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Yet another rust treatment question
#157413 October 21st 2007 4:36 am
Joined: Mar 2007
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pooh-bah
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pooh-bah
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Hi everyone, I've got a few more body work / rust control questions.

I finally got the floor peeled up to the front seats in the '81 Dodge B250 maxivan tonight, (I love cold weather!) and was I ever surprised. No major rust, but it looks like it had a rear bench seat installed at one time prior to the conversion. [Linked Image] The idiots that built the conversion didn't even bother to plug the eight 1/2" holes; they simply ran the wood flooring right over the open holes!! Well, of course this caused the wood in those areas to rot, and there was some light surface rust for 1-2" around each hole, but not terrible. I scraped the paint back till no rust was visible, then acid etched the areas.

The question is, how should I patch/plug those holes... should I weld, or use 1/2" plastic undercoating hole plugs and seam sealer.

If I weld, would anyone care to tell me what company made that amazing undercoating that was on these Dodge van's underbody? (Or even if there was a Chrysler part number for it?) The heat from welding would ruin the undercoating for some distance, so I'd have to replace quite a bit of undercoating. I do have on-hand some of Eastman's spray gun type undercoating and also their body cavity wax. (Haven't tried them yet though...) Are those likely to be sucessful?

Oh, and for even more fun, the conversion derelicts also didn't apply seam sealer to the two table post sockets mounted in the floor... they sprayed a bit of rubberized undercoating over the part of the sockets that stuck outside, from underneath, and called it a day. What Jerks!! [Linked Image]Of course it leaked horribly. Astonishingly, no rust at all, but it rotted even more of the wood flooring.

As much work as it's been to rip this van apart, I'm glad I did. I've been able to head off quite a few nasty problems, and keep me & any future guests from breathing in tons of black mold!

Clear skies!


-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


[Linked Image]

It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts...

Are you living to work, or working to live?

[Linked Image]

Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! [Linked Image]
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Ram4ever #157419 October 21st 2007 9:53 am
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N
Supreme Master
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N
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Of course the best fix would be to weld a patch over the holes, but a fiberglass patch wouldn't be horrible.

As far as undercoating goes, I've used "parts store" undercoating many times in the past and it's been good stuff.


Nate Breece
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
NateB #157432 October 21st 2007 12:47 pm
Joined: Aug 2001
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Maniac
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Run a bolt through the holes for the bench seats. For the table posts I say use a mixture of silicone and spray on undercoating.


Windows- they're what make a van worth owning!
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Reed #157453 October 21st 2007 3:47 pm
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pooh-bah
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Doggone Reed, you've had a Mensa moment there! I've been so stuck in the plug or weld mentality that it didn't occur to me to run bolts through them!! [Linked Image]
Guess I should get more sleep...

I think I'll do that, then seam sealer them. That would also leave me the possibility of using the holes in the future if I ever needed to. Since I'm using 3/4" plywood for my new floor instead of the original 1/4" plywood, I have plenty of space to drill relief holes for the bolt heads, so they won't push up on the new plywood.

Thanks!

Clear skies!


-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


[Linked Image]

It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts...

Are you living to work, or working to live?

[Linked Image]

Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! [Linked Image]
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Ram4ever #157458 October 21st 2007 4:08 pm
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 12,107
Likes: 37
Maniac
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no, I just have had to plug a couple holes in the roof of my 84 Ford that I think were for a T.V. antenna and a C.B. antenna but the antennas were MIA when I bought the van. ;)

Do you really need 3/4 ply? 1/2 ply is cheaper, lighter, and strong enough to be a subfloor. Unless you are going to be using the flooring as a base to screw things into I would stick to 1/2 inch. if you are going to use the floor as a load bearing structure then i would go to 3/4.

Pics!


Windows- they're what make a van worth owning!
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Reed #157462 October 21st 2007 4:38 pm
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Li'l Blue Wagon
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Li'l Blue Wagon
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When I did conversions, we used to use a putty on the table bases. It came in a roll, and you'd just wrap it around the bottom part a couple times, put base in hole, and screw her down.


1991 Dodge RamVan 318 Shorty with 2 Gullwings.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2673850
1982 Dodge Ram Maxi 1 ton
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2940482
1986 Dodge RamVan shorty, with 318 and 4spd. STANDARD
[Linked Image]

Member of Rebelvanners Canada
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Dodges 3 #157463 October 21st 2007 4:49 pm
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Maniac
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Hmmm. Would plumber's putty work? What about body seam sealer? You can buy 3M brand seam sealer at autobody shops.


Windows- they're what make a van worth owning!
Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Reed #157471 October 21st 2007 6:26 pm
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,097
old hand
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I would say the easiest thing to do would be to sand blast the rusted area with a small sand blaster. Paint the exposed metal with a good primer and fill the holes with plastic plugs. The kindof plugs you see in doors and quarter panels. for rust prevenitive applications. You actually may have to open the holes up just a tad for that style plug to fit.


Take Care, Billy

Have Van Will Travel

Re: Yet another rust treatment question
Billvill #157492 October 21st 2007 8:45 pm
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pooh-bah
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pooh-bah
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I'm going to be bolting all kinds of things to the floor, (for both structural and safety purposes) trying to silence the ride as much as possible, and occasionally carrying super heavy items - 3/4" is good stuff for all that.

You've got a good point Reed, that 3M sealer that comes in ropes might be a really good solution for the table pockets... I'll see if the paint supply shop has got any of it tomorrow. I'll be needing some for when I repaint to reseal the Conversion windows anyway.

Billvill, I do have the Eastman brush-on seam sealer and a bunch of 1/2" undercoating plugs. I do have a portable sandblaster, but I already acid etched the areas, so sandblasting would be a bit redundant. I'm going to hit the entire floor with two coats of Zero-rust, and see how that works out. Once it's dry, I'll plug the holes, and apply the seam sealer. I'm not sure how well the seam sealer will grip the hole plugs, so I'm thinking I'll go the route of Reed's suggestion with the bolts.

The paint's going on the floor tonight - wish me luck!

Clear skies!


-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


[Linked Image]

It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts...

Are you living to work, or working to live?

[Linked Image]

Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! [Linked Image]
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