Considering I'm embarking on one of the largest rust repair projects known to man(or at least the W123), I've decided to chronicle it here with pictures. I bought the car in April, 2008 for $1300 with ~245,000 miles on it. Mechanically sound. We weren't really looking at the rust and didn't know much about it, but I've come to find it has done extensive damage. Nothing structural, from what I can tell (car doesn't fall apart on bumpy roads), but it's nearing it. I've got a Lincoln Promig 130 MIG welder, a door and a fender for metal, angle grinder with attachments, and POR-15 paint and epoxy. I've been told by just about everyone that this isn't cost-effective (I've come to terms with that) and I've been told it can't be done. We can think of this as an experiment and hope for anyone else working on a project like this.

SO FAR: Repaired rotted jack panel with rust-free donor, patched surrounding rotted rocker panel with 22 guage to keep out water (temporary) and painted and installed factory-new front right fender.

CURRENTLY: Hole in trunk/rear left wheel well. Lesson: cut out ALL rust affected metal before butt-welding.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

CURRENTLY:

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

you can do it all.. just requires time and money

time, patience and money and itll be fine

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

This aint much to deal with really---search up thethread of the red 450sl the guy in england decided to fix the rust On!!

Do you have a link to the thread? I can'd find it.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

R107 Restoration

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Mann they git crust over there.........

Is it better/easier to cut out a lot of metal and just use one big patch, or keep as much original metal as possible and use lots of little patches (as I'm doing). I've cut out all the rust affected metal, but I just don't want to lose any more original metal/shape than I have to.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

It all depends. On a visual surface area it's always easier/better to do the one big panel (less seams, welds and fills) but in a hidden area the little fills sometimes work a lot better because of the access problems.

Finished job.

Tried to use bondo to make the outside look pretty: fail (no pic). That's gonna be redone. Did have to use a little bondo to seal up a hole I couldn't weld. Everything was coated in POR-15 and undercoated.

NEXT JOB: driver's side floor pan.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

How long have you been welding? It's hard to tell from pictures, but in the last one it looks like your weld is too cold.

I've been attempting to weld with a stick welder for about 8 months or so. Never really could, so I bought the MIG maybe a month ago. The jack point was my first project, this one, my second. I have no formal training. I think they might be too cold. For 14 gauge, it says to put it on setting "C" I had it on "B" cause I kept blowing holes in "C" probably cause I didn't cut enough rust-affected metal away. It's not structural, so I'm not gonna worry about it.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

Where did you get that nice looking jack hole in the second picture of the first post?

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Blue '83 300D "Domobile"
Red '73 Cimatti City Bike (moped = fun)

What size wire were you using? For the thinner gauges I drop to the, I believe, .025" instead of using the .030" which is the standard wire.

Oh yeah, with THIS crowd, I show the pics AFTER I have done my grinding!