Small rust hole in drivers side sill

[Bongolia]

A method I used back in the day.
This is for the older type of car with box sills I am not sure if you would get leakage problems into the van on a Bongo, but if its of interest.
Get some polythene masking sheet from a bodyshop, you will use this to drive the vehicle onto and you will need enough to exceed the foot print of the vehicle you will need one for the initial treatment and another for the standing after.
Large Spillsorb or cat litter to solidify the spillage after and help the clean up cos this is messy!!
Cheap fresh engine oil about a gallon a side on the older vehicles.
Drive car onto the laid out sheet.
Drill a single largish hole under the sill step cover, block any drainage holes under the area to be treated with putty or DumDum and fill it through the hole with engine oil.
Jack up the front of the car, high lift jack would be best if you can borrow or hire one, leave it like that for a couple of hours, then lower and jack up the back. Couple of hours later lay down the cat litter pull out the plugged drain holes in a controlled manner catching as much as you can in a bowl.
Drive it off and change the sheet drive back on and add a bit of absorber under the areas that drip then leave it to stand for a few days.
Messy but it does work.
The first vehicle I treated in this way, after extensive structural sill repairs, was my Humber and no sign of rust yet.
That was about 30 years ago!

[mikeonb4c]

Great tip Bongolia, but definitely not before welding! My garage has put me on notice that if i want welding done on my arches in future i'm not to use any flammable materials in the vicinity. I'm trying to decide on best course of action since my glasscloth and resin technique is working very well as an alternative to welding and i'd like to finish off next year by treating wing interiors with waxoyl or engine oil. Everything i just mentioned though is flammable

[Bongolia]

Absolutely after the repair!
Engine oil is not as volatile as Waxoyl though,engine oil tends to put out a lot of smoke whereas Waxoyl suddenly goes pop and its alight!
We (nearly) always had a large CO2 extinguisher, a pumped up Killa spray full of water and a guy on fire watch inside the vehicle. If there were a problem CO2 has enough oomph to fill the panel void and starve it of oxygen even if it is not directly accessible.
If it were a blind void or chancy he would give it a squirt of CO2 as the weld was taking place.

Only once did I have real problem,working alone on a Saturday morning and brazing a Datsun "dog leg" over panel. I checked all was OK left it on the lift and went to make a cuppa when I came back I looked at the Datsun up in the air and thought it strange that I hadn't noticed it had tinted windows. I think you guess the rest!!
Waiting for that lift to lower seemed to take ages!.
Luckily the damage was confined to the rear seat squab and I was able to source another from a breaker although getting rid of the smell was another story.

Although a lot of repairers frown on its use I go along with the idea of fibre glass repairs on areas like wheel arches and the like, if done properly they can out last the vehicle. I have used that method a number of times for customers where cost is a factor and and they are still good years later.

[mikeonb4c]

Your usual intelligent and knowledgeable post Bongolia. Adrian at JapanDirect is a spannerman really and hates having to do firewatch duty when the welder is at work. Ironically it was the welder who confirmed what i suspected: that polyester resin based repairs offer a moisture barrier that P38 type filler will not. I decided to experiment by rebuilding my rusted arches (which were not too far gone) using a glasscloth and resin technique. It proved quick, gave a reasonable finish, and was durable. I posted about it all on here somewhere last year. I didn't find time though to pull off the trim panels and really passify any remaining rust now concealed in the interior and so there are one or two slight 'blow' spots i'll need to revisit. No rush though - when i retire next Spring will do. This approach though cost peanuts compared to new wings and welding and allowed me to avoid having my everyday car out of action for a couple of weeks. And it seems likely to stay solid.

[BongoBongo123]

That approach clearly works, others have also mentioned it here. I think some said used engine oil.. though that would be carcinogenic to handle it might be so loaded with chemicals that produces and even more impenetrable barrier against oxidisation? Waxoyl can run quite well on a warm day, the stuff from aerosol spray cans is rather more thick and waxy than the fluid cans but saves drilling big holes in the sill. I am confident I can get enough in there. Main focus will be around this sensitive area to avoid it going again. Car in for MOT today, it is a few months shy of 20 y.o. as well (no rust at all as far as I am aware) so will get that through and then trundle the Bongo down for a look and patch weld. I went along the sill ruthlessly once again with a screw driver to double confirm it is the only hole and it is.

I take it this POR15 should not be in contact with your hands, seems to form some kind of molecular bond with the metal.Seems good (.pdf file)

http://qr.absolutecoatings.com/QR-asset ... iption.pdf

(Just given it its second Jenolite fluid spraying/misting through the rust hole for good measure. Should be able to get it patched in a few days hopefully.) Nice and dry and 30C here today so should dry out fast enough.

[BongoBongo123]

£75.00 for a 6 inch patch across the small hole. He will also run his grinder along the sill making my job easier with Jenolite/POR15 and Waxoyling. Car MOT went straight through. (Also emissions very low using Millers for Petrol in it)

Motoring bits seem to be going ok at the moment.

[mikeonb4c]

£75.00 for a 6 inch patch across the small hole. He will also run his grinder along the sill making my job easier with Jenolite/POR15 and Waxoyling. Car MOT went straight through. (Also emissions very low using Millers for Petrol in it)

Motoring bits seem to be going ok at the moment.

Great news. Keep checking for other areas. Better discovered and dealt with sooner than later i reckon.

[BongoBongo123]

Good call Mike, I guess most are still out and about but we have a respite for a few weeks. Did my annual pre autumn rear arch sweep with waxoyl. It does stay on suprisingly well but needs an annual re-spray ideally to thicken it and penetrate in again, especially the arch lips. Those arches won't be any drier than they are now so it is a good time to get the dried mud out and seal them off. Not sure about you but it is super hot here. 30C yesterday and 29C today. To be honest I am finding it hard going, too warm for me. That bit of spraying has by forehead dripping, no wind at all.

The Waxoyl takes a couple of weeks to fully lose its solvents so it always slops off/levels itself a bit in the warm as well. I often go out with the gloves on an manipulate it a bit more after about 10 days, it is still mallable but not as chemically disgusting and sloppy. No more Bongoing planned for a while so the smells can evaporate off. Everything else looks pretty sound, one 1cm spot of touch up I need to sort, got a Silent Silver touch up here.

No waxoyl anywhere near the welding site which is happening next Tuesday.

Once we are welded I will jenolite (if I feel the need to) then POR15 2 coats. Then Waxoyl inject. I think Waxoyling might leave solvents on the surface without degreasing properly which might stop the POR15 adhering correctly. I am not sure but if it is rust free along after the old paint is grinded off I might just do 3 coats of POR15 and not Jenolite. I wonder if Jenolite might be unnecessary and make the POR15 harder to bind to the metal itself which it needs to do. (It says in the POR15 product instruction sheet all coatings should be removed for maximum adhesion.)

[BongoBongo123]

Welding patch and sill grinding done this morning and today the same day I put 2 layers of grey POR15 on there. I did not feel the need to use any rust remedy as most of the sill had been ground down to shiny steel. That stuff is PURE chemicals, burns your nose when you catch a whiff. The Hammerite (with thin layer of Waxoyl over the top) I used on the odd few bits elsewhere last year or year before is holding up but this POR15 is supposed to be the No. 1 anti rust paint so I am interested to see how it fairs. They reckon 10 years protection.

I did the axle with Hammerite and it looks very good still. (Used very thick layers)

I degreased as best I could before applying with a Fairy liquid rub down and rinse then used Isoproyl alcohol and dried it all off.

POR15 is a little odd in that you need to put coat 2 on before it totally cures after circa 3-4 hours. So I had to get back out there today for coat 2. If you leave it overnight you need to key/sand the paint and then re paint with coat 2. A coat only took 15mins or so along the sill up to the door seam.

That is the most important bodywork protection job for the year done. There is temptation to not Waxoyl. I will think about that a few weeks. Given there is no evidence of further inside out rot (and that this seemed isolated to where the air con compressor is) I am not sure what to do. It would not harm I guess (other than the slightly odd drilled holes in the sill), I have the drill bit and self tappers and there was a cock-up on the Waxoyl order so for now I can just re-order if I proceed as it never got delivered/ and was refunded.

[BongoBongo123]

Well the POR15 has cured and the glossy grey finish seems hard as nails. Of course I cannot say how it is going to fair over time but to my eye and the feel it seems like the strongest coat of paint I have ever seen. It looks like water will simply beed and run straight off, like a pure plastic surface but rock hard. If this flexes as well as seemingly being this tough then it should be the end of rust on that sill for quite some time.

I have a load of it left still so hope it keeps for a while.

[sotal]

Have you got any pictures of the work done?

[BongoBongo123]

I am afraid not. It really is just a 1.5 by 5 inch piece of metal welded on and then burnished + my painting over the top. The chap took the sill ledge down to metal on all the rust spots and I painted up the entire sill from rear arch to the door seem. From the side you see nothing different it is all underneath.

[BongoBongo123]

The last week I have been repairing 1 recurring rustspot 2x2cms (just above the rear light on the main body/corner above rear light unit) previously treated with Kurust/Jenolite and 2 layers of paints4u colour and one new 2 x 2cms spot. I saw a touch of bubbling underneath the previous repair paint and thought I would redo it.

This time I thought rather than Kurust/Jenolite again which did not last long 12months or so I would try a different technique. This time 2 coats of POR15 direct onto the sanded down spots removing the most of the rust. The POR15 dries nails hard. So keying it for top coat with wet and dry was actually quite difficult especially as the surface is never completely flat. So I managed to sand it a bit to give the top coat something to grip onto. It now has 1 layer of top coat and 1 lacquer.

I think next year once I am sure the POR15 has done a good job on the sill this winter I might rough it up and spray it with the Silent Silver aerosol/lacquer.

I note my work above the windscreen is just starting to come undone. With a 2-3 mm (tiny paint hole) paint peel layer missing, appearing above the windscreen where I had put many layers of paint and "normal" lacquer (probably around 4-5 layers of paint and 4-5 layers of lacquer). I am fairly confident that screen wash is bad news for DIY paint jobs as it erodes through lacquer and paint with ease ! Unless you use the 2 Pack lacquer (which has its own problems as it is a nightmare to correct if you overspray/mottle the finish etc.) I will touch that little peel off hole up and lacquer it.

I think from now on I am going to use minimal amounts of screen wash and dilute it heavily with water. I swear it burns paint clean off. I am interested to know what its chemical formula is, seems very harsh stuff.

[BongoBongo123]

Just a bit of info to add , learning from my own mistakes and so other can benefit from that. (Even if I feel a bit silly, better to share mistakes as well I think for the benefit of others)

So..... never shake cans of anti-rust paint. I think this is why I have some small pin prick like holes in the coating. I may have gone on a bit thick as well. Seems it can cause some bubbles in the paint and so I have anyway had to put a little bit of Waxoyl layer over the top to seal these little pin prick like holes just to make sure they don't let any moisture in. Luckily I had a bit left in an aerosol can so did not have to open a new non aerosol bottle of it.

Next year I might do another coat of POR15 on top after sanding/degreasing to be sure and will only stir the can before hand to mix the paint and not shake it.

I also touched up and lacquered the tiny 3mm x 3mm hole layer that was missing from above the windscreen sealing that off. Just have to keep at it, you are never really done with anti rust/preventative rot work.

It probably sounds like a right old rust bucket of a Bongo given all my anti rust postings but the reverse is true, it is frankly incredible for 20 y.o.