the only reason the rust is so bad is because of the dodgy holes drilled in roof and pilliars for the visor, the lower portion of the panel is fine and i have been doing major interior work, so i have no plans of switching vans.

as far as i can tell...
wheel wells-perfect, roof gutters-perfect, door jams-perfect, front floor-1 hole repaired, rest i have stripped and am rustproofing currently, rear battery tray-proffesionally repaired, bottom sills-perfect, only rust beside that mentioned is in the rearmost corner of the passenger side roof because of a (fixed) leak in the poptop. front and back doors are spotless inside and there is only a slight bit of damage on the sliding door.

Definitely cut the section out and replace it with a section from a wreck. A panel beater that is not just an 'accident repair centre' will be able to do it.

I agree with Hellbus, do it once do it properly, if you have done a lot of work to the rest of the van why spoil it by doing a dodgy repair? fix it properly and that will be the end of it and no more worries in the future!
Rob....