Altho it would take time to go into details, essentially i am taking the front end parts off one car and putting them on another.
the damage was not bad on the car, and the rest of the car aside from the damage, is very nice, inside and out, great engine, etc etc, thus why i am fixing it.
ok to the damaged areas:
front end, drivers side front fender pushed in tho the light still worked, ; ), i have removed it, hood was pushed in, i have removed that, ac/fan/radiator pushed in damaged, i have removed all those, front bumper pushed down, removed that
and now i can see what else is damaged,
the radiator support bar was pushed in, the inner fender drivers side is pushed in a little on the end where it rounds at the front, the passenger front outter fender is bent in a some but appears repairable, ...there appears to be no damage any further.
the finish on the damaged car is really nice, like new looking. the parts car,has a rough finish, but good metal.

so that is the general scenario...
the question then is....
what would be the pros and cons to:
A: cut the inner fender in front of the shock, on both cars, and walk the entire doghouse of the parts car and weld it to the car being repaired.
and weld it ....
B: another way would be to take it to a body straightening shop and let them straighten the radiator support bar...
C: another way would be to remove the radiator support bar (spot welded it looks like) and do the same with the parts car, re spot weld it,(might be a trick to get the right position) B and C: take off the rest of the needed parts from the parts car, sand and primer, and put them on the damaged car(mostly screws and bolts).
removing the parts to this point only took a few hours.

i am looking for opinions pro and cons.

thanks
rob

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1975 Yellow 240D 4spd 115
1974 Tan 240D auto 115
1976 Blue/orig white 300D auto 115 parts car

Because most of the parts you are talking about are only sheet metal, I think it would be quite difficult to get everything cut and realigned correctly

You could probably do this yourself with a chain hoist and a tree. The machines the body shops have can be used for your job but are primarily used for straightening bent frames.

I think this is the best option that will also cost the least and take the least amount of time.

Drill out the spot welds from the outside of the part you want to take off, that way you only have the pilot hole from the spot weld drill in the part you want to reuse. I think you can rent spot welders or you can do spot welds with a MIG, but they are not quite as clean. Take dimensions off of the parts car before you start taking the parts off. I am sure that Mercedes also has data with body dimensions, but I don't know where to find them. I also think you can possibly straighten out the inner fender because it is not seen when the hood is closed so perfection is not so crucial. If you can get a good fender for cheap, I would go with that rather than trying to fix the existing.

Regarding the paint, I think anyone can prime and mask fairly well, but fixing dents and matching paint well comes from years of experience. A good painter will be able to match your paint very well. Metallic paint is more difficult to match but it can be matched.

So maybe you can get all the collision work done and take it to a paint and body shop that can do some dent repair if necessary and match the paint. Then you can reassemble. You are much better off taking it to them ready for paint rather than letting them pull everything off before they work their magic.

PLEASE POST PHOTOS.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Well i finally found the digital camera, and finally found the cord to load it into the computer, now i need to find a way to show you some pictures as you requested....
this starts out showing some of the damaged areas,
and then to the removal of the fender and hood and bumper...then

Attached Thumbnails

       

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1975 Yellow 240D 4spd 115
1974 Tan 240D auto 115
1976 Blue/orig white 300D auto 115 parts car

ok this shows the removal both the fenders, then the radiator support bar
the last 2 pics are the blue one, (the parts car) and the yellow one (the one i drive).

thats about it for the moment.
will need to do about the same work to the blue one, then assemble to the tan one.

just really dont know about that radiator support bar
it was just sheet metal, shaped when we got into it. and it was welded pretty well...

still not sure about the one area,
the rest seems not all that complicated yet, ; ) yet ....

Attached Thumbnails

       

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1975 Yellow 240D 4spd 115
1974 Tan 240D auto 115
1976 Blue/orig white 300D auto 115 parts car