Fiat Ducato 2006 rust advice

[gman88667733]

We have purchased a 2006 MK2 Fiat Ducato, 85k miles, in really good mechanical condition.
Upon first inspection, the underside looked fairly good, although it did fail an MOT in 2019 on suspension mounting points, which was fixed obviously. No mention of that in the May 2020 MOT. The rear end was looking worse for wear, a few holes appeared, we had them welded up and the guy at the garage maintains that it is a good clean van and is not a 'rot box'.
I'm just looking for a bit of encouragement with regards to cleaning it up underneath as there are bits of flaky underseal and bits of surface rust. I'll attach various images from my phone after I post this, but I'm hoping it is as simple as using a flap wheel/knotted wire brush on my disc cutter and cleaning it back to clean metal, and then coating as required. I tested the flap wheel on one of the seemingly worse bits and it went to clean metal quite quickly.

Annoyingly I did find a hole in the front offside wheel arch liner. Rest seems okay.

Again, the garage had a good look underneath and couldn't find anything else worth worrying about as I wanted to make sure it was worth putting the money into.

From the images I put up, does anyone mind giving their opinion on whether my planned method will likely work?

I was always adamant I didn't want anything to do with rust, but silly me bought the van anyway thinking it wasn't an issue. We really just want to make it decent enough for a few years use before we go onto a bigger van most likely.

Friendly local garage is letting me put the car on their ramps to do the tidying up underneath for better access, so hopefully I can do a decent job.

Edit - first mention of corrosion at all was 2018 MOT as an advisory.


Edit- added all images to a Google drive folder. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1QX23uDxcq9...

The main bit that worries me is the final image in the Google drive folder. That is in the wheel arches. The arch liners are easy enough to sort, but the seam in the final image, I'm not so sure on. I am concerned if I grind it back to clean metal, it'll just be a hole.

Cheers

Edited by gman88667733 on Monday 27th July 10:56

Edited by gman88667733 on Monday 27th July 10:57

[Chris32345]

The last image will need doing soon
Inside the wheel arch ontop I take it? Common area for vans to go needs welding from inside the bonnet so a few bits to strip out
Bonnect insulation tend to hold moisture against the inside of it

[gman88667733]

Chris32345 said:

The last image will need doing soon
Inside the wheel arch ontop I take it? Common area for vans to go needs welding from inside the bonnet so a few bits to strip out
Bonnect insulation tend to hold moisture against the inside of it

Yes, exactly there. Big job? Looking at the rest of the images, am I right in thinking it isn't a lost cause? Everything I've had a go at underneath with the wire wheel has gone to clean metal quickly. It appears to be just the ares in the wheel arches at the front that are more. This is what the garage seemed to think too.

[Chris32345]

gman88667733 said:

Yes, exactly there. Big job? Looking at the rest of the images, am I right in thinking it isn't a lost cause? Everything I've had a go at underneath with the wire wheel has gone to clean metal quickly. It appears to be just the ares in the wheel arches at the front that are more. This is what the garage seemed to think too.

Not a huge job an hour or two to remove the battery tray earth cable wireing loom and sound insulation out of the way in that section then it can be cut out cleanest up and new metal welded in garage could easily do in in a day I'd think just an awkward space for access

[gman88667733]

Chris32345 said:

gman88667733 said:

Yes, exactly there. Big job? Looking at the rest of the images, am I right in thinking it isn't a lost cause? Everything I've had a go at underneath with the wire wheel has gone to clean metal quickly. It appears to be just the ares in the wheel arches at the front that are more. This is what the garage seemed to think too.

Not a huge job an hour or two to remove the battery tray earth cable wireing loom and sound insulation out of the way in that section then it can be cut out cleanest up and new metal welded in garage could easily do in in a day I'd think just an awkward space for access

Cheers for that. I'll aim to get that done after I've cleaned the other bits up.
What do you think about the rest of the van?
Thanks

[jamesters]

just fill it with fibre glass its what i would do

[gman88667733]

jamesters said:

just fill it with fibre glass its what i would do

The van is being converted into a camper, so i'd rather do it properly. So it lasts us a good few years before we upgrade.

[jamesters]

gman88667733 said:

The van is being converted into a camper, so i'd rather do it properly. So it lasts us a good few years before we upgrade.

yeah fair enough. sad thing is anything to do with body or welding just seems to cost a lot hope you find someone reasonable to help repair it for you

[gman88667733]

jamesters said:

gman88667733 said:

The van is being converted into a camper, so i'd rather do it properly. So it lasts us a good few years before we upgrade.

yeah fair enough. sad thing is anything to do with body or welding just seems to cost a lot hope you find someone reasonable to help repair it for you

Cheers. Local garage seems happy to do bits for cash to keep the price down and bits like that. They do a pretty good job too, so hopefully they can sort that bit out.
Then fingers crossed the rest is all OK with a good clean up and treatment + some sort of underseal/coating.

[jamesters]

gman88667733 said:

Cheers. Local garage seems happy to do bits for cash to keep the price down and bits like that. They do a pretty good job too, so hopefully they can sort that bit out.
Then fingers crossed the rest is all OK with a good clean up and treatment + some sort of underseal/coating.

yeah i was undersealing my car until i came across a hole on passenger floor so currently looking into welding possibly filling it if not a structural issue but think sadly it will be. had a big debate this forum over the sills which still seem solid when tapped with a hammer so looks like just the floor. rest of the car seems solid on floor at least. good stuff though that underseal i done 1 side my car so far dried nicely just waiting for the weather to improve to do the rest.

where are you based out of interest ?