w123 Floor Rust repair - Page 12 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ChinaClipper · #**166** 12-15-2021, 10:12 AM

OSPHO is your friend here. Phosphoric Acid will converts rust to black dust. It’s the bomb…Google it, shower you up hard to reach spots and be happy…

vwnate1 · #**167** 12-15-2021, 11:09 AM

This is so good to watch .

martureo · #**168** 12-15-2021, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwnate1

This is so good to watch .

Thanks.

I was thinking about why I really like watching other people's builds, especially on YouTube and I realized its because I get to see it come together and don't have to feel the sweat myself. Granted, seeing their builds going gets me motivated to keep mine going.

Although I won't lie, I would trade off the agony of having to film every step if I got to have a roof over my head.

martureo · #**169** 12-15-2021, 09:22 PM

Pictures aren't all great, but last night I get to work for a day or so.

Here's what I got done over my lunch hour.

And after I got the kiddos to bed. (I was freezing taking this picture and out of five, this was the clearest)

Before I put the rocker panel on, I've got to weld in these two extension tabs which rusted away from the bottom of the jacking point. I've almost got them fitted.

I'm using 16GA plate for this rather than the thinner body panel gauge. Not sure exactly what it should be, but it looks close.

vwnate1 · #**170** 12-15-2021, 11:25 PM

Because you're sharing good knowledge and what you're doing looks to be near impossible to me .

I grew up in rust country and well remember a lot of welding being done, mostly structural repairs but it's important for one to not only know how to weld and make the patterns but to be able to grasp the fundamentals of the over all job at hand .

martureo · #**171** 12-25-2021, 06:01 PM

Snippets of work done over the last week or so.

The metal tube of the jacking point didn't really want to weld and the initial weld wasn't up to par. I ended up cutting it out and redoing it. I think it was a combination of poor surface prep and not enough penetration.

I cut these long as I didn't know the fit to the rocker panel and didn't want them to run short.

Rocker panel is 90% on. The outer edges are all butt welded, but the two jacking point support gussets, the inner rocker panel and the rocker panel end panel are all attached with plug welds.

Due to the inclement weather scheduled and it being Christmas Eve, I decided to give my neighbors a quiet evening. I wire brushed the welds and then coated them with etch primer. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it tomorrow.

martureo · #**172** 12-26-2021, 09:06 PM

Jack point isn't perfect, but I spent way too long with the die grinder and the welder trying to make it prettier. The pipe doesn't stick out as far as on the original (party my fault for not fitting the rocker panel better), but I don't think its going to be that noticeable.

martureo · #**173** 12-26-2021, 09:14 PM

Not quite ready to mount the new fender completely, but I'm getting close. I decided to remove the bits from the old fender that I wanted to keep and start to prep the new fender.

Don't you love it when all but two of the plastic studs snap off?

Anyway, I got to find out that whoever sprayed the car last (some previous owner) didn't mask the trim off very well.

martureo · #**174** 05-25-2022, 10:14 PM

Finally got enough yard work caught up with that I could get back to this for an evening.

I cut this patch into two pieces as one was too complex.

skeppa12 · #**175** 05-26-2022, 10:15 PM

Thanks for keeping us updated! You are doing a fantastic job.

unkl300d · #**176** 05-27-2022, 03:16 PM

Kudos on this educational thread!

This is what our MBZ forum needs!!

vwnate1 · #**177** 05-27-2022, 05:36 PM

Thank you for updating, there have been so many great threads that suddenly tapered off and died .

martureo · #**178** 05-31-2022, 08:29 AM

No problem. I'll keep updating as I really want to drive this car again. This thread has been like a diary and a record of how long this is taking. Whenever I get to post I have the record of when I was last able to work on it and it pushes me to get back to work.

Fully welded and ground back. The reflective surface wasn't helping.

This will be the first visible surface I've done with replacement metal, I'm anxious and trying to get it right so painting is easy.

I hit the entire section with thick building, sandable primer.

martureo · #**179** 05-31-2022, 08:45 AM

After several layers of thick primer I'm still left with pits and other visible imperfections. My hope though is that I can manage to overcome some of these bits by either sanding back or welding in more material (and grinding again). The layers of original primer and paint are pretty thick. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to replicate it, but hopefully I'll be able to blend it enough that no one will notice.

Now to close the gaps. The replacement panels aren't complete, they don't fit perfectly, but they also don't cover every part of the old panels.

Here I'm trying to replace the inner fender arch end which fits behind the termination of the wheel arch. The replacement panel wasn't complete around this corner so I filled in the gap.

I couldn't get a perfect picture of the patch going in (with another smaller, unphotographed piece), but this will do for now. This was tight to work in, my head inside the wheel well with a welding helmet on and the wheel hub occupying the space where my head wanted to be.

You can see another of these gaps that I need to fill. That and trim the pieces I left long. Hopefully I'll be done with this soon if the weather and my schedule cooperate. This is the last of the repair to be done on this side of the car!

vwnate1 · #**180** 05-31-2022, 01:14 PM

I'm going to have my brother grab me another case of popcorn the next time he hits COSTCO......

Threads like this are priceless ~ they're *excellent* teaching aids .