Bongo Fury

Its a shame the bongo seems to be prone to rust related problems - where as certain vehicles the same age do not.

I know you guys clean and waxoil bits and bobs - but does any one know of replacement aluminum pannels or something like grp, maybe different sills - I here that some foreign cars had galvanised wings and sills etc. so they stand the test of time?

My bongo is in good shape - but if I want to mint it up properly to look like like a lot of you have, Id rather remove any potential problems before fitting body kits and resprays etc..

I would think the best source of panels would be through breakers, Karlos.

There's been a lot of discussion regarding (particularly) wheel arches rotting, and I think that it was concluded that the Bongo's from Northern Japan (identified with twin batteries) were more affected.

I'd be suprised if it was worth anyones while to re-manufacture panels in the UK, but (as I've learned on this forum), nothing suprises me anymore

SD

Ian sell the rear wheel arches in the bongo shop, you just need to get a body shop to cut and fit and paint.
(i think he is out of stock at the moment)

stilldesperate wrote:........ nothing suprises me anymore

SD

Thanks, DBO !

karlos wrote:Its a shame the bongo seems to be prone to rust related problems - where as certain vehicles the same age do not.

Its funny how the world changes doncha think. When I got my first cars, we expected them to become seriously compromised by rust within the first few years of their lives. Undersealing didn't do much to help. Now I have a 15 year old car that has the very first signs of rust (My superb Nissan Sunny and my Mitsu. Spacewagon were no better at that age.
) even though it spent most of its life not waxoyled, and apparently its a poor performer.

I'm not sure the Bongo is especially prone to rust problems. I can see that if a car spends most of its life in an aggressive environment (as many Bongos arriving in UK appear to have), then it might fare worse than others, but I'm not sure it is fair to single the poor old Bongo out.

So, as a defender of the Bongo's (as opposed to bongos') reputation where I feel it is defendable, shall we have a heated debate?

no debate required - the chap down south who fitted my gearbox who had a braking/assembley line going for bongo's the only thing he works on. pointed out problem areas - and expained the best way to wax oil. my one is very tidy! he showed me on some of his spares.

Quote "they rust from the inside out so when you see a bubble its bad news as they are more rotten than they look" I could tell this guy was an anorak - he showed me all round my one - watch out for this and that, diesel pump o'rings etc.

REALLY GOOD GUY

I know old fords mk3 escorts (bearing in mind i'm not the oldest on here) rusted a lot so did tranny vans the same age where as im sure it was peugeouts gtis did not, more exotically some of the 70's/80'3 911 held together very very well too.

I have looked at where the bongo drops water of it's body work and around the sill area there is a place andy pointed out they are prone to rust - ity is obvious that some vechicles by design have places where water can build up or get trapped etc.. etc... I appreciate some of these are getting on and looked after will suffer less.

Some vehicles do rust less of the same age!

I would not want to repaint to find several months later rust to come through (thats a typical boy racer bodge or to resell).

I did a classic restoration a while back, a proper job is major (removing body work etc back to the chassi to shot blast and sand paint back to bare metal), dont want to go down that route with the bongo-so If the wings bolt on? It might be easier to replace them with new ones (and weld in new sills)if they were more resistant to corrosion. Have not decided yet it if want to spend that kind of money.

mikeonb4c wrote:

karlos wrote:Its a shame the bongo seems to be prone to rust related problems - where as certain vehicles the same age do not.

So, as a defender of the Bongo's (as opposed to bongos') reputation where I feel it is defendable, shall we have a heated debate?

Ohhh, you are awful !

SD

I was not disrespecting the bongo - some vehicles do rust less than others, that is a shame as people clearly spend money on these bongos as I see some are very tidy.

My issue is - that if I fit body kit and have maybe a respray with out at least checking behind the wings or stripping the sills etc. - even then if the sills are rusting from the inside out which I wouldnt know - my tidy van could be on the verge of showing exturanl rust. which would mean I'm wasting money painting it.

I can do alot of work my self so to prevent me paying some one doing something twice I rather do the job what I call properly and replace some bits because of the age of this bongo.

Resparying older vehicles etc, is usually done to make them look pretty to sell - but if you want to keep it for a while or it's more than just a blow in repair my view is to probably change the sills arches and wings and anything else that could be hiding a potential problem if the vehicle is as old as this.

I am not of the generation that thinks them selves lucky if something doesnt rust quickly(before my time)-most cars/vehicles I have had no rust when I got them and sold them. I had/was forced when the primastar got rear ended to get a very low milage imaculate berlingo on a 01 plate, paint went a bit flat -mopped it up, no rust, not any where, engine bay chassi bolts cables nothing, imaculate like it had just been painted (might of been a ringer )- that paid for the bongo and all the upgrades I've done.

karlos wrote:I have looked at where the bongo drops water of it's body work and around the sill area there is a place andy pointed out they are prone to rust - ity is obvious that some vechicles by design have places where water can build up or get trapped etc.. etc... I appreciate some of these are getting on and looked after will suffer less.

I agree. You are spot on about water getting inside the cills etc. I found this out last year. Whilst I would defend the Bongo up to a point (mine is very good for its age overall although I do come from a generation with low expectations), I found a serious completely rusted through piece of cill last year. Luckily, it was a localised 'rust through' tht was easily fixed by Wheelquick welding on a steel patch.

I think that overall, the Bongo has to be forgiven for not being perfect in this respect as it is overall an almost uniquely useful vehicle in its price band. Where rust occurs, you have to see it as just another running cost and get it mended.

I do love a good heated debate though, esp. when it comes to defending Bongos

Just a reminder to everyone that we are trying to discuss how to 'preserve' a bongo. If there's anything to debate, please remember the forum rules.

As far as I've noticed, in general the body panels don't seem to be that affected by corrosion, but the underneath sometimes can be. If there is corrosion, the likely spots appear to be the exhaust, sills, front and rear cross members, behind the door steps, around heater pipes, top of the front turrrets, rear wheel arches (and inner arches) and across the rear door lock area. I don't know of anyone who is producing replacement body panels in the UK. I expect they are available in Japan. New wheelarches are available in the UK, as are used body panels.

Doone wrote:Just a reminder to everyone that we are trying to discuss how to 'preserve' a bongo. If there's anything to debate, please remember the forum rules.

As far as I've noticed, in general the body panels don't seem to be that affected by corrosion, but the underneath sometimes can be. If there is corrosion, the likely spots appear to be the exhaust, front and rear cross members, behind the door steps, around heater pipes, top of the front turrrets, rear wheel arches (and inner arches) and across the rear door lock area. I don't know of anyone who is producing replacement body panels in the UK. I expect they are available in Japan. New wheelarches are available in the UK, as are used body panels.

Huh? Seems like a good and informative debate relating to Bongos, corrosion and preservation. Karlos contact is quite right about the cills problem (not on your list) but see

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =sill+weld

...for a crop of owners who discovered they had v. similar problems to the one I discovered last year and reported on here.

For the rest, I'll be debating pretty quickly if its necessary to inform debates on things like 'poor Bongo brakes' (remember that one!) etc.

Thanks Mike. I didn't deliberately miss out sills, I was trying to list other parts that I have seen affected. In case my post misleads anyone, I have added it to the list (and sent you a pm. ) The majority of Bongos/Fredas I've seen are in pretty good condition and we are about to underseal ours to help to keep it that way.

some may not agree and I'm not expert - but I have been told, that under sealing anything but mint metal can trap moisture in and course more problems? only ever undersealed one vehicle seemed ok to me - obvioulsy it protects a suface too, I supose if the sills get water in, any exit holes would still need to be present and drain holes would rust unless treated with some thing that doesnt block them too.

I will wax oil my own and keep an eye on it - but unless I spray it my self which is doubt full because it looks tidy and I would need to use some one elses facilities because of the size of the bongo - paying some one a £1000 ish to do a pucker job, I personally, as I can do it my self would replace any area that could be hiding rust inturnally - any pro spayer (which I am not)will worn of such potential hazards.

Doing what I do I have several specialist contacts that I can use for work or advice and I have had a bit of an apprenticeship in the world of paint work -plus the time/effort and problems that occur-

I guess I'm lucky I'd do all the metal work my self and get my team mate to do the prep for painting as we do our own (with grp usually sometimes a bit of carbonfibre) - I have a contact, someone who makes wings (not seen his work)etc he has various special metal fabricating machines- If I did my bongo might be able to customise it at the same time. Would mean having it off the road for ages-whilst working on it not earning money ,which is the biggest problem with all the time consuming things I get involved with but considering what people charge It generally saves money.

I'm no expert on undersealing either, but I know someone who's pretty good. I've seen a lot of vehicles that have been Waxoyled (not from new) and people happy with the results several years later, so that's what we will use to underseal ours. As far as I've seen, you do sometimes need to top it up annually on the most exposed areas, but sometimes it lasts a lot longer, I guess it partly depends on road use and weather conditions.

karlos wrote:some may not agree and I'm not expert - but I have been told, that under sealing anything but mint metal can trap moisture in and course more problems? only ever undersealed one vehicle seemed ok to me - obvioulsy it protects a suface too, I supose if the sills get water in, any exit holes would still need to be present and drain holes would rust unless treated with some thing that doesnt block them too.

I will wax oil my own and keep an eye on it - but unless I spray it my self which is doubt full because it looks tidy and I would need to use some one elses facilities because of the size of the bongo - paying some one a £1000 ish to do a pucker job, I personally, as I can do it my self would replace any area that could be hiding rust inturnally - any pro spayer (which I am not)will worn of such potential hazards.

Doing what I do I have several specialist contacts that I can use for work or advice and I have had a bit of an apprenticeship in the world of paint work -plus the time/effort and problems that occur-

I guess I'm lucky I'd do all the metal work my self and get my team mate to do the prep for painting as we do our own (with grp usually sometimes a bit of carbonfibre) - I have a contact, someone who makes wings (not seen his work)etc he has various special metal fabricating machines- If I did my bongo might be able to customise it at the same time. Would mean having it off the road for ages-whilst working on it not earning money ,which is the biggest problem with all the time consuming things I get involved with but considering what people charge It generally saves money.

Some interesting stuff here karlos. I think peeps on here would agree with you about undersealing (cracks, water get underneath). Waxoyling, on the other hand, is said to have a passivating effect on light rust and because it is flexible and does not crack, moisture does not get underneath. It is however prone to erosion from spray and road grit so needs checking and redoing periodically in exposed areas. Thats the perceived wisdom anyway.

Your contact who fabricates wings etc. sounds very interesting. I could see a future in replacement parts like this for Bongos if they continue to build their classic/cult status as corrosion is bound to take its toll, and I grieve when one is written off for what seems like not more than a couple of dented panels.