Aircooled VW South Africa

Continued with stripping and have now gone right around up to the windows.
Also tried to better the rear hatch which had quite a bit of body putty on. Now not so bad anymore. Will try to flatten it even more. Engine hatch was sandblasted as it is small enough to fit into my cabinet. Now I need to touch it up and get it ready for paint. Oh, the holes for number plate holders were closed except for the ones being used. Also found a cigarette lighter which has no place on my dash yet. Before I cut a hole and fit it I want to make sure it is in the right place and if there is an original somewhere. Any comments regarding placement? I know I can place it anywhere I want, but there might be a valid reason not to.

Great progress Alan. I envy your skill set by being able to do so much body work yourself.

Not sure about the cigarette lighter. I trust the Kombi experts will be able to advise you better.

Hi Alan. I have never seen a cigarette lighter in a kombi dashboard.

If you really want one installed, I would rather suggest using a under dash mount lighter, then you won’t have to drill holes.

sean wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 6:09 am Hi Alan. I have never seen a cigarette lighter in a kombi dashboard.

If you really want one installed, I would rather suggest using a under dash mount lighter, then you won’t have to drill holes.

I'd also rather go for an under dash fitment, see this thread:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewt ... p?t=310720

The other option would be to fit it into your Glovebox,

then your phone and toys can charge while been out of sight.

Herman

Thanks guys,
I have been convinced. Strange that there would be an ashtray but no lighter.
Anyway under the dash it will go and seeing I was going to fit USB sockets under dash anyway this will be a unit.

So today was spent experimenting with rust removers.
What I can tell you is that they are all ok to remove rust, but once you rinse with water you immediately get flash rust i.e. golden shimmer on the new surface. What do you do to prevent that?
Well eventually I used Deoxidene, left it on for about 15 min. and then rinsed and immediately blow dry with compressed air. That seems to work.
Even better though is once you have sandblasted your parts, just clean them with Acetone ot the like and paint etch primer over that.
Interestingly, I had two washers of body metal which I sand blasted. I used them for testing and the one that was raw metal did not oxidise, but the ones I treated with rust remover all got flash rust. Seat soaked overnight in very mild pool acid solution and cleaned with wap.
Bottom left Crud Kutter
Top left Deoxidene
Right raw metal after sandblast.
All have been rinsed in water to be clean, even the raw piece and that has the least new rust. Middle is RB10, bottom is Duram.

The Engine lid was sandblasted, all blemishes filled and cleaned with acetone and then primed with 1K etch filler primer.
Very pleased with the result.

What this taught me is that I will have to sandblast everything myself and do it in stages one section at a time. It will be very difficult to sandblast everything clean it and paint it before it is contaminated again.

Hope this will help someone. I did a lot of googling with no clear result or recommendation, hence experimenting myself.

Thanks for the sharing your experience with all the different processes.

I clean all my bare metal parts using Deoxidene. I use undiluted product to remove all traces of rust. Then I use a dry rag or paper towel to remove as much Deoxidene as possible. You only want a slight film left on the metal. The part is then left to dry to a dark grey colour. I sometimes leave the parts in this state for months, and just give it a good scuff before primer, with no sign of flash rust.

NEVER rinse the parts in water after cleaning them, that causes the flash rust to appear. Just wipe the excess Deoxidene, and allow to dry.

Thanks Fourier,
I also found Deoxidene to be the cheapest. I also applied it undiluted and after about 15 - 20 min rinsed it with water as the directions say. I then blasted the parts dry with compressed air and left them in the sun. They also did not get flash rust.
This is however not always possible or desirable if you for instance wan to clean a large body panel. One won't be able to dry it quick enough.
I am happy to hear you did not rinse of the deoxidene and did not have any issues. That will probably be my modus operandi for the larger and more inaccessible places.

If anyone has better ideas I'm all ears.

AlanH wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 7:11 am Thanks Fourier,
I also found Deoxidene to be the cheapest. I also applied it undiluted and after about 15 - 20 min rinsed it with water as the directions say. I then blasted the parts dry with compressed air and left them in the sun. They also did not get flash rust.
This is however not always possible or desirable if you for instance wan to clean a large body panel. One won't be able to dry it quick enough.
I am happy to hear you did not rinse of the deoxidene and did not have any issues. That will probably be my modus operandi for the larger and more inaccessible places.

If anyone has better ideas I'm all ears.

Maybe to dry larger parts like body panels, use your yard blower?

jacquesbotha wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 8:27 am

AlanH wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 7:11 am Thanks Fourier,
I also found Deoxidene to be the cheapest. I also applied it undiluted and after about 15 - 20 min rinsed it with water as the directions say. I then blasted the parts dry with compressed air and left them in the sun. They also did not get flash rust.
This is however not always possible or desirable if you for instance wan to clean a large body panel. One won't be able to dry it quick enough.
I am happy to hear you did not rinse of the deoxidene and did not have any issues. That will probably be my modus operandi for the larger and more inaccessible places.

If anyone has better ideas I'm all ears.

Maybe to dry larger parts like body panels, use your yard blower?

There is really no need to force-dry anything. Just leave the parts to dry naturally. Allow the part to dry completely, before paint is applied. As mentioned before, give the dry panel a good scuff just before primer. This applies to all parts, no matter how large. Really easy!

So, I let myself in for a whole can of worms.
I put the Westy on the lift and started checking out the underside, especially the side belly plates that were bothering me. I always got a rat piss smell even though the nest inside the Westy behind a cupboard was removed years ago and the belly opened up and a wheelbarrow of rubbish removed including a rat skeleton. So I eventually plucked up enough courage to tackle this. I saw there were many spot welds but as I went along they seem to increase. I must have drilled out 50 or more spot welds just on the one side. Then the plates are seam welded as well. Anyway I just wedged a screwdriver into the plate and starter wiggling it to get some muck out of there so I can hopefully see whats happening. Well I removed about half a bucket of rats nest and . I will attempt to remove the complete belly plate another day. I also drilled out the vrot part of where the Westy roof attaches. As mentioned in an earlier post I welded up the cracks, but I wasn't happy so I made nice 50mm discs that will have a thick washer on the underside all clamped together with a rivnut and then welded in. This should give me better support and also hopefully will last.

Good going there Alan

Keep the photos coming.

Herman

Lots and lots of
The thing called Labor of love

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Impressive,..your contolled "handling" of a broom !!!

Nice job,.....will you get time to go back to your day job? ......

Haans