Uh Oh Rust
 

Well it seems i have more rust on my car than I thought... these spots on the front rocker panels below the jack stands are very troubling. Think they can be fixed? If this car hadn't been in the family since new I might give up and find a rust free body but given its history I am going to fix it... somehow

The Trunk has one small hole and under the battery tray is just surface rust so they are getting the POR15 treatment. Not sure how to handle the rockers though.

As far as I can tell this is all... the floorboards are perfect

Any suggestions or words of encouragement :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust009.jpg

This is behind the rear door on the driver side

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust008.jpg

Drivers Fender

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust007.jpg

Trunk

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust004.jpg

Under Battery Tray

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...59/rust002.jpg

eeeeewwwwwww!
nothing that can't be fixed, but not fun.

I have similar rocker panel cancer plus some floor board rust.

Fortunately, the PO included a set of new rocker panels in the sale. It's my goal to get them swapped out this winter.

My rust is pretty superficial, though. It doesn't appear to have gone any deeper than the rocker panels.

Your second pic from the top has me a bit concerned as it looks like your frame is affected. Is that the case?

I just poked around on that side and I don't think the structure of the car is compromised.


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Yeah, my car (the 82 300D) is suffering as well. Be sure and look over those floorboards real well. If you've had any water leaking, it will tend to pool inside the car on those floorboards and cause additional rot. Poke around with a screw driver to test structural integrity. I've sanded and POR15'd quite a bit, after every winter, but honestly there are nooks and crannies where it will hide and grow, and it has. Another thing I'm going to try before the nasty salty road season comes is to coat the bottom with an oil like Fluid Film, it is lanolin based and supposed to help.

Good luck!

-Chuck

Might want to pull up the carpet and check your front seat belt mounts. I've seen pictures here where they pulled right out due to rust in that area; apparently they're supported by tubes that go into the rocker structure. Kinda hard for the belt to do its job when that happens!

Wow, that kinda lets the wind outa your sails, I know it did when I started probing more into my car. Your car has low miles, has it always been a southern car?

That stuff on the rockers has been going on for a long time. I would cut it back quite a ways so that you can look inside and treat whatever surface rust is in there. Then weld or bond sheet metal back. Use POR15 and fluid film/waxoyl inside

My front fenders suffer the same malady as yours. I was going to try to find some rust-free China blue fenders but I believe the fenders were still being glued-on on my '80 so I'm thinking POR-15 and some of their mesh is probably going to be the solution. I've also go a couple spots on the firewall (driver's side and under battery tray) and one rear fender lip. Not the ideal fix, but good enough for my far-from-perfect TD.

While yours looks daunting, it's nothing some steel and a welder can't fix. It's surprising given how good your car looks in pics.

You can get replacement sills (I think you guys are calling them rockers!) over here with the jacking point. They cost from about 150 euros a side here for a replica part... I wonder how much they cost at the dealer... does anyone know?

The fenders were glued on?? That's annoying.


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Quite. Bonded is probably a better term. I believe prior to '81 they were sprayed with an undercoating material before the fenders were installed. To remove the fender you need to heat the edge to soften it while trying to pry it up at the same time. Needless to say after coming across this tidbit, my desire to swap the fenders diminished. I will keep this in mind for any future W123 purchases as well!

Fenders / wings on a W123 have a bead of sealant type glue on the inside joint at the inner wings. I think they stopped adding this sealant after about 1981 - someone's gonna have to verify that though! Later W123s have extra plastic front wheel arch lining bits... do a search for chad300tdt's spring pocket repair thread and you'll see a picture of them.

To remove the sealant I used a craft knife / Stanley knife and a load of patience. It takes a bit of time and you need to be careful not to knacker either the outer or the inner wings whilst you do it. It took me about an hour on each side to get my wings off intact.

An old aircraft mechanics trick to keeping the interior of chromoly steel aircraft frames rust free is to spray it with ATF. I have never tried it myself. Nowadays, most people powder coat the air frame of a "tube" aircraft.

FYI..

My old '83 SD had strictly bolt on fenders.