I would absolutely love to have fixed all the rot then thoroughly protected the chassis on my Mk6 Transit over the summer. But that ship has sailed, I was far far too busy. I got a little weather window this week and got under there to fix a few holes I knew about, thinking I would then have a fairly solid van which I could coat/fill with all manner of goopy substance. Predictably, I have found much, much more work than I expected.
First job was a medium size patch in the back corner, went ok. Then rather than start welding the driver's step/sill I decided to grind back the chassis rails, suspension hangers, etc. for a fresh coat of zinc and paint as they were more of a priority.
My plan was to do this all over, or at least as much as weather allowed, prioritising the worst bits. Coat exterior with Zinc-182, then white stonechip from schultz gun.
For the interiors (of box sections, sills, etc. anywhere inaccessible), I was going to cook as much moisture out as possible with hot air gun and hair dryer, then blow the crap from one end using pub gas bottle/compressor and hoover out at the other end. Then inject with something very runny. (leaving the van to drip onto rags for several days, heating, lifting from different sides etc., I'm not one to drizzle oil about willy nilly)
I now realise I am going to have to do a fair bit more welding.
These are the biggest bits, and are nearer the middle/front of the van. But the grinder revealed multiple new small holes at the back end (which is generally much rustier than the rest) which had rotted from the inside out, including on suspension hangers. These are probably fairly easy as small and fairly accessible, but I'm welding outside and every day goes past it gets colder, damper, and a worse situation to apply that eventual internal protection.
Obviously in an ideal world I would:
1. Get the chassis spotless
2. Do all the welding
3. Paint and protect in as warm and dry conditions as possible
This isn't going to happen. If I wait to finish all the welding it might be many weeks or months. Does anyone want to be undersealing in January?
It's MOT'd until next summer, so seems I have two main options:
A) forget the welding for now and just put all my energy into protecting it from the coming winter. Grind the rust, paint everywhere, squirt oil inside, just slow the rot down as much as possible. Then do all the welding in the spring/early summer.
I would use something very thin and oily inside cavities, maybe 20% waxoyl and 80% motor/bar oil? Would this give me problems welding in 5 or 7 months?
or option B) is try to weld it all up ASAP and then do the undersealing in probably the dead of winter.
There are other variations I can think of but I think you probably get the gist. What would you do? For context, I love the van and want to keep it on the road as long as possible, willing to spend lots of time and some money to do so. It's only done 70k, with full service history, simple reliable engine, and many happy memories. A fairly rare and sought after van these days, if I can only keep it from the compost heap.
First job was a medium size patch in the back corner, went ok. Then rather than start welding the driver's step/sill I decided to grind back the chassis rails, suspension hangers, etc. for a fresh coat of zinc and paint as they were more of a priority.
My plan was to do this all over, or at least as much as weather allowed, prioritising the worst bits. Coat exterior with Zinc-182, then white stonechip from schultz gun.
For the interiors (of box sections, sills, etc. anywhere inaccessible), I was going to cook as much moisture out as possible with hot air gun and hair dryer, then blow the crap from one end using pub gas bottle/compressor and hoover out at the other end. Then inject with something very runny. (leaving the van to drip onto rags for several days, heating, lifting from different sides etc., I'm not one to drizzle oil about willy nilly)
I now realise I am going to have to do a fair bit more welding.
These are the biggest bits, and are nearer the middle/front of the van. But the grinder revealed multiple new small holes at the back end (which is generally much rustier than the rest) which had rotted from the inside out, including on suspension hangers. These are probably fairly easy as small and fairly accessible, but I'm welding outside and every day goes past it gets colder, damper, and a worse situation to apply that eventual internal protection.
Obviously in an ideal world I would:
1. Get the chassis spotless
2. Do all the welding
3. Paint and protect in as warm and dry conditions as possible
This isn't going to happen. If I wait to finish all the welding it might be many weeks or months. Does anyone want to be undersealing in January?
It's MOT'd until next summer, so seems I have two main options:
A) forget the welding for now and just put all my energy into protecting it from the coming winter. Grind the rust, paint everywhere, squirt oil inside, just slow the rot down as much as possible. Then do all the welding in the spring/early summer.
I would use something very thin and oily inside cavities, maybe 20% waxoyl and 80% motor/bar oil? Would this give me problems welding in 5 or 7 months?
or option B) is try to weld it all up ASAP and then do the undersealing in probably the dead of winter.
There are other variations I can think of but I think you probably get the gist. What would you do? For context, I love the van and want to keep it on the road as long as possible, willing to spend lots of time and some money to do so. It's only done 70k, with full service history, simple reliable engine, and many happy memories. A fairly rare and sought after van these days, if I can only keep it from the compost heap.