300SD Rust Restoration Project - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JamesDean · #16 12-05-2010, 12:28 PM

Jason,

Take a look at Eastwood.com they have an amazing selection of DIYer car repair stuff.

I bought my welder and most of the treatments from them. I got the sheet metal from local home depot/lowes.

I bought a can of USC All-Metal which is essentialy bonbo but with aluminum powder, so its a good metal filler. I'm going to use that on a few areas where I cant weld.

I think its important that you get both sides of the metal with some type of protectant and ensure that you thoroughly coat the side exposed to the elements with several barriers of protection.

vstech · #17 12-05-2010, 12:42 PM

nice sig line dean...
by the way...
my name is John Sheridan...

JamesDean · #18 12-05-2010, 03:23 PM

thanks john. Babylon 5 was always a favorite tv show of mine. Certainly one of the best written ones.

JamesDean · #19 12-05-2010, 03:24 PM

First Trial Run with USC All-Metal filler.

It has an amazing color to it, the camera doesnt do it justice, a very awesome metallic silver...reminds me of the liquid terminator in the Terminator series...

thayer · #20 12-08-2010, 08:50 PM

I've got that rust hole next to the jack hole (I love saying that). I like the idea of using T2 to fill it up. should be pretty fool proof...as long as I'm not thrown into a put of molten metal.

JamesDean · #21 12-12-2010, 07:34 PM

Some more progress:

Applied some Rust Encapsulator over the All-Metal, will paint with the Extreme Chassis Black paint eventually:
Gotta get that "seal" between the plastic sway bar cover and the rest of the metal as nice as the other side....

Bought a 3-ton big jack from a dude on Craigslist today, $50.

Set the passenger side of the car high in the air so it can be better accessed. I've got 4 two(or better) ton jack stands at other points on the car aside from the main 2 jack stands for bracing support.

I think this will be the most difficult/challenging piece to repair:

PS: Dont ask what that stuff that looks eerily similar to expanding foam insulation is....
My dad and my one mechanically inclined friends' ideas...

compu_85 · #22 12-12-2010, 08:04 PM

You'll want to make a very careful repair on the frame rail, that's an important structural part of the car.

JamesDean · #23 12-12-2010, 08:43 PM

OK After digging deeper into the rear jack point..

I need some suggestions on how to best fix this...

The hole-jack point thing is solid. I'm just not sure how to best attach to the bottom of the structure:

JamesDean · #24 12-12-2010, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compu_85

You'll want to make a very careful repair on the frame rail, that's an important structural part of the car.

Any suggestions?

I was thinking of getting some 16ga steel and just boxing in the open section...

JamesDean · #25 12-12-2010, 10:54 PM

More Progress Tonight:

Finished off the metal work for this area:

First Step: Internal Frame Coating + Rust Encapsulator.

2nd: Seal up Welding Seams/Holes with All-Metal.
3rd: Another coat of Rust Encapsulator
4th: Extreme Chassis Black Paint
5th: Rubberized Undercoating

JamesDean · #26 12-18-2010, 09:11 PM

So looks like xmas is coming soon, I wont have this finished in time and the family is gonna wanna use the garage for xmas-eve stuff...

=========GREEN SD REPAIR LIST===========================
-------BODY WORK-------------
Next Steps For Green Car:
1) Finish Jack/Support Repair
2) Box area in with 22 and seal up
3) apply all coatings to that area, make sure its all sealed up, underneath of rear passenger is finished
4) move to front passenger, another small hole has opened up next to the one previously patched, I tried to patch it but didnt succeed very well. So we'll need to put a small patch over it and treat it. You can see it peekin' through near the rubber grommets in this picture (http://i.imgur.com/Byc5b.jpg)
5) For the piece under the car on the passenger side I think if we just box it in with 16 we'll be good. 16 rather than 22 as im told its an important piece of the car and is subject to forces and such. I was thinking of getting a piece of rectangular tube steel and jamming it into the cavity then boxing it in..the tube steel will give it the strength and whatnot and the boxing will protect it from water/rust..
6) I'd like to do something to the flaking stuff just a head of that section..shouldnt be anything difficult
Seen in these pictures:
http://i.imgur.com/pJ50A.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/b1zln.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/CzUyt.jpg

Maybe depending on how bad it is, we can hit it with the rust converter stuff, pop a hole in it and coat the **** out of the inside with the frame stuff and then treat it the stuff.

7) There might be few minor places on the driver side front that will need to be cleaned and coated but I dont think there is any welding to be done beyond item-#6 thats on that side of the car.
8) On to the rear wheel well. It seems to need much of the same treatment as th passenger side did only on a smaller scale. I already patched the one spot. Leaving two major ones that need patched. One is on the trunk and shouldnt be too bad. The other is the jack-point area. I dont know what condition it is..it might need the same treatment as what we're gonna do to the passenger side.
9) Seal and Coat everything.
10) The only remaining hole/spot will be in the passenger side trunk area which I didnt want to touch until we got the car back on the ground.

--------MECHANICAL WORK---------

1) Refill Cooling System, Replace Thermostat
2) Refill AT System, Replace Filter/Gasket [need ATF]
3) Replace Guide Rod Passenger Side and fit new bushings
4) Replace Springs/Spring Pads [need compressor from eric]
5) Replace seat supports in driver seat and repair back of seat bottom
6) Rear Caliper Spring Clips..[need ATE style ones]:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/3928457-post6.html
7) Front Rotors Need Replace with ones Eric is shipping
8) Front bearings/seals [need rotors to replace]
9) Engine Fuel Filters [need main filter, have pre-filters]
10) #1 Injector needs soaked in cleaner as it is leaking where the two pieces meet
11) Assess other parts in garage that apply to the car and replace as necessary
might be some bushings somewhere i cant remember

JamesDean · #27 12-27-2010, 04:50 PM

Alright, more progress!

Metal work on the rear passenger side is complete. Just need some treatments.

Finished up the rear most rust area:

We repaired the jack point with some flat stock,

Came out pretty good. My original idea of using square stock would have put the plate far below the normal point. Instead we took two triangles welted them to the jack point structure so that the flat stock would lay level as it should...then welded a piece across the triangles..then welded the plate to the bottom.

Next was boxing the area in, this was probably the more difficult bit. However it came out pretty good looking. Still needs some grinding, then some treatments...

JamesDean · #28 01-02-2011, 09:59 PM

Update:

Finished coating the rear passenger side stuff. Accidentally poked a grommet through thou, gonna need to order a bunch for the driver side as well anyway so +1 for the passenger side.

I epoxy'd on the old lift pad after cleaning it up of the old metal bits.

I really dont think I'll have a problem with this area rusting (unless water gets inside)...
It pretty much the following in terms of layers going from inside to out..

Internal Frame Coating (2-coats)
Metal (16,22,3/16 plate depending on area)
USC All-Metal (over seams/weld spots)
Rust Encapsulator (2-coats)
Extreme Chassis Black (2-coats)
Rubberized Undercoating (2-coats)

APPLYING USC ALL-METAL
(this isnt your run of the mill bondo stuff, this is some tough stuff. I had a nice chunk of it on a metal rod I was using to mix with. Took several wacks of the 5-lbs sledge to clean off)

APPLYING THE RUST ENCAPSULATOR:
(This stuff is really really runny and messy. It does a great job though. You really dont want to get it on your hands/body/hair. If you do, I found that a good scrub brush and some laundry detergent works well)

APPLYING Extreme Chassis Black & Rubberized Undercoating:

JamesDean · #29 01-02-2011, 10:36 PM

Next area to work on is front passenger:

There are three major areas of work
1) Body Tube Areas
2) Fender Attach Points
3) Under sway bar area

Under sway bar area:

This wont nearly be as difficult as I had previously thought. The remaining metal is VERY strong. I plan on cleaning up the area, taking some equivalently thick metal and welding it on the side and bottom. I do not wish to weld anything directly to the floor of the car as I don't know whats above and have no desire to set things a blaze. Three pieces of flat stock or thick sheet metal should do the trick nicely. Then coating it with the 6 step layer system detailed in the previous post.

2) Fender attachment area is pretty is simple. A small piece of 22, beat with a hammer, drill a hole into, and grab a washer. Had the same problem on my other 82. Except at the time I had no welder so I had a shop do it. This is the first time, I've used the rust converter stuff. Its supposed to convert the rust to a hard black material. I used it here because I couldnt get my grinder in a few spots and I wanted to see how it worked. You're supposed to put down two coats. This is just the first.

3) There is one remaining spot under the sway bar, its pretty small, a piece of 22 and the 6-layer system should take care of it. You can see it in this pic, with the dowel going through it.

JamesDean · #30 01-07-2011, 06:15 PM

Update:

It looks like the front horn/body tube area might be slightly easier than the rear parts were. The remaining metal is very solid, however something else will make it much easier as well. The plan is to weld three pieces of metal (same thickness as the original or greater) to reconstruct the horn/tube. Should be pretty straightforward.

Don't ask about the foam LOL.

Cleaned Up:

Discovered that the inboard side of the horn was pretty badly rusted..so much in fact that it spews over into the floor pan.
Which makes it much easier to repair the whole area.

Plan:
1) Cut away rotted floor pan.
2) Replace rotted floor pan with 16ga steel. beat into shape.
3) box in the bottom with good metal (16? 12?)
4) apply coatings.

Shot of inside the front half of the horn:

We might need to clean and repair some of the front as well. However I anticipate this going thusly:
1) Clean front sheet metal and coatings
2) Create U-channel weld to sides of existing tube area.
3) Coatings