I picked up some free alum wheels and got new tires mounted and when to put the set of rims on and.....rust.

the points where I went to jack the car up are rusted through. I hadnt even see this one coming. Here are the pics. I have already dumped some cash in the car, the rest of the body is pretty good and engine is great - when I get the carb adjusted...

It looks like the standard steel rails on both sides have the traditional rust eating in them. does this essentailly qualify as a terminal case?

there is virtually no rust in the floorboards/trunk etc...

what costs am I looking at for getting this done right? I dont care about a full up. I just want the rust done.

thanks

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Year model?

I am guessing that the unibody construction is going to make repairs cost prohibitive.

His profile says he has a '69 280S.
I think I have more rust on my '71, so I'm kinda curious as to what the concensus is. I'm thinking that it's not something a good welding couldn't fix - but I could be wrong.

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09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Depends on what you're trying to do with it. The jack support itself is a just a metal tube welded into the inner rocker. The skin you see is the outer rocker.

If it looks ugly and you'd rather not be seen driving it, then you're looking at about 200$ for the outer skin and 300$ for the inner rocker. Just getting the outer rocker replaced can be 1,500$. That's presuming you do the simple stuff, like remove the carpet and gas lines and put them back. Then there's the cost of painting the work when you're done. Also, that price can double if you live in a metropolitan area that has higher labor costs.

Want to do both sides? Are you going to paint the whole car at the same time? How much metal do you want to replace how many dents need to be removed and how much of the labor are you going to perform to take stuff off and put it back when you're done.

And once you figure all that out, wouldn't starting with a 111 coupe be a better choice, or perhaps an SL? Oh, the possibilities are many.

-CTH

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The car has a pretty good paint job. so this is the only place with rust.

The question is, for those square shaped frame rails that are on the side of the car. if one side has collapsed pretty much, is there a standard replacement "beam"? of sorts.

someone wrote that the car is unibody construction.... are those rails on the side then not weight supporting?

i dont really know what I am doing but should i immediately cut rust off, sand/grind and spraypaint with something?

I will post more pics tomorrow.

mcel in MD

Also there's chemical solution - after grinding off the loose stuff, coat it with some sort of 'naval jelly' product that dissolves rust in metal surfaces. It's kinda cool, actually makes the metal black. Then paint it with ass-kicking anti rust primer and proceed with patching. welded steel? riveted sheet metal or aluminum? fiberglass? Heck, it's at a location where you can make a mess and do whatever you want. And when you're done consider mudflaps for front wheel wells.

And you can go ahead and paint the entire rocker panel with black undercoat, same as they did on later 123's. It wont detract from appearance of the car. Does not look terminal to me, even through a rubber hammer could probly knock right through. The main support beams are under there next to your brand new muffler system, not the rockers.

Check out Eastwood for all of their rust treatment options.

That looks better than my '76 280C did. Someone rebuilt the rails with cardboard, aluminum tape and bond..

Michael

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Usta haves '69 250/8, '76 280C, 1971 250C 114.023, 1976 450SEL 116.033
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The rockers are structural support 14 gauge or about 1/8 th inch thick. With the inner rockers they form a box beam. They are not too expensive to buy a replacement pair for the models available aftermarket. This is one of those jobs to do yourself if you can weld etc.
I gave up patching anything structural in nature years ago. That is unless the area was very localised with unrusted really solid metal close by. After examining a couple of rusty cars that had been in bad accidents it sure changed my mind in a hurry. Semi cosmetic quality repairs in structual areas are not for me.
The direct cause of my neighbours wife death was rusty structural components as well. I was asked to do some repairs on the car about three months before that. I told her husband there was no repair possible And the car was finished. . Although since we had the stretchers and shrinkers I let him make a convex panel up for above the tailgate area to keep the water out. He was not totally auto illiterate. The car had even roof rotted. Basically he made a bad decision that resulted in his wifes death.
Also to be fair we live in a climate here with lots of salt on the roads in the winter plus airborne salt it seems. Thats if you live right next to the ocean. So our corrosion when it occurs can be far more severe than the north american average. When the jackpoints are fairly bad there is usually more severe rust in otherplaces. Not always but just usually here.
Some cars here have just been turned into primarily oxides of rust held together by the undercoat. On my cars I always spray oil into closed areas to help hold things off. Only if there will be no work done in the area though. Closed spaces like the rocker boxes with no internal protection just seem to promote rust. Yet a mix of grease and oil sprayed into them through drilled holes in the bottom will make them outlast the car. The amount of internal coverage is not important as the oil portion creeps all around in there. Oil base products seem to be the best at keeping pre rusted metal and oxygen apart. They also tend to allow no moisture between the oil and metal. The plastic plugs to seal the holes afterwards are cheap and available at most car part places.

If your car is a 108 series you need to make an extremely thorough inpsection for rust everywhere. Be especially careful to check the steering box mounting bolts where they mount to the box frame of the chasis. Make sure they are torqued to the correct spec and that the frame itself is not rusted. My 71 280S snapped the steering column when the chassis where it was mounted rusted thru. The rest of the car had less visible rust than your pictures indicate so you do need to make sure your car does not have the same problem.

- Peter.

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Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S