My W123 saloon / sedan old accident repair (and a bit of rust repair) thread

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Item 32 inner wheel arch inner section => Klokkerholm only make the front part so it isn't the whole piece

Klokkerholm part numbers

3525543 left hand side (front bit) 50.34 Euros including tax
3525544 right hand side (front bit) 50.34 Euros including tax

Item 35 inner wheel arch outer section (given repair panel status - so might not fit!)

Klokkerholm part numbers

3525551 left hand side 35.34 Euros including tax
3525552 right hand side 35.34 Euros including tax

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These people seem to be doing more of the repair panel stuff - rather than klokkerholm who seem to make more of an attempt at actually copying the original Mercedes bits...

...at these prices I might give a few bits a go.



and this was the bottom of the screen...

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I forgot to say - I have been reliably informed that the stuff from van Wezel is only 0.5mm thick. Not thick enough to replace as whole panels in my opinion - probably OK to cut to bits and use as patches if you like that sort of thing!

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Now this is a proper job!

This part caused quite a stir at the dealer this morning - I quote =>

"I've been here 11 years and I've never seen an old sticker like that"

(Even more evidence that the dealer gets his bits from Germany and not second hand stuff on ebay!)



I also got two side bits highlighted here





It is all coming together nicely (well I say coming together - I mean specifically that I'm making nice piles of new parts before I start drilling out spot welds on the chassis)

[Yak]

If it were really an old part it would say "Made in W. Germany."

[Mike D]

Army, you're making me drool. You get parts which haven't been shipped across the ocean and covered in a pound of cosmoline or whatever the German equivalent is.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by Mike D

Army, you're making me drool. You get parts which haven't been shipped across the ocean and covered in a pound of cosmoline or whatever the German equivalent is.

If you want some let me know!

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Originally Posted by Yak

If it were really an old part it would say "Made in W. Germany."

Indeed - I didn't think of that.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by Army

If you want some let me know!

Parts or cosmoline?

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I'm trying to get hold of part number 5 in this picture:-



It is unobtainium at the dealer as mentioned previously so I've been trying to persuade people to let me have a good second hand one.

Not as easy as you might think. (Well who wants a pile of discarded sheet metal on their driveway anyway? Scrap dealer doesn't mind that's who)

I think I've found someone who will let me come and cut one out. If this comes off - and it doesn't turn out to be rusted junk I'll take some photographs of the carnage. It will be tackled in the following way:-

Windscreens out

Sub frame / trailing arms / differential rear wheels off

Doors off

Cut off roof

Slice through middle of floor pan (if rusted out)

Otherwise cut at bulkhead...

...if I get away with this it will be fun!

[DeliveryValve]

Originally Posted by jmk

You know, you are crazier than I was when I was young. I thought I was crazy when I had.....

John took the words right out of my mind while looking through this thread and thinking about all the other stuff you've done to this car. I sure hate to see all your receipts and time you spent on this car. Perhaps maybe a bit of 480 Manganese Brown paint chips was inhaled and worked it's way into your brain.
Wish I could send you a perfect rust free straight body from my local wrecking yard to save you from more of your own punishment!

Anyways love your posts, very informative and entertaining ! Keep chugging right along, it would be great to see this car completed! Thanks!





.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by DeliveryValve

John took the words right out of my mind while looking through this thread and thinking about all the other stuff you've done to this car. I sure hate to see all your receipts and time you spent on this car. Perhaps maybe a bit of 480 Manganese Brown paint chips was inhaled and worked it's way into your brain.
Wish I could send you a perfect rust free straight body from my local wrecking yard to save you from more of your own punishment!

Anyways love your posts, very informative and entertaining ! Keep chugging right along, it would be great to see this car completed! Thanks!
.

Thanks for the kind thoughts - I understand how most people would feel about it. I understand completely as my wife is one of them! The thing is though - I've always wanted to do this sort of thing. When I'm done with this one I plan to move onto another. I'm considering a W108, W111 may be a SL though they seem a bit on the small side... I do fancy 1950s American tin...

An old Mercedes is ideal for this sort of experience - the spares support is fantastic.

There are a few companies over here who import cars from the dry US states so in principle I could pay about the same amount of money get a rot free shell and take the easy way out. But I don't consider that to be sporting fun...

...the hunt goes on!

[Stretch]

Not great news. Some Dutch dick head or perhaps some Swiss dick head filled up a structural part with filler...



I got a hole this big after 60 seconds of light pressure with an angle grinder and wire brush attachment



Holy crap - this sort of botch job really ought to result in castration or public flogging...

...oh well the hunt for rust and more surprises continues.

I'm going to try Eastwood's undergone.

http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0107vwt_eastwood_undergone_torture_test/index.html

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I was hoping this Eastwoods undergone stuff would help.

It does in a way but it isn't really a match for MB W123 rubberised undercoating...

It helped me a little bit as someone had coated the underside of the car with a tar based undercoating on top of the original - so at least that came off really quickly.

Here's the undergone going on (just like oven cleaner)



A cleaned up wheel well - but most of the work was done by fire





At best it makes the rubberised MB W123 coating clean!



Please note post undergone treatment was "ye olde angle grindere and wire brushe attachmente"...

I think I might try that bathroom silicone remover and see if that helps (before returning to the Pulp Fiction blow torch method).

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I've done a bit of investigative work trying to find out how the car was put together. Unfortunately it seems as though the last bit added to the car (during construction) was the roof. The roof and rear pillars sit on top of the rear wings / fenders...

This makes it difficult to remove the spot welded rear wings to fix up the structure inside.

The parts catalog makes it look so simple (here's that picture again!)



But in reality the joint inside the wheel arch looks like this



This is the joint between parts 32 and 35 shown in the first picture in this post. The steel is bent inwards towards the cabin and the boot / trunk.





(second picture shows how it is higher up - use open tie wrap as a reference point)

On the front of the wheel arch (towards the front of the car) the joints are slightly more complicated. The inner wheel arch half (part 33) is fixed to the inside of the "door jam" here =>



The joint for the outer half of the inner wheel arch is hidden in a closed cavity behind this point. You can only reach it by removing the whole outer wing section...


...hmmmmm...


QUESTION:-

Do I remove the outer wing section and see?