Rust or patina?
Know thy enemy, and for most people who own vintage VW’s (or for that matter, any other classic car) rust can be public enemy Nº 1, well I say for most, but there are some who it might be more a lifestyle choice!
War on rust
Whilst doing some more research on different solutions in the ‘War on Rust’ I found this older article from Practical Classics from 2011 which looked at eight different rust converters as a way of treating rust affected areas…
Rust is a perennial problem on classic cars, and as owners we obsess about its eradication. Many of us will reach for the angle grinder to get rid of surface and pitted rust, but that removes metal, too. The grinder method also doesn’t always remove all the rust, and it makes the bare steel particularly vulnerable to flash rusting. Then there’s the rust you can’t even get to with a grinder…
The best solution is to apply a rust remover or a rust converter. The former is formulated to actively get rid of rust, and the latter is designed to stop rust then encapsulate the steel to prevent further rusting. However clear-cut that seems, the labelling on many brands can lead to some confusion. Manufacturers have a way of describing products that work in much the same way in very different terms. Some vaguely offer to ‘cure’ your rust problem.
That’s why we’ve brought eight readily available rust removers and converters together in the same test to see just how well they do.
original, survivor, weathered, textured, rusty or patina?Rust converters
You can read/download a PDF of the interesting and useful article here…
Practical Classics Rust Converter testing
plenty of patina buses on display with cool accessoriesInvisible protection
Having done my best to try to protect the external surfaces and structural components underneath the bus with two coats of Epoxy Mastic 121, there are also other hidden areas under the bus that need to get protected as well.
Better by design
Being aware of a problem is one thing. Finding a solution to combat it is another. Volkswagen was aware that water has a nasty habit of getting to places unseen, such as inside the cavities and closed box type sections of the buses structure. To help solve this, Volkswagen built-in various holes or shaped pressings in the components to act as drainage holes to allow any trapped water to escape.
Drainage detail
However, over the years, these holes can easily get blocked up from road dirt and dust that gets thrown up from when driving around. This dirt and debris can unfortunately also trap water and dampness inside the metal components. Unseen, this can slowly cause elements to rust away from the inside! So whilst under the bus, I cleaned out the entrance to the holes and then used an airline to used compressed air to clear out any debris stuck inside. Quite surprising as to how much actually came out in certain locations!
Inner/outer protection
There is a good review of a variety of different external and internal protection options from an older article from Classics Monthly.
You can read/download a PDF of the interesting and useful article here…
Classics Monthly (June 2013) Anti-rust treatments comparison tests/results
The guys at Resto Classics will use a cavity wax injection system, so the inside sections of the bus will get pumped full of wax oil to ensure all the internal cavities are equally well protected as the external surfaces.
Getting there
Have to be honest, can’t wait to get all the winter and future protection work sorted so I can get back on the road again, that plus a bit more summer sun would be great! 🙂
