What is terminal rust?

[Absinth]

This is some of the rust on my windowless body :

(not sure what im doing with the photos so apologies if they dont work)

Front passenger corner

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...813_133510.jpg

roof

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...813_141844.jpg

ute/van seam

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...813_141819.jpg

side of ute body

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...813_141814.jpg

What do you guys think? Easy fix by a panel beater or scrap it and find another one?

Thanks for your help.

Agree with Oz, what is in those pictures is definately no where near terminal rust particularly if it's a windowless van....

What does the overall car look like???

[stickthis]

Agree with Oz, what is in those pictures is definately no where near terminal rust particularly if it's a windowless van....

What does the overall car look like???

I will 3rd that. I dont see any major rust issues there for a windowless van.

[Devils Grip]

[QUOTE=sstevo05;6244]G'day

Just after some opinions from those in the trade or who have been down the resto track as to what constitues 'terminal' rust in panel van bodies?

I know almost anything can be repaired, but i imagine the cost of some rust repairs would make fixing it not worthwhile when you could just search and wait and find a decent donor body.



Just say you get rid of the body you have now cause of the terminal rust. How long do you look for another body of the same age?, and depending on your find, how bad is the rust in that body that you buy, and that you can see. You might start digging away and find more rust than you thought. Like others (ozbox and absmith) have said, need to see pics of the whol car etc, and finding a windowless van shell is another question. By the time you find another windowless van, that money could have been spent on fixing the one you have. Get the pics up for us.

[sstevo05]

Guys thanks very much for the interest/advice/comments - i am slowly learning the art and reading up as much as i can on rebuilds and your input is very much appreciated. This site has been a god send. (thanks to those behind the scenes). I hope you dont mind but you will probably be bombarded with my questions for a while...

Im in Melb and it has been pissing down non stop so when i get a dry day this week i will take the cover off and wheel it outside and get a decent photo for you to see and offer further opinions.

I am aware of how rare windowless vans are - which is why i just grabbed it when i found it regardless of rust. Cost me $900 and it was a complete registered driveable car. - 1974 HJ.

This was a few years ago and thanks to a missus that won't stop loading me up with house rennos it has lay dorment until now - i have done my chores and now its time to get stuck into my hobby.....

Unfortunately i cant afford to buy a genuine sandman so this will have to do - although in the long run resto on this will probably cost in excess of initial outlay for a real one!

I have stripped it to a shell and got rid of the running gear (6cyl) and interior etc and got hold of new upper and lower tailgates, front panels, gts front apron, bumpers etc etc

Plan on making a HZ sandman replica - my dream machine. Loved them ever since i was a wee boy.

I am presently chasing a HZ chassis which leads me to another question regarding rust - is it common to have the body mount holes rust where the rubber used to be?

like this -

http://s1028.photobucket.com/albums/...804_095000.jpg

Also, i understand that the chassis number on the Kingswood era is the primary identification number that governs what year the car is registered as - how do vicroads know (or me for that matter) what year the chassis is from just a number? Do they contact Holden or something?

Thanks again guys

Dave

[Absinth]

The beauty of having a standard van and not a genuine Sandman is you can build it up to whatever you like... ie doing up a HJ as a HZ Sandman... You can put GTS gaurds on it, a woodgrain dash if you like and all sorts of other goodies and the "purists" won't pick the eyeballs out of it..

Why do you want to put a HZ chassis under it? What is wrong with the HJ chassis?

The chassis number dictates model and what ADR's it complies with.... your State rego dept. will have these on file...
EG..
CHQ00345S

C= third ADR change in the HQ model run.
HQ= obvious I think....

$900 is a good buy for a windowless van and the beauty about restoring it yourself is you can gradually restore it as you have the funds available rather than one big initial outlay..... plus it is fun to do, you learn heaps about your car and you can look back and be proud of what you have achieved.....

[wbute]

It should be pretty straight forward to repair the chassis around the mounting points. Cracks around the front controll arm mounting points is a more serious area to check.
HZ wil have RTS but no doubt you can make the earlier chassis handle pretty well with spring and sway bar upgrades. Depends why you want the HZ chassis.

[sstevo05]

Thats important to me too Absinth - i would NEVER interfere with a genuine and the colour/engine/transmission combo i am after i would never be able to find anyway.

Plan is to make it as original as possible without it being original. Other than being lowered and having a decent stereo. Having said that im not the type to officially pretend its something its not and this will be obvious by the dogs breakfast of I.D. tags on the body and chassis by anyone who bothers to look. This vehicle will be built for me and to impress me, no one else! Non original gives me freedom and piece of mind.

I remember seeing an original blue meanie brock commodore that some moron had installed roll cages, hornet bonnet scoops and pink interior. I was livid! Should be outlawed. Im a huge fan of the original look classic cars, with perhaps just a slight lowering.

I am after a HZ chassis as they are cheap and the body has to come off for the rotissere anyhow, and the HZ had the RTS which from all accounts is a vast improvement on driveability so its an improvement for not much outlay. Although sticking with the 74 chassis would allow me some more freedom with pollution gear etc

I will be scrapping the HJ chassis unless anyone here would like it. (i'm in Melb)

As i say when i get a dry day i will wheel out the van and take some more photos and get your opinions. $900 two years ago for a windowless was quite good i thought too.

It may well turn out that it is too far gone, but hey i learnt heaps by stripping it.

We shall see.....

[adam perth]

grind off the HZ chassis number and leave it blank.
then your rego will have to be compliant with 1974 ADR's (your exisiting tags)
i.e no pollution gear

i am not saying that the rust is terminal, but , wizz it back and see what you find.
generally what i have found is the the further you strip, the more your find!!

[Absinth]

Dave, RTS on HZ is greatly over rated and many people don't fully understand what it actually is....

Basically most Holdens before HZ came out standard with cross ply tyres. HZ came standard with Radial tyres and the suspension "tuning" was basically upgraded bushings, a thicker front sway bar and the addition of a rear sway bar... If you are doing a body off restoration you would upgrade all the bushings with good aftermarket ones and fit some good aftermarket front and rear sway bars and shock absorbers... most if not all car tyres these days are Radials so your HQ to HX will handle as well if not better than standard HZ RTS anyway...

If I was doing a standard van build I'd go for a HQ chassis..... no rego problems fitting a 350 chev (particularly in Qld.) into one and you don't have to run it on gas only...

[ozbox]

stick with the hj chassis,rts chassis isnt what its cracked up to be as absinth said..
the mount holes rusting is very common and a real easy fix...get a big arsed washer and weld it in or put a plate over it and holesaw a new hole.
double check that chassis for cracked sections before you use it if you went that way but.