Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.

New Posts Contact us

Just Commodores Forum Community

It takes just a moment to join our fantastic community

Register

Anyone got a VZ Cross 8 Crewman? (But now I have one :) )

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
18E1F178-8CEB-4A79-838D-98C37222E85F.jpeg


141AE690-EFCF-4064-9267-A52737EF8CB4.jpeg

I removed the door seals. There was rust. Not too bad though. So much gross yuck. I don't get photos of it. Mould too. Scrubbed it and then wiped it clean. Got in behind that plastic b-pillar cover as best I could. You can see a run from the yuck in one of the pictures.

C2153C97-D573-4D08-A4C3-7337D7586C20.jpeg
890AABA1-C225-4AE9-8614-CA802994D98C.jpeg


01CC8112-FDA2-42A2-8A02-E38052AFE14B.jpeg
477B1BF0-35F1-41D4-857B-9862F139F997.jpeg

So wire wheeled the spots.

Then some rust converter.
I haven’t figured out then next step. Maybe some cold galv then white epoxy enamel? Open to ideas.

0C54F27F-4FD0-4804-9FA9-F585DD87A164.jpeg

FC547EFB-6FA8-4477-B0E2-1B5BB85F583E.jpeg

Also vacuumed the inside again. Got right under the front carpet further than before. There is this odd panel in the drivers foot well. It is a high density foam, but I found rust spots on it. I think it’s metal inside? I can’t remove it. I can lift it a little.

I got some rust converter onto it and it cleaned off fine. It might be from moisture when I soaked the carpets cleaning them? No evidence of moisture over time.

Also found a small spring under the accelerator pedal and into the far right gap in the carpet. No idea what it’s from?
 

Attachments

  • A62A4B71-9DBE-4A60-9FCD-A0EBCC2E18E3.jpeg
    A62A4B71-9DBE-4A60-9FCD-A0EBCC2E18E3.jpeg
    101.5 KB · Views: 146
Last edited:

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
The seals had rust in them too. So much gross schmutz caked up in them. Same grey green dried grot. Got most of it off.

I’ll get a heap of rust converter in there, then pressure clean them again. Hopefully that gets the staining out?
C8BD2D65-072C-497A-B8C2-9F8E732A0881.jpeg

Whats left of the caked on grot. These were scrubbed, pressure washed, then scrubbed again. Then pressure washed again.

03A6055D-1743-4605-A597-CCC04B8F142E.jpeg

The rust stains can be seen in this one.

Still not sure what to use in the seal before I put them back on? What are the 4wd crew using in similar situations? Thought of silicon grease, maybe my thick pop up sprinkler lube, lithium grease or lanolin?
 
Last edited:

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Got that panel out. It has a steel plate through the high density foam. Had to remove the foot rest. Lifted it up and toward me. Made a snap as it unclipped, then I could bring it forward under the carpet and out with a small effort.

7EAB4C2E-BB80-4D11-9411-5FC86F766837.jpeg

8717D659-72FF-461C-94C5-7AC590A1A803.jpeg

BE16EB4D-720C-4CE0-947B-9205FD3545B7.jpeg


I’d imagine it’s roll is to lift the foot position under the pedals.

It sits on the bitumen sound deadener on the floor, so has some staining from that.
It was clipped down. Also hooked over the stud up under the dash that holds the floor carpet down.

52CD3C04-6F80-424A-94A2-825D0A4EE636.jpeg

No rust under that on the floor. A small rust stain that I’ll clean off.

The rust will get treated with Ranex rust converter before it goes back in.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Got the rust sorted on that footwell panel. It got a treatment of rust converter, then cleaned (mild soapy water sprayed lightly) and painted.

CE6EA1D9-C16C-4AA9-8353-20C455B06917.jpeg

Before

7E2049C9-8C4C-4F00-91C6-30B12A4F8DBF.jpeg

After

Also got the outer b-pillar trim off and cleaned up. Not sure why it looks so shiny in the after pic? Anyway, it looks new. Will give the plastic a buff tomorrow.

02BBC790-1004-4F0B-AE3A-D9659DE5FB9E.jpeg

I noticed the b-pillar trim is made in Germany and the seals that screw to the b-pillar have Opel printed on them. I would imagine the B-pillar is also shared on other GM cars. I know the indicators are also found on Opel Astra and the SS cup holders are Saab.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Door seals got a bit more work.

Treated the rust stuck on the rubbers with rust converter. Then the remaining grot the pressure cleaning didn’t remove, got soak with citrus oil. That did the trick.

17821E59-A115-4233-A2AD-0820E7351DEB.jpeg

8B0AB46B-0A63-44F3-8378-2E6A2BCFC2D5.jpeg

Was able to scrape off the grot once it had softened from the citrus goo remover.

Also got the rust off by scraping it off with a small screw driver.

76487494-D447-4756-8E03-505990AD8EF3.jpeg

Some of the grot on the end of the screwdriver.

5DBEB57C-E6C4-47F0-8047-9C3201F5E0E9.jpeg

Then I pressure washed the seals again. The bin was perfect to do the pressure cleaning. I’m really happy with the result. Almost like new. Once dry, I’ll spray them with aerospace 303 and let it soak in. Then they’ll be like new.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Today I got the mud flaps cleaned up. These were full of dry mud and sand. They have a tiny drain hole so I put some bigger ones in so they can’t fill again. Will tidy the edges.

1BAE24CE-EF94-4112-B8AE-BBF2F5AF9E0E.jpeg

Before (well as good as I have because I have already cleaned this)

0D57547A-279B-4896-8A7A-08E6740752C3.jpeg

After. Looking really nice. Sugar soap did the job well.

B34B84A2-8D71-4BED-94D6-79A64D66C46F.jpeg

They are a little battered, but ok still.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
Got some sound deadener down under the carpet. Now because the carpet has thick foam on it, you have to take care lifting it or the foam tears. That happened a bit.

822C9918-4F34-4BE1-831F-4B682FC51B68.jpeg

I didn’t go all out here, I just don’t have the money for that. Yes it’s flawed but it is better than it was. I covered the factory bitumen panels mostly.

C8D689F8-F0B8-48CD-80EA-C455C5C18F99.jpeg


C9D08C1A-34CF-43F4-A10B-62A59BA5AE37.jpeg

(I have the carpet lifted up here) I had some butyl and foam left, so got a couple of panels on the trans tunnel.
Covered that with some spare underlay.

2752AD85-B00B-40F8-A7E6-FC41B03E4941.jpeg

Also got some onto the back of the sill panel trims.
 

Fu Manchu

We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
17,578
Reaction score
22,074
Points
113
Location
WA.
Members Ride
VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
This weird foam and steel drivers footwell panel got a coat of black zinc paint to seal up the exposed steel plate inside the foam. Just sprayed the whole lot.

C2E4E75C-805B-41EF-9471-E9DF61DEEAC6.jpeg

Top side

88A5D834-0AB3-4E44-B52B-C8459DA18A50.jpeg

The underside.

Then the exposed and painted areas of the steel got some strips of butyl and foam to seal it up.

Hard to get photos to show it well.
 
Top