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Old 07-11-2018, 07:07 AM   #1
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My Beach Buggy exterior unvail

Hi Folks,
I have spent hours in your forums and have learned a ton. I bought this van off of ebay in November and have spent the last six months going through it. It came from Michigan and of course there was a lot of rust. I can honestly say that I have touched every square inch of the chassis and used 5 quarts of Corroseal to neutralize all of the rust after hours of scraping and wire brushing. I have replaced just about everything underneath and am using Fox shocks and steering stabilizer. It drives like a dream now. I have done all the work myself except for the Rhino liner band along the bottom. So here is my exterior unvail photo. I have started the inside build and will be laying the floor later this week.
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Old 07-11-2018, 08:16 AM   #2
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Looks great! Post up or at least take some pics of it clean because it won't stay that way long. I mean the undercarriage but we'd love to see more of the van in general.

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Old 07-16-2018, 06:52 PM   #3
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I have a 2012 E350 extended 4x4 and live in Rolesville NC. Near Raleigh... I use mine as a beach rover as much as possible as well.
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Old 07-16-2018, 07:59 PM   #4
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Great looking van...especially the color...yes more pics sir! And WGChristman...is that near Outer Banks? That is one of my favorite spots in the US...got stuck for a bit on the beach with an MDX, pre SMB days..didn't air down 'enough'...who knew 20 psi?!?! ANwy can't wait to get back to those beaches to drive Sporty on them...
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Old 07-17-2018, 07:27 AM   #5
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Installing Nerf Bars - two man job minus a man

More photos showing the set up I used to install the Aluminess Nerf bars. The trick was to get the bars up to their final attachment position without a second person holding up one end. That floor jack I bought at the beginning of the rebuild has been used for so many other jobs requiring two people. I also used a similar set up to install the front bumper without a second helper. Those 5 gal fishing buckets have been invaluable also. Quite a bit of jack force was used to get the rear attachment bracket pushed up far enough with just the right amount of angle. I'll take some more photos of the interior insulation. You can also see one of the plywood jigs I used to angle the bars so the mount points were flush with the van mount points.
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Old 07-17-2018, 11:55 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flyr6105 View Post
I can honestly say that I have touched every square inch of the chassis and used 5 quarts of Corroseal to neutralize all of the rust after hours of scraping and wire brushing. .
Photos of the undercarriage would be great. I'm interested in how well you were able to treat the rust along the frame rails etc. I spent a couple weeks in Montana last winter and have been fighting the resulting rust ever since. For you beach runners, how do you maintain the undercarriage? I've heard that regular applications of fluid film can help, but what other ideas are out there?
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Old 07-17-2018, 12:48 PM   #7
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Here are a few "before" photos. I'll take some "after" pictures tonight. The worst spots were in the driver and passenger side wheel wells where the #2 mounts attach. I have ground away all the bad metal I could, but have not started the repair. The bottom of the van looks like the photo of the rear suspension. After using a short wire brush on my electric drill, I coated everything with Corroseal. Since I was changing all the brake parts, drag link, tie rod bearings and replacing shocks and steering dampner, I waited several months before adding a finish coating of 3M underbody coating. In that interval, I started seeing rust spots coming through the Corroseal so I hit them up again before the undercoating. At first, the rust was a real bummer until I saw examples others had posted. Except for the two #2 mount points, I felt pretty lucky.
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E250SD rear lift.jpg   Front B-4 work.jpg   Rust RH chassis mount aft wheel well.jpg   Rust driver side front.jpg  
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Old 07-17-2018, 04:23 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by flyr6105 View Post
...I have done all the work myself except for the Rhino liner band along the bottom. So here is my exterior unvail photo. I have started the inside build and will be laying the floor later this week.
Very industrious! Always admired those out there that have the skills & patience to work their magic on a project as such. The personal satisfaction has to be rewarding.
I get down to the Raleigh area occasionally, about every 6 weeks. Will keep an eye out - would be hard to miss a sharp rig like that.
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Old 07-18-2018, 07:30 AM   #9
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Well, Raleigh had heavy rain showers last night which put the "after" photos on hold. I am happy to report that the Maxxair roof vent/fan didn't leak a bit. I can't wait to get this buggy out on the beach. I know I'll be fishing in the Hatteras Surf tournament in November, but hope to get down there before that. Gotta have sea /sand trials.
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Old 07-18-2018, 11:59 AM   #10
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Wow! That came out great!

Corrosion can be such a PITA. I have a small area of fenderwell that's rusted, only one single place, the previous owner must left that spot packed with ice and salt for an entire winter.
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