Rusty Gutters

[jesus_is_alright]

Hey guys, Just bought a Beddy of ebay. waitin to get it trucked over hopefully this week.
By the looks of it, theres a fair bit of rust in the gutters, which i'm sure is a very common problem.
My question is this, can i just take them off?
I have no intention of putting roof racks on, but are they necessary for keeping water out of the doors?
Modern cars don't have gutters. Any thoughts?

[Bedfordcrazy]

hey jesus, in my opinion you can remove the gutters and not worry about water. I removed mine across the front and rear, here are a couple of pics to help you decide. Also a tiger pic thats floating around.
george

[ben]

looks a bit silly without gutters but some people seem to not mind the no gutter look.
also the roof is held on by the spot welds inside the gutters. cut the gutters off and your roof will fly away. unless you weld it flush all the way around which looks bald. in my opinion anyway..

make sure you at least see a van without gutters before you do the mod.

check out strez gallery. his van has no gutters but it does take away from the no gutters cause of his air brushing..


i have a van here im wrecking i can supply sections for you to repair if they are not too bad.

ben

[grandad]

i removed the frony gutter from my van too but have kept all the rest rust is now coming though on the back gutters think i will repair them to help keep the water off the back doors ( i am in sa aswell so if you want to look at my van or need a hand with your van at all give me a call will be glad to help )

[jesus_is_alright]

Thanks, i think the main reason i was considering removing gutters is because they are just a place for water to sit and cause rust.
But if by removing them, it just causes the water (and therefore rust problems) to move to the doors etc, perhaps its best to keep them on
Grandad, can you recommend anywhere in SA that does good rust removal / panel beating?
I don't want to just hide everything under bog, as im sure it will bite me in the long run.
I'd rather get the body straight now, before a coat of paint, so i know its all good underneath.
Also, my plan is to completely strip it, panel beat the whole lot, paint inside and out, then put the engine back in and work on the mechanical side and finally interior.
Does this seam like a logical plan or would you do it another way?

[mezzmo]

Dont make the same mistake that i did, if you are dead serious about stripping the van, save up and get it soda blasted. i did this after i'd done the body mods, panel work and she was in primer - i had to do something due to paints not gelling properly - i just so wish i had of done it first - blank canvas and you see all in front of you, no hidden bits. check my gallery to see what it comes up like.

Mezz

[jesus_is_alright]

How does soda blasting work? And how is it different to sandblasting? does it strip all the paint and leave bare metal?
Do i do this before or after and rust removal/ panel beating
And finally cost?

[rossie]

Soda is not as harsh as sand, less chance of warping large panels and it's the place to start

[jesus_is_alright]

If i'm looking at doing a quality job i really need to soda blast don't I? otherwise i'm just covering problems rather than fixing them?
I've recieved one quote for "Around the $1000 mark" Does this sound reasonable?
Also once soda blasted i'm asuming the metal is all bare, and i'd need to get a move on with the panel and paint work.
I.e, i don't want a freshly soda blasted van to sit in a shed for 6 months

[Merlin]

Hey JIA I have been building/modifying cars for over 25 years now and we always do them in 3 stages 1#mechanical 2#body and paint 3#interior that way theres less chance of damaging fresh paint and no overspray on interiors   Cheers Neil