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  #151  
Old 10-14-2021, 09:45 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
While I could have kept the screws, one of the heads were pretty messed up from being removed with a smaller screwdriver in the past. So I ordered new ones.


Here's the spec if anyone needs it. I just purchased the fastener from a supply house, but you could get it from the dealer.



M6 x 1 mm Thread, 10 mm Long, Brass.



MB part number N 000 000 000 117 ($2.60)


Then I pulled the junction block, scrubbed it, and cleaned the contacts. The area underneath and around the junction block had some surface rust, so I wire wheeled the area and painted it with Rust Encapsulator. I might paint it later if I ever get around to making the engine bay prettier.


I won't lie, having new heat shrink, a new ring connector, a painted surface and new brass hardware made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when it was all put back together.




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Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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  #152  
Old 10-14-2021, 10:04 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
With the repairs on the passenger footwell complete, its time to turn to the underside and the rocker panel seam.


New section going in with a new plug hole (old one rotted away completely). This is the rocker patch panel connecting to the floor pan.





I really don't like how Mercedes joined these panels here at the end. The rocker panel, floor pan and wheel well have some weird seams normally. I'm going to weld in a piece to fill this gap rather than shaping the floor pan out and leaving that round piece of the rocker panel hanging out. I don't want anywhere where water, salt or dirt could gather.


__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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  #153  
Old 10-15-2021, 10:03 AM
vwnate1's Avatar
Diesel Dandy
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sunny So. Cal. !
Posts: 7,717
Thumbs up

Nice work !.

I too get all warm & fuzzy feeling after I do electrical works, few ever bother and so have dim or non working lights, radio, heater horn etc....
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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better
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  #154  
Old 10-16-2021, 11:10 AM
Shadetree
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Back in SC upstate
Posts: 1,838
Here are a few things I learned from my experience patching for rust.

Buy a body saw. If you're working in tight spaces with many contours to manage get a cheap HF electric saw. The cord is easier to handle than the airline and the body is tiny and the blades are thin enough to make tight radii.

Use .023 wire. Even on 18ga your weld will lay down and greatly cut grinding time. The welds look nicer. You can turn down the heat and the wire speed and will blow fewer holes. It will also add less heat to the metal and the waiting time to cool will be shorter. You can use a damp sponge or a quick blast of air if you want but if you cool a weld too soon after welding the surface will shrink more than the backside and it will distort. Best, imo, to wait a bit and use air for cooling.

It is true, a copper plate will help cool a patch if the shape of the metal you're welding makes it practical. Flat-good, everything else-no go.

Always clean the replacement panel with a quick go over using a sanding disc before or after cutting the shape needed for repair.

A cheap electric cutoff tool works great to knock the tops off welds before you use a grinding or sanding disc to finish the seam. It adds less heat to the material and is smaller than a 4" grinding wheel. A worn 4" wheel is good for inside corners but a worn 3" cutoff wheel gets into smaller spaces.

I'm going to use 2K epoxy primer on any metal I make bare during a patch job, but maybe that's just me, and I learned to mix paint by density/weight rather than volume. That makes it easy to accurately mix small volumes so the waste is so little and the security of using a 2K is sweet.

Martureo is right about not grinding the weld down flat. He left it sticking up where it doesn't matter which makes the weld stronger. When I weld an exterior panel, if possible, I weld both sides for strength. It's often more than twice the work but the confidence in the product is multiplied.
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  #155  
Old 10-17-2021, 11:10 PM
vwnate1's Avatar
Diesel Dandy
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sunny So. Cal. !
Posts: 7,717
Thumbs up

Thank you for sharing priceless lessons .
__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better
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  #156  
Old 11-27-2021, 03:29 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
Back at it. I didn't take as many pictures as the light fades earlier these days. Its a rush to get anything done before the temperature drops.

Finished the front rocker panel area.


Finished patching the rocker panel all the way down this side.



__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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  #157  
Old 11-27-2021, 03:37 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
Starting to explore what needs to be done on the passenger's rear rocker panel area.

A wire wheel exposed a bit more than I was expecting to deal with.






I've purchased some more panels for this repair.
__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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  #158  
Old 11-27-2021, 03:51 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
Spending Thanksgiving at my parents gave me access to a garage that I could heat enough to think about spraying the new replacement fender.

I used the same products I used for a wagon fender I replaced a few years back. Primer, basecoat and clearcoat from www.automotivetouchup.com. They sell aerosol cans of each with factory colors. Highly recommended.

Here's a shot of it after three base coats. I sanded the primer with 800 grit and 1000 grit prior to spraying.



I hit it with three wet coats of clear after a few hours of drying. Here it is on the car (just sitting in place) after drying overnight. There's a few small areas that have some barely visible orange peel. I thought long and hard about hitting them with some 3000 grit but decided against it as this fender would look better than the rest of the car anyway.



__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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  #159  
Old 11-27-2021, 11:05 PM
vwnate1's Avatar
Diesel Dandy
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sunny So. Cal. !
Posts: 7,717
Thumbs up

Nice .
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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better
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  #160  
Old 12-02-2021, 08:03 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
Don't ignore rust folks.

I saw some of this rust a few years ago but didn't think it was that serious. Now I know.

It was an unusual high of 62 degrees out today (it was high of 35 degrees last week) so I got a decent chunk of work done. Didn't quite get the patch fitted yet.





__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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  #161  
Old 12-03-2021, 12:01 PM
vwnate1's Avatar
Diesel Dandy
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sunny So. Cal. !
Posts: 7,717
Thumbs up MORE Good Work !

I grew up in the snow country back when they used as much salt ad they could, so many nice vehicles ruined in two or three years .

I keep trying to tell folks : RUST NEVER SLEEPS but they ignore me and then complain when their vehicle is B.E.R. .
__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better
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  #162  
Old 12-05-2021, 10:54 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
This repair is really irritating. Mercedes should not have joined these panels this way. Essentially they've created a place for water to pool in the V made by these two panels.

The cardboard is a template for a piece I couldn't find a way to order.



__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
Reply With Quote
  #163  
Old 12-07-2021, 10:35 PM
vwnate1's Avatar
Diesel Dandy
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sunny So. Cal. !
Posts: 7,717
Angry Water & Sediment Traps

Pretty much all cars ever made have this problem, some worse than others .
__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better
Reply With Quote
  #164  
Old 12-14-2021, 09:36 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
Got one patch fitted, but ran out of room to weld it in. I really hate when I have to cut out good metal just to be able to access an area to put good metal back.



Ended up cutting out another piece to get a good weld on the inner patch.





With that chunk removed (upper left of the gaping hole) you can see where I couldn't really weld properly from lack of clearance. I simply couldn't get the nozzle close enough to get a proper bead.





And here's the piece fully welded in and coated with Miracle Paint. Ready to start on the covering piece.


__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
Reply With Quote
  #165  
Old 12-14-2021, 09:39 PM
He/Him
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: DC Metro/Maryland
Posts: 13,244
Well, that cutout piece has to go back in first.





This was so nice to weld. Not sure if it was just the quality of the metal, the thickness of the original panels (replacement panels are not as thick) or that I prepped this one better. It was a joy to lay this weld down.





And the new piece being fitted.



__________________
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]
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