Too Much Rust To Repair? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

NC-Diesel · #1 10-12-2012, 05:51 PM

My delima...

My 1982 240D daily driver has reached the point where I think the rust level is just too dangerous. The drivers side floor pan in the back has collapsed through the floor and the seatbelt anchor in the side of the floor pan is also rusted clean out. The passenger side is almost just as bad. Also on both sides the rust has eaten into the front of the rockers just ahead of the jackpoints and started eating through the firewall and has totlay destroyed both rocker covers and also has started eating up the front fenders.

I hate to demolish this car though as I have all the paperwork including original owners manuals and every maintenance receipt since new.Motor and body #'s match as well. It just had the bad misfortune of being a new York car early in it's life and having PO's that never dealt with the windshield leaks properly. I found a 300D in the local yard I was considering just sawing out the entire corner pieces for the front. I also have a klokerholm full driver floorpan and rocker I ordered before I realized just how bad it was. Against all odds I also managed to get the passenger side front Rocker cap from a Mercedes outfit going out of business. I'm trying to decide if I want to put all this effort and time into repairing this massive amount of rust or if it may be easier to just retire it and strip it clean of parts and sell the frame for scrap. The motor runs great. It has rebuilt injectors with new nozzles, replaced the valve seals, all new thermostat and water pump, oh and it's also a 4 speed manual! Interior is good oringinal capret and mats are in great shape, dash has ZERO cracks. yes ZERO cracks. AC was retrofitted and works with an all new compressor, just refinished all the wood as well. Flawless original headliner. That I worry about most. IF I do strip it I am worried I will rip or tear the headliner trying to get it out. And I have seen what those go for used and new.($$$$$)

So is it worth it to try to fix this?

NC-Diesel · #2 10-12-2012, 05:57 PM

More pics

Graham · #3 10-12-2012, 06:24 PM

I know how you feel. I have been going through same thing. I think my 85 300D may be worse. I have been goinf between options of selling as-is, having shop do structural only and me doing others with rivets and bondo and having shop do all welding and me do finishing and putting everything back together.

Called shop today to see if they still wanted to do it. It will cost me ~$3k incl my own work and materials. But in my case engine only has 60k miles since rebuild and exterior/interior are cosmetically good.

I need repairs in these locations:
Both inner rear wheel wells front and back inside of arch (4 places)
Both front floor pans at door sills
Front of both rockers
firewall to cabin wall seam
several other smaller holes and surface rust

No economics in doing repairs. But car is too good to trash.

Some pics to cheer you up:

vstech · #4 10-12-2012, 06:54 PM

bring it to my house, and look over the 240 jay bob has in my yard for sale. very little rust, and a STRONG engine and trans, only a minor amount of rust in the pinch weld on the driver's floor pan, and a palm sized bubble under the antenna motor.
maybe I can offer you some money for your parts car, and you buy jay bob's car from him.

StaggerLee · #5 10-12-2012, 06:57 PM

Good Lord! I call that beating a dead horse
You'd be much better off spending that $3,000 on a better example. You can buy pretty much rust free 240's and 300's around here for $3,000 all day long.

vstech · #6 10-12-2012, 07:00 PM

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-cars-sale/326203-1983-240d-charlotte.html

NCfriend · #7 10-12-2012, 07:07 PM

That is pretty darn bad on a common car body; it would be some long hours but not impossible to swap everything over into a much cleaner body.
Or check out the good recommendation by vsech...
You really need to be good with a welder to even get started.
though cutting good donor parts off will work for most areas!

I might be interested in the passenger rocker cap if you want to recoup some of your parts expense?
My euro wagon is close to this bad on 1 side, and after paying good money to a body shop I still have much to do!

Headliner: I pulled a clean one by myself from a yard for $40. Only trick is to push out the rear window and slowly pull the glued end off that upper lip.

If you need a hand or hint pulling off any small parts, feel free to PM me.
Now putting them back together...I still need to master that skill

NC-Diesel · #8 10-12-2012, 07:42 PM

Hey NCFriend. I remember helping with the brakes on that red car! (Fanta)This car is that white 240D I had last time I came over. In the meanwhile I picked up a really trashed 78 240D that has a pretty rust free body. Interior was molded. Was a hoarders episode car though. Had a 2foot deep sewage pit int he trunk when I towed it home. NO rust anywhere though. Had a minor accident with the grill, headlight frames and rear tail light bent all out of shape though. I did actually get my welder guys. Picked up a Mac MIG with the cart and tank. Just saving to buy the mask gloves, etc. I could probably just move all the interior to the 78. Problem is it appears the climate control is a bit different than the 1982. It has the bracket for a york compressor too and my new compressor on the 1982 one is a R-4.

NC did you ever get your fuel sender straightened out?

VStech I may need to come up and take a look. how far are you from the chapel hill area??

NC-Diesel · #9 10-12-2012, 07:43 PM

BTW if any of you guys in the area need to borrow tools, etc. send me a PM. I love wrenching on these old diesels and don't mind lending a hand with projects and such.

vstech · #10 10-12-2012, 10:28 PM

if you look at a map, I'm about 1 mile from exit 27 off I-85 dead center between Mt Holly, and Belmont NC.

BillGrissom · #11 10-12-2012, 10:45 PM

Better than spending months fixing that, fly to SoCal and buy a rust-free car, visit Disneyland and Newport Beach, then drive it home.

I bought my 84 300D for $400 just for the 120K mi engine for my other 300D. I ended up fixing the problem (cracked lower control arm support from accident), fixed a few sheet-metal dents, and my son now drives a nice-looking car. It had 4" water in one side of the trunk from pinestraw in the gutter and a plugged drain hole. Caused a little surface rust and mildew in the interior, but scrubbing made it look and smell like new. Check craigslist. Mine was only 3 miles away.

Zacharias · #12 10-12-2012, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StaggerLee

Good Lord! I call that beating a dead horse
You'd be much better off spending that $3,000 on a better example. You can buy pretty much rust free 240's and 300's around here for $3,000 all day long.

True, but we're in eastern Canada. Anaheim (for example) is 2650 miles from us.

Add $2,000-$2,500, depending on carrier details, just to get the car back to this part of Canada via truck and through customs.

Transporting a car across the border is extremely expensive if you pay a company to do it, and time consuming and potentially complicated if you drive it back yourself (and tricky depending on how you tag it for the drive home, legal or not). I'm not sure many or any insurance companies in Canada will issue a temporary rider on a car on US plates being driven across the continent, and California companies won't insure a non-resident Canadian either (I have inquired about this stuff). Even with two drivers in shifts, CA to Ontario is 4-5 days driving and a pile of fuel. Assuming you don't end up in some dumpy town, broken down at the side of the road.

Uhaul won't allow its dollies across the border anymore, either, so taking a tow vehicle to go collect it yourself with a rental dolly hasn't been an option for a while now.

And you have the double hassle of having to clear US customs on the way out, and Canadian customs on the way in. Honestly some USCBP agents treat you like you're stealing the thing, and some CBSA agents on our side act like you're smuggling in a Maybach in disguise.

A $3,000 car on the west coast of the US can be a $5,500 car once it reaches here. And it may still need a pile of work. Hell if you bought it long distance, you might have a donkey roll off the truck instead of the draughthorse you imagined (BTDT).

I've done it eight times. I still have puppies from the time the car reaches the US exit point to when it's safely on Canadian soil.

If I could buy a halfway rust-free old Mercedes here, I'd gladly do so and fix some rust. They can't be had. Graham's car is actually pretty reasonable for an old Mercedes in this part of the country, aside from the nasty stuff at the rear.

Graham · #13 10-12-2012, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StaggerLee

Good Lord! I call that beating a dead horse
You'd be much better off spending that $3,000 on a better example. You can buy pretty much rust free 240's and 300's around here for $3,000 all day long.

I don't really need this car, but it is in excellent mechanical and cosmetic shape, so seems a shame to not fix it. The rust looks bad in pics and it is! But it is just in those places. I am going to try and keep cost down to $2000 plus taxes, but it may grow as we get further into it.

We have owned this car for over 20 years, but all that rust was hidden under carpets and sound proofing and behind front fender liners and undercoating.

I drive this car a lot and leave the "good" car in the garage except for long trips. $3k on this car may hopefully extend life of E320 by several more years.

Good Luck with your car NC-Diesel.

NC-Diesel · #14 10-13-2012, 10:27 AM

Thanks! I'm going to get out there today or tomorrow with an angle grinder and wire brush and learn the extent of it. My new plan is I think I may be able to fold all the parts from the 1982 into my brown 1981. I have to fix some minor floorpan rust , trunk well rot, and under the battery tray rot before that but at least most of the parts are the same as far as the climate control, etc.

Trust me if I thought my wife would let me get away with it I would have bought a California car to begin with. Come to think of it my yellow 78 was a California car most of it;s life. must be why it has no rust.

alabbasi · #15 10-13-2012, 10:31 AM

Find a car in Texas and swap all the good parts from your car.