Itinerant Air-Cooled

Rust never sleeps! I knew there was some going on under the rear window seal. Tonight I cut the seal, removed the glass and seal, sandblasted the rusty area, wire brushed it, and primed. Next will be gray primer, green paint, and installing the glass with a new seal. Wish me luck on that part!

As found....


After sandblast and wirebrush....


After initial prime....


Oh, and in case Colin is looking, I also took care of the rust along the passenger side body seam as well. Not perfect, but no more rust.

Nice job. Removing the rust and then neutralizing it followed by a good epoxy primer/sealer, followed by a coat or two of paint does wonders. I've fallen in love with Naval Jelly in the last year. I've used it in several hard to get spots on my bus after removing what rust I could by sanding/grinding. It eats/melts the remaining rust away and then turns what's left into an iron oxide.

You see so many badly repaired rust spots/areas on our buses/VW's that were repaired in half ass manner. Those lousy repairs only last a couple of years before the rust grows and breaks through again.

I just feel lucky that my bus wasn't exposed to much salt or salt air. It seems like every bus that's spent time in the rust belt rusts in all kinds of places from the salted road splash and is not usually seen in the dry SW USA.

Very true. This Bus spent some of its life in Vermont and also in the Lake Tahoe area. I know road salt is used in Vermont and assume it is in Tahoe as well. I've had to deal with a number of these spot repairs over the years. Luckily not the windshield area though!

wcfvw69 wrote:Nice job. Removing the rust and then neutralizing it followed by a good epoxy primer/sealer, followed by a coat or two of paint does wonders. I've fallen in love with Naval Jelly in the last year. I've used it in several hard to get spots on my bus after removing what rust I could by sanding/grinding. It eats/melts the remaining rust away and then turns what's left into an iron oxide.

Actually, iron oxide as Fe2O3 is rust -- that is what you don't want.
Naval jelly, Ospho, and many other products are based on phosphoric acid. This reduces the iron, converting Fe2O3 (iron oxide, or hematite, or rust) to FePO4, iron phosphate. This is a stable black compound that will last a long time.

It is done! Getting the window re-installed by myself was a bit of a trick. I almost fumbled the glass only once! Is it as perfect as it looks in the photo? No way! But good enough for me.

vwlover77 wrote:

It is done! Getting the window re-installed by myself was a bit of a trick. I almost fumbled the glass only once! Is it as perfect as it looks in the photo? No way! But good enough for me.

Excellent! Feels better doesn't it? To know you are giving your bus another day.
Colin