450 Sl
 

I'm restoring a 1975 450 SL. Wondering if someone could help me out, I'm looking for patch panels for the rear quarter panels. Car is in good shape except for the part of the back quarter panel that the bumper raps around. What do most people do in this case. I need both sides. I can find every other part that I need except them. Also when I took valve cover off and looked at the timing chain, one of the guide rails was broke. Seems like chain is loose. How can I tell if the tensioner is working or if the timing chain is stretched ?

Lots of posts on chain stretch - try a search. Basically you line up the marks on the cam and cam bearing tower and observe the timing marks on the balancer.

You need a 27mm socket to put on the balancer bolt to turn the engine over

If you get a worse chain rattle at start-up, you need a new tensioner. You should attend to this, and the broken rail, sooner rather than later.

Try www.kkmfg.com for body parts.

I'm not certain if this will help but; You can buy quarter panel patches from several companies. One of them is K&K Manufacturing.
Here is a link to the catalog pages with diagram and prices.
Sheet metal parts for 450SL
If your problem is rust it's going to require a lot of work to eliminate it all. The inner wells may need reapair which probably requires fabicating your own patches out of sheetmetal.

Good luck