Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike D
Here's some pics of somebody's repair on my '74 280C project car. Not the way I'd have done it but it seems to serve the purpose.
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This is an Arizona car which has been in Arizona all it's life. I'm the second owner and I know the original owners. So, I'd have to agree with Mark about fatigue compounding the rust problem.
The splooge and streaking are from some rust buster stuff I sprayed while replacing the subframe.
I would have left the lower hole open so I could spray some Waxyoil and I would have treated the plate with POR15 or at least some spray-on rust proofing. This WILL be amended when I am done with the subframe replacement.
Mark, 1/4" plate? How did you get a good bead with the thin frame rail metal? You're a better welder than I, of course that ain't saying much!  |
I didn't weld it. I made the plate oversize so it would straddle the thicker, stronger area where two sections of the frame rail overlap. I fished two heavy threaded anchor plates inside the frame rail, through a convenient hole made by a chunk of frame rail breaking off at the lower steering box bolt. The anchor plates were then pop-riveted in place. With the 1/4" plate bolted to the three steering box bolts and the two additional anchor plates it was quite rigid.
Ironically, my first Mercedes, a '61 Ponton 180b, also experienced failure of the threaded inserts where the steering box bolted to the subframe. I fixed that one by installing a new subframe special-ordered from Mercedes for $168 - quite a hefty sum for me back in the mid '70s, but less than half what a local indie Mercedes repair shop wanted to try and weld the old one.
Happy Motoring, Mark