In a message dated 11/02/2007 10:11:38 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

Hello  again, vanagonauts,

Last week I posted about removing window seals,  and
after several of your suggestions I grabbed a steak
knife and went  to it. That part was easy enough, and
I've had some good suggestions about  the rust repair,
which falls into two camps, cold repair  and
welding/brazing. Given the location, I think I'll go
with the cold  repair - - POR-patch was suggested so
I'm getting some of that. Now my  question is, given
the size of the holes, do I need to pop-rivet a  piece
of backing metal into the holes? And do I need to
continue  grinding to get all of the remaining rust
pits out? The metal is getting  rather thin in a couple
of locations. I inspected the inside with a  dental
mirror and no rust appears on the inside of the
panels. I finally  got a couple of  photos:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t246/mrarachnid/rustedthrough.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t246/mrarachnid/Aftergrinding.jpg

I  guess it's not too bad, compared to the recent
postings on East Coast  rust!

Gary,  the way I have repaired these types of rust spots with holes as in
your  photos with POR-15 and Fiberglas matting.  The patch will have to be done
from the inside so will entail removing the paneling inside to do this.
Follow the procedures for applying POR-15, apply a coat and lay on a piece of
Fiberglas matting to cover the hole and surrounding metal for a bout 1"  around.
Let this get tacky all the while making sure the Fiberglas is well
impregnated with the POR-15.  Once it gets tacky apply a second coat of  POR-15 and use
POR-15 Patch to fill in from the outside, it does not have  to be perfect.
Then before it completely dries prime the outside with good  automotive primer
or let dry completely and use the POR-15 primer for use on  cured POR-15 to
bond to successive coats of paints.  Once you have a good  coat of primer then
you can finish levelling off the imperfections on the  outside using normal
auto body fillers and surfaceres.  I like to use epoxy  finishing filler.  POR-15
also makes a filler that works well in this  instance.  This method is the
best by far that I have tried.  Welding  or brazing causes too much other damage
that requires more clean up work and you  still need to POR-15 both sides to
get a good rust free repair.  The  POR-15ed patch will be as strong as welding
the metal together when your done if  done correctly

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg  (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for  sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
_Vanagon  Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
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camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10,  2007