To Bondo or Not to Bondo.. that is the question

bedubs veedub · Post by **bedubs veedub** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:29 pm

my westy has been hit (not too hard) on both the rear and front.. the bondo is falling out (the PO did a wonderful job =D> ) and i also have some body-rot under the nose.. under the elbow and the elbow itself.

i want to get down and dirty with it and eventually replace all the rotted and busted up parts, weld in a new floor and all that, but am lacking the funds to get knee deep in it right now.

so i want to stop the rusting, take out the dents and make it "look" cleaner untill i have the cash to invest in a good repair. i know that some of you have faced this same delima, what have you done?

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:47 pm

When I got my bus the PO had ran the drivers side (behind door) into a boat trim tab and put a gash all the way through that was about 2.5 feet long

and his wife had hit the spare tire on the front and pushed the nose in

So I feel your pain and I went to town on both areas about a year ago. I started with a 3M rust remover wheel hooked to my drill and got all the rust out of those spots...I then did everything possible to pull out the dents as flat as possible and smoothed out any rough spots. Next came the bondo and many hours of sanding, I then primered the areas (3 or 4 coats) and then sparayed a clear on top. It has kept my rust at bay and I spent the time to make it look half way decent....I too will someday have new metal put in there....long project but it puts the rust at bay and bides you some time, despite the bondo

Adventurewagen · Post by **Adventurewagen** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:19 am

Seems like we are all in the same boat. I know some guys have that super nice bus they bought for 6k with low miles and no body damage, but I was bus unaware when I got mine for under a grand.

I too have a horribly rotted and dented front and the entire drivers side behind the door has something like 1/4 inch of bondo on the hole damn thing!!! I can't even believe the PO put that much bondo on the car, he covered literally 3 FULL panels with bondo.

So... I too am trying to keep rust at bay (or not on the bay) and resanding, rust proofing and bondoing things up again but much less bondo than before.

My bus isn't perfect and will never be. Some day I'll get the welding equipment and replace one panel at a time, until then I'm going to clean up the body with light bondo, and primer then probably give it a cheap paint job on my own.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:25 pm

My bus was hammered on the right rear. I kept it dented but well waxed for 23 years. When I got around to dealing with it in 2001, I did the above pull out sand bondo primer paint. Bondo on the right rear has held up for half a decade.
Colin

vdubyah73 · Post by **vdubyah73** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:28 am

Nothing wrong with doing the best you can with what you have. For a hole I would use fiberglass first. then blend with bondo. A well done fiberglass repair will last quite some time.

Bill

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:42 am

Another fix that works for the leaky windshield (yep, rust under there! I had a nasty looking duck tape strip on mine for a year) I found that permatex makes a silicon for windshield repair that is pretty thin and goes down into the cracks...this stuff goes on REALLY smooth and you can hardly tell it is there. No more water in the cabin going on 6 months now.....if you can't fix it the right way...this stuff works!

vdubyah73 · Post by **vdubyah73** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:41 am

3M makes a steel tape much like the aluminum duct tape available in hardware stores. It's specifically for autobody repair, it works well under a windshield. I'll let you know how it holds up. I did take the windshield out and sanded down to bare metal, rust treated it, scotch brited it, put on the tape, scuffed it, etch primed it, sealed and painted.
can't tell it's there.

Bill

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:47 am

vdubyah73 wrote:3M makes a steel tape much like the aluminum duct tape available in hardware stores. It's specifically for autobody repair, it works well under a windshield. I'll let you know how it holds up. I did take the windshield out and sanded down to bare metal, rust treated it, scotch brited it, put on the tape, scuffed it, etch primed it, sealed and painted.
can't tell it's there.

Bill

Any pics of the process? Sounds like a good alternative....my battery trays are first on the list though...not sure if I want to play with bondo in that area......although the fumes might be nice :smt030

vdubyah73 · Post by **vdubyah73** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:24 am

No pics but the local flaps that catered to autbody as well as mechanics stocked it. they'll know what you mean.

Bill

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

To Bondo or Not to Bondo.. that is the question

To Bondo or Not to Bondo.. that is the question