88 E150 high top conversion.

After all the threads about rust and roof drip rails, I thought I should do some preventive maintenance on mine before it gets out of hand. SO if any of you guys have suggestions on the best way to handle this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Looking at the overall condition of the seal for the aluminum trim that goes around the high top to van roof and light rust around the drip rail seams, I am thinking it would be best to remove the aluminum trim and reseal it all..

If you agree, what sealer would be best to use?

As to the minor rust on the seams, is there a way to fix that without removing the paint?

The hinges,, That rust washes right off but comes back after a while.. The pins are tight so there is no slop in the doors so is there a way to fix that without removing the pins?

The rusted bolts holding the aluminum side step rails on, what type of bolts can they be replaced with that would be compatible with aluminum and the steel brackets they bolt to under the rails?

Thanks
Anna

This is the upper side seal of the aluminum high top trim above the windshield.



This is the aluminum high top trim where it meets the van drip rails at the front over the drivers door


This is pics of the drip rail seams.


This is just over the drivers door. The glue/sealant they used for the aluminum trim is so thick that water does not flow through the drip rail and runs over and down the door at this point.


This one was I believe, at the back of the van


Here are the hinges These are from the side doors, the rear doors do not have this problem yet..






And last is one of the bolts holding the aluminum, step/side rails on.


And that's about it for any rust problems I have come across but want to take care of them before they get worse..

 

While I don't have experience specifically with Ford high-top conversion vans, I've faced similar problems with my Mitsubishi van and have done a fair amount of bodywork on it, both top and bottom. Also where are you located - having lived in New England now a few years, those photos are "Not Even Rust" It's a constant cat and mouse game here.

• For surface rust (defined as not big chunks and flaky - you appear to only have surface rust) you don't mind treating and painting over, I tend to wire-wheel/sand away the paint to the point where the rust stops and use a 'rust converter' compound. This comes in a bottle or spray can typically and usually has a mild phosphoric acid content which etches the steel and turns iron oxide (rust) into iron phosphate, a dark, hard substance that is inert. It does require rust to "work", aka don't sand away all of it. After it does its thing and cures in 1-3 days you can primer and paint or seam-sealer over it as usual. Possibly relevant areas: The 3 photos of the drip rail seams.
• For areas where you do don't mind it looking ***-ugly, POR-15 is my favorite 'rust paint'. It's dark gray and applies like paint over surface rust and you CAN paint over it when cured but do not have to. I have a few spots on my truckvan that I'm going to hit with this soon. Possibly relevant areas: Not really that I see in your photo, but if your frame isn't undercoated you might want to have a look in places where wheel spray hits the fenders.
• I am less sure about the hi-top trim. It looks like there's some kind of deteriorating rubber insert in there. One solution might be to thoroughly clean (e.g jet nozzle on a garden hose) the whole perimeter where that rubber is, gently sand/wirebrush around it like you were going to paint the seam over, and then apply a huge fillet of seam sealer around the perimeter ensuring thorough coverage. This would block out moisture from entering the trim area entirely. But you do have to paint over it unless you didn't mind a beltine of beige/gray. Hi-top experts are welcome to tell me to **** off here - this is entirely going off my rudimentary body man knowledge.
• The door hinges are unfortunately extremely difficult unless you were willing to disassemble the doors completely. It seems like they paint the base color and then mount the doors on. Then if your van is a conversion/multi colored, they usually just blast right over the door hinges anyway. So the paint will inevitably get rubbed off the moving areas no matter what. I am personally not sure what to do about this part besides keeping it as clean as you can and lubing the joints not with petroleum oil/grease (which can damage paint) but with a dry-lube like the spray on graphite/teflon stuff.
• Replace rusty bolts with zinc-plated or galvanized hardware, not stainless steel as tempting as it sounds. SS is more active in the electrochemical sense when combined with zinc, aluminum, and steel.

Rust converter: I've typically used this as it's available at Autozone and the like, other stuff might be more potent but it's all order online or ship-to-distributor. http://www.loctiteproducts.com/img/p...tend_spray.png

Seam sealer: I didn't know this was a product until someone told me to get some to go around the edges of a sheet metal weld repair I made. Eastwood Brush on Seam Sealer 30.4 Fl.Oz. | Brushable Seam Sealer

POR: POR-15 Semi Gloss Black


Source for stainless steel/zinc/steel corrosion: SSINA: Stainless Steel: Corrosion

 

Anna, just curious how this worked out?

 

Thanks for the very helpful info Teamtestbot! Sorry i didn't get back to reply sooner but I just now saw the post again...
How has it turned out VanerDude? Well first I probably should of originally started a thread on "Restoring 1988 E150 conversion van" rather then so many separate item posts!
But to answer your question, I haven't gotten to it yet. I think I am going on the 4th week with the engine cover off doing the valve cover gaskets along with a few other related things there, pitiful! When i was younger I probably would have done it in 1 or 2 days... I do have the engine back together and running but think maybe I have ADD and OCD when it comes to this van...

Actually I don't like taking the doghouse cover off and when I do, I want to do as much as I can so I want need to take it back off for a while.. This time I followed some others advice and unbolted the front seats from their bases which made life much easier and also is a good time to clean and grease those tight swivel seats...

After dong the upper work I noticed a oil drip down below (maybe still old oil from the valve covers) but its off to the car wash to clean underneath and see what is going on.. I am also going to re-route the new plug wires I put on last summer when I was in a hurry.. then put it back together..

I did do a couple of minor paint/rust repairs though. The metal floor lip for the doghouse had a minor rust spot and since I had everything out for that I temporarily fixed the rust under the passenger door. I say temporary because I found out I shouldn't have used rustoleum primer but that's ok because later I will do some more work on that door.

I wire brushed, sanded, used rust converter, neutralized it the next day, wiped down with denatured alcohol, primed, and painted the areas. The doghouse area was not very important but didn't want the rust growing without being able to see it!



At the bottom of the door I saw just a little spot and started flaking back the bondo/sealer used under the paint.


This is after the Ospho treatment with a rag so it wouldn't get all over the paint..


what you see around is dirt and glue for the gasket. I was only worried about the actual rust area for now


Done for now.

 

Rust is cancer. You can slow it but once it starts, you are toast

 

me (Florida) and Vettex (California) always agree about rust.

 

You got to be diligent looking for it and kick that stuff in the *#*# when you first find it to slow it down!!
Something I noticed about the bottom of the passenger door is: The drain holes at the bottom of the doors are covered over by the door seal and instead of just flowing out the water must run along the seal trickling out. I think the top of the door seal (under the bottom of the door) needs to be notched out at the drain holes before the seal is glued on and a think spacer of some sort should be glued behind the seal at the drain holes to keep the seal from being mashed flat against the door when closed and blocking the drain.

The outer door skin has a lip that is bent around the inner skin and is spot welded to it. They then fill the seam with a filler/sealer and the door is painted. When the filler/sealer gets old and cracks, it allows the water to run in around the seam and over time the seam starts to rust.

The window sweeps are supposed to block most of the water from entering the door but mine are old and cracking. I have had the new ones for almost a year now and will be changing them soon. The window sweeps meet up against the vent division bar and I will put a little dab of silicone on the end of the window sweep when installing it to prevent the water from entering there..

The other problem which may only affect conversion vans is that the trim that runs around the top of the seam for the raised roof causes lots of water to run down over the window when it is raining because it is not going in the gutter.. I think a set of wind deflectors would help with that...

My fixed windows doors with the tight rubber seal around the glass and door also have drains at the bottom but look like they have never seen water..

So the moral of the story on the older vans, to prevent rust in the first palce, is to use wind deflectors, keep the window sweeps in good shape, make sure the door seal drains correctly, check those seams at the bottom and seal them if the filler is cracked.. that should prevent the problem from happening, at least in the south and west coast where salt is used on the table...

 

I disagree, rust is very fixable, but it takes time to remove the rust and repaint it. I work at a restoration shop, everything that we see is rusty. They get sandblasted, epoxy primed, painted and clear coated. Most of the time we are replacing rails, floors, etc. Rust happens.

 

Not where I live ... LOL

take apart and dip
cut and weld in new metal
dip again

This works but the average owner can't do that