Rust on my mind

I've been putting this off for a while. Putting off posting on here and putting off seeing anyone about it. I could do with some advice if anyone can help.

It's nothing new. Basically after 18 years of ownership and very little welding I've got rust in the usual places. I need 2 new front wheel arches both cab doors either replaced or repaired (don't know which would be best). I need my sliding door repaired. I'll post a load of photos from my phone after I've posted this. To my ignorant eye it doesn't look that bad (compared to some of the impressive restos I've seen on here). I don't know what my options are.

I don't think I can face learning to weld myself and it looks like a lot of work to me so I'm planning to find someone to do it for me. I've only had one quote for a total bare metal restoration of the body and doors with new paint which was £8k. That was on the basis of me taking out the interior and engine before hand (my offer). That's more than 4 times I originally paid for the van but it is what it is. I'll find the money but I want quality work.

What I'm trying to work out is what I should be asking potential restorers to get an idea of whether they are going to be the right people to do the work for me. I'm not sure I would ever get over someone doing a bad job.

If anyone has any other advice I'd be very grateful. Any recommendations? It's weighing on my mind...

 

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First out of the traps it seems, so what I have to say will probably not count for much before long as others with more experience will be along, but it seems to me you have nothing to lose by doing a little bit of very light angle grinding, with a pot of kurust to hand, so you (and anyone who looks at it with a view to quoting you for work) at least get a better idea of how bad it really is?

 

At least that might stop me procrastinating

 

Well I guess if it's bad you'll crack on, and if it isn't you can take more time with finding a good 'un to fix it .... Don't go by a single recommendation though. That got ME into all kinds of bother!

 

Go on a voyage of discovery :
Like you have belly pans with holes in. So what is it like deeper in ? Do you have sills and chassis members in there, or a pile of rust ?

Have a go with a flap disk and be prepared for finding confetti and crunchy underseal instead of metal all around the bottom 6 inches.
You may find that learning to weld and sorting some of the easier bits will cut the cost even more.

Then find somebody who is so busy they tell you to go away until mid 2019.
They are busy because either a) they are slow and inefficient, or b) they are good and therefore snowed under.
Go to the place a few times a few weeks apart- see if the array of buses on show being repaired is changing over time. Get the vibe of the place first. They should be proud to show you their resto work in progress on a vehicle or two.

 

that all looks very straight forward , in fact its quite good , do 1 panel at a time

 

If your not interested in doing the work you’re self as a hobby. I would sell it now while it’s not looking to bad as it will get worse very quickly .

Then buy another that’s already been done it will be a lot cheaper and you won’t be without a van for a year.

 

I go with that, paying someone to repair it properly and do a decent paint job would cost a small fortune and you would never get that cost back. If you search around the forum you will find so many tales of woe and folks being ripped off by unscrupulous 'vw experts'.

Of course there are good restorers out there, but how will you find one and if they are good, they would of course cost a lot.

From a financial point of view, it would probably make sense to sell what you have as a van in need of some restoration and look around for another one.

 

Yes that's good logic. I'm not keen to sell it though, for sentimental reasons, so I'm looking for other options. It's generally very solid underneath. What you've said has made me look again at learning to weld. That must be the best long term answer.

Has anyone used Skill Shack with Practical Classics? https://www.skillshack.co.uk/course/the-basics-of-mig-welding/

Anyway maybe I just need to go out and speak to people in my area and see what they can offer before I decide.

 

agreed, sell it now, whilst its wholesome, another 5 years , and it might well be HOLE SOME!

 

I would either:

A: sell the van to someone who will be able to do the work themselves or has a regular team of experts that know roughly what to expect with these vehicles and pay the difference of another solid van (possibly not in the UK), use lots of cavity wax and don't drive in the winter months in the future.

B: Find a workshop in Poland, Chekia, Serbia or any place with cheaper labor and pick up the bus in a year (guys in Serbia are beating new panels with vintage tools which end up better than all the repro junk) and your pennies reach much further in that part of the world.

I am the last person to discourage people from doing work themselves, but it depends on the context. I think you should do everything yourself, but not use something that is very dear to you or valuable for practice.

 

Where in the country are you?

 

Cardiff

 

It's a fact that VW campers rust faster in Wales than any other country. You have two options move house or learn to weld.

The learning to weld option will only work if you have the money to buy some decent kit, time to practice, then time to do and want to spend that time on the work.

 

Stuart at "Midland paintwerks" for example.
Waiting was about a year last time I asked

 

I suggest having a look around the forum at the restorations folks have done and many are still doing. There are lots of great pics to look at and they would give you a perspective on what you would be in for either do it yourself work or paying to have it done. The costs of materials are not that high but paying for someone's time would be, as restorations can take an awful lot of hours to do and body prepping for paint would take many many hours on top. The total hours x hourly rate plus materials plus vat would be huge.

Your first quote of 8k would concern me as the quote was made without seeing the true extent of the rot.

 

i always done my own self taught . i can please my self , but i would say the level of detail that a restorer goes to is much higher then a garage , my view. garages want things in and out asap with as much profit as possible with the lest amount of time spent as possible , as said look at what loads have done on here , price wiseiwould say think of a price , then treble then add 2k more ,then you l be closer to the real price of restoration ,

 

Depends on level of job you are after. Mine came with more tape then metal. Tried local VW places and was told 12k so then tried a local body shop. It was slow and probably not as good as an expert restorer, although gah I can’t tell difference, but he cut out the rust and people have been impressed. He charged just over 3k for all the welding and paint and said he would only ever do it again for double as took him so long. I think I was lucky though

 

Front wheel arches had already been done before I got it. The receipts show 6.5k for just that!