My major rust issue is the advancing rust in the top seam of the
reinforcing bar of the front bumper. Looks a pretty tough ask to fix
properly. Not looking forward to tackling it.
I had the front top and bottom grilles out today for the first time
and decided to clean and hose out 16 years of crud. That's when I
noticed the hose water draining away down the radiator was being
directed from beneath the radiator onto the back of the said rusty
bumper seam. This was happening because, fixed directly to the
underside of the radiator and sloping downwards onto the back of the
said bumper seam is a manufactured piece of 6mm thick black sheeting
of some sort. Not only does it direct any fluids present onto the
back of the said rusty seam, it also has the capacity to absorb
copious moisture, no doubt making the moisture progressively
available to and hence feeding any rust galloping away in the front
seam. Nice one Mr. Volkswagen.
I've now removed said piece of black sheeting .... albeit about 16
years too late. Access the culprit by lowering the skidplate, take
out the spare wheel, get in there with a torch and you'll find it
there under the radiator. Held in place with 2 screws.
Noticed since removing it that things drain off and dry out much
quicker and better now. Cheers all.
I've since been mulling over the function of the piece of black sheeting
I removed, aside from being a rust accelerator.
The best I've come up with so far is that it serves the purpose of
blocking off the gap under the radiator so as to redirect and so
maximise the volume of cooling air entering through the front grill and
passing through the radiator/s instead, hence maximising the coolant
cooling, which makes sense to me.
So I've made a better fitting gap filler sheet out of a piece of clear
plastic rigid "wafer" board .... similar to the material used for real
estate agent printed signs but a lot stronger. Unlike the original sheet
I took out, this one doesn't hold moisture.
I've placed it under the radiator as before but instead of angling it
forward to rest on the rear of the front bumper, I angled it back to
rest on the back of the crossmember reinforcing bar. It now measures
60cm long by 14cm wide. Limiting it to 14cm wide works really well,
doesn't direct water to sensitive areas and doesn't interfere with the
spare wheel placement. It should function even better as I've made it a
much closer fit so it blocks off the gap even better.
Anyone interested, let me know here and I'll email you a couple of
photos of the mod. Cheers.
Ken
--- In Syncro_T3_Australia@yahoogroups.com, "Ken" <unclekenz@...> wrote:
>
> > I've now removed said piece of black sheeting .... albeit about 16
> years too late. Access the culprit by lowering the skidplate, take
> out the spare wheel, get in there with a torch and you'll find it
> there under the radiator. Held in place with 2 screws.
>
> Noticed since removing it that things drain off and dry out much
> quicker and better now. Cheers all.
>
> Ken
>
Gday all,
After procrastinating for 6 months past, I've just finished de-
rusting/treating/refinishing this notorious section. Phill and Ric, you
both saw it at the Sydney VW show in April, remember?
I used Rust-Bullet treatment system, time will tell whether or not the
stated performance claims stack up. In any event, I was quite impressed
with the product and intend using it on other parts of the Syncro.
Anyone needing to know particular details of the process I followed,
feel free to ask. Cheers.
Ken
that piece of sheeting is one of those that control the air path to and away from the radiator.
It would be worth noting if you have any changes in engine operating temperatures once you
have removed the item.
I'd be interested to know if you find this to be the case, or not.
On this subject, I did subsequently post that I formed a replacement
non-absorbent piece of plastic wafer sheeting and mounted it again under
the radiator but not as before ... draining toward the back of the front
bar. Instead, I mounted it sloping back toward the spare wheel.
Functionally, it still does exactly as it did before, but any water
runoff now disperses without halm. And it doesn't interfere with the
spare wheel storage either. I can give you more details if you want,
including photos. Cheers.
>
> Ken,
>
> that piece of sheeting is one of those that control the air path to
and away from the radiator.
> It would be worth noting if you have any changes in engine operating
temperatures once you
> have removed the item.
>
> I'd be interested to know if you find this to be the case, or not.
>
> Cheers,
> Andy.
>
> PS. My bus also has the same rust problem.
>
Could you please post some photos of where the rust was, how you removed it and finally
how you altered the air deflector, as I have so many bits of rust appearing that I need all
the help I can get. So far I am a little lost with your descriptions on modifications and
treatment. Some pics would be great. If others dont want to hear then just contact me
direct.
>
> Gday all,
> After procrastinating for 6 months past, I've just finished de-
> rusting/treating/refinishing this notorious section. Phill and Ric, you
> both saw it at the Sydney VW show in April, remember?
>
> I used Rust-Bullet treatment system, time will tell whether or not the
> stated performance claims stack up. In any event, I was quite impressed
> with the product and intend using it on other parts of the Syncro.
>
> Anyone needing to know particular details of the process I followed,
> feel free to ask. Cheers.
> Ken
>
My worst rust was in the horizontal seam of the front reinforcing bar
that the bumper bar is fixed to. If you want to do it properly, then you
should also tackle the backside of that seam as well, accessible by
dropping the spare wheel carrier and crawling in with a light to see
what's what. For this, best you only do half at a time, removing the
radiator support and coolant hoses on the drivers side, complete that
side and put everything back. Then for the passengers side, remove the
other radiator support and the windscreen washer bottle. Like most
things syncro, set aside heaps of time to do these tasks. I have pics of
the front repair in progress, the tools and products I used and pics of
the modified air deflector. I'll either add them to the pictures
directory or I can email them to you, or both, when I get them sorted.
De-rusting tools I use are nothing special. Find an old bastard file in
your workshop, grind both ends square and sharp and you have broad and
narrow high tensile steel scrapers. Re-grind them every so often to
maintain a sharp edge. Grind off the file faces as well to get the best
cutting edges.
Grind the handle end of a round file to a long fine point and you have a
high tensile steel pick for chipping away rust flakes and getting into
fine crevices and corners. Use the round file for rounding metal edges,
helps get better paint cover.
To chip and scrape in hard to get to crevices and recesses where normal
size tools are too big, I fashion cutting and scraping tools out of
2.8mm diameter high tensile fencing wire. Most used shape is like a
knife edge on one end, used for cutting and scraping. In your workshop,
simply hammer the wire on one end to a flattened profile .. as wide and
long as you can get it, then grind it to the shape you want and finish
the sharp edge with a file. Works a treat in difficult spots. Use your
imagination to form different shaped and angled cutting and scraping
edges from this HT wire. You may need a bench vice and possibly lock
grips to help fashion these tools. File the sharp edge periodically to
maintain a sharp edge, it gets hard work being used metal against metal.
Procedure for de-rusting/treating/refinishing the front bar rusty seam
as follows....
Armed with the tools as per the equipment photo ... chip, hammer,
scrape, file and sandpaper the rust from the seam. I have a cushioned
seat on castors so I can roll around as needed and the tools set out on
an upturned milk crate ... all in handy reach. For closer inspection, a
headset magnifiers from Dick Smith or Powerhouse for about $30 I find
very useful for fine and close work.
When all exposed rust has been cleared away and metalwork clean and
shiny, now inspect the seam and figure out which parts of the mating
surfaces of the seam are most likely got galloping rust inside that
needs attention as well. A bulging seam is a good indicator. I found
that the worst rust here was between the seam edge and back toward but
not as far as the spot welds in the seam. First I belted along the seam
with my small hammer to loosen the rust in the seam, then I simply and
carefully levered the seam up progressively where I felt it was needed,
maybe to an angle of around 30 degrees. The spot welds held fine. Then
I cleaned out all the flaky rust, chipped and scraped it back to solid
metal with only fine surface rust left, finished with a dust brush and
vacuum cleaner.
Rust Bullet system is high tech. Doesn't require rust converter or metal
prep treatments before painting on Rust Bullet paint. I applied a first
coat to the open seam part only at this stage .... worked the paint in
thoroughly but not too thick a coat and left it to dry ... minimum 4
hours. Then I applied a thicker coat to the same area (Rust Bullet
requires a minimum 2 coats for effective treatment) then I immediately
hammered the seam closed ... do it carefully and progressively, place a
piece of cardboard vertically against the front panel of the van to
avoid the hammer hitting the panel. When you are satisfied the seam is
sitting nice and snug and neat again, immediately work more paint into
the seam and also apply the first coat to the rest of the untreated
topside seam surfaces. After a minimum 4 hours drying, lightly sand and
vacuum, then apply a second coat. To help weatherproof the seam edge
even more, consider applying an extra build-up coat just to the seam
edge as well. After that it's your choice whether you want a spray or
brush finish of 2 coats of your vans paint colour. The obscure location
of this seam is such that I felt using a soft brush achieves a
satisfactory result using the 500ml paint I had mixed especially from
the auto paint supplier.
Let me tell you all this ... when it's all done and you see the images
in your minds eye of how dreadful it once was and how good it looks now
after all your blood, sweat and tears, there springs forth a great sense
of pride and achievement. You better believe it.