Dear Dedicated Vanagoners,

My clutch, or brake, master cylinder is leaking and has been for longer
than I knew it.  There was a big mess under the carpet.  I peeled back
the carpet, cut the pad/insulation to remove from driver's side and
found paint peeling off of the thin sheet of bituminous (tar) sheet.
That sheet was broken in a few places and I could see that underneath
there was even more fluid.  So, I removed the entire sheet from the
floor panel and found white paint which is sticky and soft from the
fluid.

Questions are:  Is there anyway to make that paint hard again?  Or, do I
need to remove it all, down to metal, and then repaint?  I thought that
I'd clean it with some citrus degreaser, let it dry and hope.  The
pad/insulation is undoubtably saturated with fluid.  Can I just wrap it
with plastic and put it back?  Are there sources for the thin tarlike
sheet and/or the pad/insulation?

Obviously, I will have the leak fixed before I repaint or whatever.  The
brake cylinder was replaced just before I bought the bus, in late
August.  The fluid level was above MAX then, and now it is just above
the seam in the reservoir, which is just above MIN.  I suppose that it
is the clutch cylinder.

Thanks and regards,
--
David Bogle

'72 Campmobile 2.0L (F.S. $1200)
'87 Vanagon GL Syncro Westfalia