If money is no problem then get it fixed correctly. I would look around for a small well equipped, well run shop and turn the whole job over to them. It still might be a great way to go with a non rusting parts car that they could cut huge sections of floor out to make a super repair. Summertime is coming and these small body shops can get a bit slow - just what you are looking for.

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

I agree, find a good body shop and have them do an evaluation to find out what it will take to fix it correctly. Have them take care of any structual issues before doing the cosmetic body work. For $5-10k you can probably get everything fixed and get a decent paint job.

Obviously the jack point looks bad and the structure has been compromised, especially since it dropped and shifted outward. I don’t think you could of prevented this issue if it started years ago as it might have been rusting from within the structure and you may never have detected it until it was too late. As sentimental as your car is to you, don’t be beat yourself up on this. It can be fixed.


It would seem that you will need a rocker panel from a donor vehicle to grafted on.
Contact forum member bob_98sr5. He could have some insight and advice on how to proceed since he himself has done some major surgery to his own rusted ’87 300D. You can take that advice to the body shop you choose to have the repairs done.... Or possibly attempt to do the repair yourself if your confident enough.
But here are some links to his blog and some pictures of his repair on his car from his site.


http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
http://biodieselbob.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html


















Best Wishes for Bodhi.






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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Order a new set of rear calipers. If the bleeder is broken off, that's a PITA that you don't need to extract. And considering the rust on the car and the broken bleeder, fighting with rusty calipers is the last thing you need -- if you decide the get the frame fixed.

just got some of my rust fixed this week

here are some pics from what I cut out. I will post the welded in patches that I later POR-15'ed and then Wurth stone-guarded the whole rocker.

I feel your pain. but its all fixable!



drivers side rear



pass side rear (note pass. side much worse thats were all the salt is !!)



pass side jack point

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87' 300DT (Grey w/ red leather)
87' 300TDT (silver w/ palamino tex) SOLD

2012 VW JSW TDI (on tdiclub.com all the time "btcost")

Thanks for all the input/encouragement. It's good to see others have survived similar situations, or worse ... poor Bob's rocker rust made mine look pretty good! I did more inspection of the area and can see what happened. The bottom of that jack support is supposed to anchor to the bottom of the frame behind the rocker, and mine pulled loose. The top is fine ... in fact, if you look up under the rocker, no rust is visible on the frame of the car. It just a disaster in that one area. I'm really impressed with the bodywork others have done here and I wish I could weld. I'm reading up on welding, but it might have to hold off until I have my own garage.
In good news, I bled the front brakes and they're fine now. So I can drive the car ... I just don't want to until I get the flex discs and diff bushings done.
Just to clarify ... in searches of the forum I have found some people say NOT to jack up the w124 by the diff. Thoughts? Alternatives?

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)