Yesterday I made the trip out to the repair workshop to see my bus after the windows and side panels were removed.
As expected, there was a fair bit of rust in the rail running under all the windows and most of that will need to be replaced. There are also some sections in the floor level rail that need fixing as well.
Thankfully though, all of the uprights are pretty much rust free! This is good news as it would have been a big job (and more expense) to replace those. The only exception was a partial upright at the very front of the bus near the entry door, which had rusted through at the base and will need to be replaced.
The disappointing news, however, is that after removing the lower panels, he also discovered significant rust in the lower rail that runs along the top of the bins underneath the bus. Sections of this will also have to be replaced.
Check out this water level / rust mark! There has obviously been a fair bit of water sitting in this cavity at some stage!
The repairer originally estimated it would cost $6000-$7000 to fix the rust, but this additional hidden rust will require more work, so the cost is now likely to be closer to $8000. There isn’t really anything I can do about that. Obviously having to spend the money I was planning to use for the interior fit-out on rust repairs instead is frustrating, but hopefully if the repairer does a good job, then I shouldn’t have to worry about rust for the foreseeable future.