Rust trap in front wings

[Daveysplod]

Hey all,

thought it time to check for rust and top up the waxoyl treatment on my truck. Stripped out the insides to check under the rear heater etc and wheel arches and all seems clean and nice! Will hair dry it tomorrow to spread the wax thats already there then give it a thorough top up.

But, I did find a spot that might cause a problem in future. Right at the bottom of the front wings where they join the door pillar. All the dead leaves etc that land on the windscreen seem to slip through the gaps below the bottom corners of the windscreen (just under the bonnet), they go down between the inner and outer front wings and seem to settle right at the bottom. I cleared them out last year but checked again today. Both sides were pretty full of wet leaves and mud.

To get them out, I undid the bottom two bolts that hold the front wing on (visible near the bottom when you open the front doors), I removed the front mud flaps, and I undid the bottom two plastic screw things at the back of the wheel arch liner. That allows the wing and liner to be gently pulled away giving great access to clean it all out. Tomorrow I'll waxoyl and bolt it all back together. If you do this be very careful if you need to open or close the doors when the wings are loosened as they might well rub unless you hold the wings back tight against the body.

I've not heard any complaints about problems here - perhaps I'm unlucky that there's a tree close to where I park. But, wet mud against steel seems like a bad combination to me so might be worth checking out. You might not need to take it all apart to check - if like me you got little fingers you can just get a finger in through the gap at the bottom when the door is open - if its mucky then it might be worth cleaning it out.

Oh, and I'm going to try to prevent further problems by adding some aluminium mesh across those gaps where the leaves get in in the first place.

Cheers all,

davey.

[David Edwards]

yea I stuck this on a while ago, I only found it when cleaning the channels, good to remind people about it before winter.

[Triple/R]

Well spotted Davey~although it was listed before,i missed it but as said good to remind people like me that missed original posting,so well done both~~i will take a look at mine tomorrow.

[Velocette]

I noticed this soon after getting my Bongo at the end of June. It was fanatically clean inside and out but the previous owner had missed this one, I used exactly the method you described so well and was surprised to find no damage in there.

I didn't have any waxoyl so I sprayed it with ACF 50, I think I may have mentioned my experience in a thread about mudflaps but it is such a bad mud trap it derves a thread of it's own.

It took me an extra twenty minutes because I lost one of the scrivets under the van, but found it in the end!
Hey all
thought it time to check for rust and top up the waxoyl treatment on my truck. Stripped out the insides to check under the rear heater etc and wheel arches and all seems clean and nice! Will hair dry it tomorrow to spread the wax thats already there then give it a thorough top up.

But, I did find a spot that might cause a problem in future. Right at the bottom of the front wings where they join the door pillar. All the dead leaves etc that land on the windscreen seem to slip through the gaps below the bottom corners of the windscreen (just under the bonnet), they go down between the inner and outer front wings and seem to settle right at the bottom. I cleared them out last year but checked again today. Both sides were pretty full of wet leaves and mud.

To get them out, I undid the bottom two bolts that hold the front wing on (visible near the bottom when you open the front doors), I removed the front mud flaps, and I undid the bottom two plastic screw things at the back of the wheel arch liner. That allows the wing and liner to be gently pulled away giving great access to clean it all out. Tomorrow I'll waxoyl and bolt it all back together. If you do this be very careful if you need to open or close the doors when the wings are loosened as they might well rub unless you hold the wings back tight against the body.

I've not heard any complaints about problems here - perhaps I'm unlucky that there's a tree close to where I park. But, wet mud against steel seems like a bad combination to me so might be worth checking out. You might not need to take it all apart to check - if like me you got little fingers you can just get a finger in through the gap at the bottom when the door is open - if its mucky then it might be worth cleaning it out.

Oh, and I'm going to try to prevent further problems by adding some aluminium mesh across those gaps where the leaves get in in the first place.

Cheers all,

davey.[/quote]

[apole]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check that later. Check your rear door rubber seal too, that collects moss dirt (or mine does) so removing it carefully, cleaning and then a light coat of waxoyl helps.

[Barrington]

Good tip

[chooyuhudson]

Great tip, checked mine and full of leaves and mud! All the best David