The importance of getting underneath your car
 

This posting is especially aimed at new members.

With these old cars it's essential you get under your car regularly to give it a thorough inspection. Do this safely - there are postings here on how to do support your car safely - do NOT get underneath when the car is supported only with a jack.

Courtesy of a friendly indie we put my 300SD up on a hoist a week ago and spent an hour going over the underside. What you may find may be bad news, but at least you will know the true state of your ride.

What we found was

- rust in the rear wheel wells. Not too bad but some minor welding needed,
- front crank seal starting to leak, replacement sometime down the road
- centre exhaust rubber mounts starting to go, all cracked
- front fender liners giving up the ghost and letting road crud into the rockers
- weeping diesel line, which we replaced on the spot by cutting out the weak spot and replacing it with some flexible hose

Depending on your pocket book you may not want to do everything yourself. But if you know the true state of your car it will put you in a much better position to deal intelligently with your mechanic or to plan what work you need to do yourself.

Those front fender covers seem to be a common wear item after all these years I am in fact stripping down my SD's wheel well tonight and welding in a patch panel...Truck bed lining, undercoat, and lots of POR-15 on order.

I'll tell you what I found. I bought a rundown 240D cheap from a neighbor, drove it for a while and finally got around to looking it over underneath, There was ONE bolt left in the fwd flex disc:eek: and the bolts in the rear disc were lose:rolleyes:

In addition to the usual holes I found in a rusty 240D I purchased a few years ago, I discovered the outer rear leg of the front passenger-seat dangling in air, while the front-pasenger seatbelt was anchored only to carpet!

Happy Motoring, Mark

Yes, I was thinking of doing the same thing. I have new liners on order from Phil at Fastlane though.

On one of my 240Ds, I replaced the skimpy front fender blocking panels with full fender liners from a late '82 W123. Too late for some of the rust already there.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Something else should be mentioned,as I used these for years.
Don't use cinder blocks,I used them for years with heavy vehicles.I did not know how easy they can shatter.

Tragic :( anybody know if he was a forum member?

Just would like to mention that if you are short on welding skills or probably don't have a welder there are other good ways to fix or repair those rusty section of fender liners, ect, any sheet metal part which is put there to protect the bottom side of exterior sheet metal. Here is what you do. Clean the area up and paint it with black POR. It has to be the underside because black POR can't handle much UV, (sun lite). Then when you have it painted with POR, get some nice pieces of plastic from gallon antifreeze jugs. A lot of products come in those gallon jugs and that plastic is so tough. If the area is flat, use the sides, it you need to fill a corner, use a corner, even a three sided corner can be repaired. I used the two part JB Weld to glue it to the area that has been painted with POR. It is a little slow to stick together, the warmer the quicker, so be patient and it will set in. Once it is stuck together only grinding will get it off. I even did the rocker panels on my 85 that way, Being exterior, I had to do it very carefully, but it worked well. It was all junk and soft, I could not have lifted that car an inch on the jack holes, it was all "make up". But it worked for me. I didn't need the jack holes but I wanted it to look decent. And it even looked good after I parted the car out and the junkyard came to pick it up. Yes, I thought, those rocker panels still look good after 4 or 5 years.

FYI
 

No vehicle is worth risking your life.

Man Crushed working on car
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/general-information/294952-man-crushed-working-car.html

Health & Safety
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/general-information/142390-health-safety.html

Who has the most rust and still drives
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/bodywork-repair-paint-tools-tips-tricks/86054-who-has-most-rust-still-drives.html

Bodywork, Fast search Links
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/bodywork-repair-paint-tools-tips-tricks/283566-bodywork-fast-search-links.html







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If you are going the JB route, you are much better off just going for a fiberglass repair. Obviously not as good as welding, but JB wasn't meant for bodywork. Also, JB is extremely brittle so any flexing will crack it (I've had that happen). Edit: Anything structural NEEDS to be welded. Many parts on our cars are structural in some way so there are very limited areas where fiberglass/JB would work. Those solutions are not nearly as strong as a properly welded patch panel.

The result of that could have been the speedy removal of your passenger's hemmies, not such a happy motoring day:D

If I'm working under the car a while, I usually bring stacked spare wheels and stacked heavy timbers under there with me to keep me company. If the car falls off the stands, they're my best friends.

safety underneath the car
 

Agreed 100%

When working on my David Brown 990 tractor we used to support it on 12"x12" timbers, which worked great. For the 300SD I use 6x6 timbers as back up.

Roy posted some good ideas previously in this thread. Do NOT rely on one form of support.

And always wear eye protection. It's amazing how much crud comes off, especially if the car lives in a winter climate with lots of sand or salt on the roads.