Any chance you could post some pics to see how bad it actually is. There's "rusty" and then there's "RUSTY!". Mine are both RUSTY! Mine are bad enough I'm having to rebuild body structure and mount areas. It's really hard to say on yours with out seeing how bad it is.

 

Yep.

A few things to know about rust:

.

1. Rust is never lonely. Where you see any, there is more.
2. Because of #1, it's always worse. "Worse? Worse than what???" Worse than however bad you think it is.
3. It never sleeps, never gets tired, never takes a day off.

I agree with the suggestion to post some pics. One man's "surface rust" is another man's, "Scrap it. It's done!"

No real way to give an estimate online, but check around your local body shops and find one that will provide a free estimate. Don't know a trustworthy body shop? Ask your local mechanic. Ask your local NAPA or CarQuest store people. They cater to the pros, and usually know who is good around town. This is more effective in a smaller town, of course, but it's free to try. Forget Autozone and the like. They are not really car people, in most cases.

To slow it down, try Fluid Film. Great stuff. If you aren't too far gone, you can buy many years by using this regularly.

 

Why so rusty? Where are you located?

 

Sorry, for not replying sooner. Got some pix.
Undercarriage is pretty bad. Last year the lower shock mounts tore out of the radius arms from pack rust. I used some Dorman posts to fix it, and they bust off, too. So, I replaced both. The sway bar brackets busted off, too. They were completely rusted thru. Couldn't thread the mounting bolts into the existing frame because the nut on the inside of the frame box was completely rusted/stripped. Had to pull the bumper assembly-- that was completely pack rusted. Had to grind off the 4 main anchor bolts to get the bumper off-- so I could put nuts and washers to hold the brackets. Used all grade 8. Sprayed the whole undercarriage with 3M undercoat last year. All the rust is bleeding thru.


Body panels are just starting. Tried to clean up some of the rust a few weeks ago. Like I said, I'm not a body guy. Barn doors are getting bad, it's covered up with POR-15 and oxford white.

 

Detroit area. I bought it used from a church, and the custodian said it had been sitting in a field for a long time. Had the brake lines replaced before selling.

 

Ford turned out vans like a baker turns out bread.

That thing appears to be beyond repair. Come out to California and find a rust free van for cheap. Find one that wont smog. The guy might pay you to take it.

On edit: This may be a fantasy on my part, see following posts.

 

I did a nationwide search on autotrader for a 15-pass PSD and there were exactly ZERO found. Maybe I could get a donor van out there? My buddy just swapped the blown V10 out of his E-350 with a rebuilt for $5200. Wonder what pulling the PSD out of mine, and dropping in another would run me? (could replace the oil pan while I'm at it)

 

I'm not sure what your appetite for a swap over would be. I was thinking "any old van" but that's not right. And yes, lots of E150s, fewer 250s....350s--come on, there must be a 350?

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sf...631529012.html

This is what I am thinking--that thing is a '79 and you won't even think about rust. Everything else, sure, but no rust.

Better luck here, but the powertrain swap starts to look like a van too far:

https://www.carfax.com/Used-Ford-Eco...QNBg&gclsrc=ds

 

From your pictures I don't see anything that's "beyond repair". I don't see anything that is even that bad. You can tell what area people are from just from their replies. Someone from the southwest will see a surface rust spot and it's time to junk it and find something else.

To me it looks like most of your rust problems would be cosmetic. The worse I see is your rear quarter needs a patch panel. That area will need to be cut out and a repair/patch panel welded in. Otherwise it doesn't look bad to me. I see mostly surface rust. To fix that you grind/sand down as much of it as you can, to remove it. Then you treat the area with a convertor and then use something like POR-15, etc. to make sure it won't doesn't come back/spread. This is especially important in areas like rain gutters. Because if they go too far they get very difficult to repair. .


I don't see any issue with your chassis picture. I will say that I think regular undercoating is worthless. Some of the rustiest vehicles I've owned were undercoated. I think it does more harm then good. For undercoating you have to take some lessons from the guys from Canada and the northeast US. From what I can tell it looks like they hose down the whole underside of the vehicles with some kind of mixture of oil. And anytime you remove any chassis hardware make sure to use anti-sieze on it when you reinstall it. That will help keep you from going thru the same issues when removing it next time.

The whole idea of finding a rust free california van is great. But unless you plan to move there when you buy the van. How long do you think that rust free van will stay that way? Do you plan to park it inside a climate controlled building for the winter? And the idea of a rust free donor vehicles really only works if you can do the work yourself. You are better off just finding a nice van from the get go. Figure out the cost. You've got that cost of a "donor" then you have to transport it home. You either do the trip yourself or pay a transport company. Either way that adds up. Then if you can't do the work yourself. If you can even find a shop willing to do the work you are paying them to tear down both vans. Do any repairs that the swap parts may need ( like you mentioned the oil pan ) . Then swap all the parts into the rust free van. You are talking many, many hours of work and thousands of dollars. To me it just makes more sense to fix what you've got. And if you want a better one, just keep looking for a more solid van that is a complete good running and driving van.


Just to give you a little different perspective. This is a picture of my 96 E250 from 8 years ago. It's much worse now. And I'm fixing it. My van has literally no rocker panels left. And I can put my hand thru my barn doors. And I need to replace the entire front floor pan and some body structural pieces on it. Even my front bumper has rust holes in it, which is a first for me. I've never seen any Ford van or truck bumper rusted thru until this one. It's much closer to what most people would consider "beyond repair" or too far gone. Your van is anything but that.

 

I won't dispute your point of view. I said that "beyond repair" mostly due to the OPs list of things that "...tore out.....bust off.....busted off.....rusted through....completely rusted/stripped...". You are correct about the tolerance for "extreme patina". I grew up in Washington state. No salt, but lots of rain. My son is in Boston. The rust and corrosion starts before the ink is dry on the purchase contract.

You are correct, that solid CA, AZ or other dry state find will start to crisp up within minutes of arrival. And even at bargain prices, it's a diy job to swap anything or you might as well go buy a new one money wise.

I read another post about using linseed oil under the vehicle. It apparently leaves a waxy residue and is fairly easy to deal with. If things are extreme, you can leave the cleanup rags in the truck for a hot solution to the rust problem.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be so intolerant of the cultural differences found in rust-belt states.

 

I'm just going off that picture of his chassis. The chassis on my 96 looks a whole lot worse then that one and my chassis is still rock solid. It's not patina it's just rust. But there are many different stages of rust. From "that'll buff out" to "oh hell no!". The "oh hell no!" stage usually involves a shovel when you move it.

People use all different solutions to spray the under carriages with. I know one old timer used nothing but WD40. He'd spray down the undercarriage every fall and never had any rust problems. I've seen people use waste oil, kerosene & chain bar oil mix. I know a guy that would spray the under carriage and then take his truck for a drive down a gravel road. The gravel dust formed a crust on top of the oil. So it wasn't such a oily mess when working on it. I just know if you don't use something to treat the chassis in the north east. You can end up with a vehicle with a mint looking body but the frame is just about rusted in two. No need to leave the cleanup rags in it, to burn it to the ground.

If I lived in a area where solid vehicles were readily available. I'd probably feel the same way about if there's rust just find something else. But I've lived in Minnesota my whole life. So I'm use to vehicles of the Flinestone variety( no floors ) or ones with flow thru ventilation from rust holes. So fixing rust isn't that big of a deal to me. Just part of owning a older vehicle.

 

See what I mean?

I agree. Once the rust has started, all the undercoating does is to trap and hide the rust so it can do its work. That's why I recommended Fluid Film. It penetrates the rust, but it does not trap or hide it. Because it is lanolin based, it does not harden. Linseed oil will harden, which traps rust. That's not what you want. All vegetable based oils will harden over time. Stick with mineral or animal based.

 

It doesn't need to have rust started to cause rust. I've had a few that were undercoated when they were brand new. And some of the body panels were so bad the only thing left was undercoating. Huge sections of the sheet metal were just rusted away. I think the under coating cracks or gets some damage done to it and then it just holds moisture and debris against the panels.