ah crud.

now i dont want to be a drama queen, but i found something that concerns me greatly. i was checking the spring perch per advice from phil and i pulled off the loose plastic liner. but instead, this is what i saw on the driver's side, there is a nice sized rust hole. i discovered it when i saw that the mastic was slightly peeling off. so being a bit paranoid, i reached and pulled it down and stuck my finger in there. the metal was soft so i pushed my finger through. here was the before:



and after:



from the engine bay side, it pokes on the other side of the that wall that separates the fuse box area and the strut tower (or whatever its called) and alot of hoses:



I checked out the rust forum and saw some pics...i dont feel so bad now that said, this is part of the strut tower and that concerns me, given all the bad stuff i've read about the W210s and the strut perches.

so my questions are:

1) does this look bad enough to abandon the R&R of this vehicle?
2) what does it take to repair something like this? Rust patch and some POR15?

while i knew that a 20 yr old midwest vehicle would come with undeclared surprises, this one concerns me and has made me rethink investing more $$$ into this car.

thanks for any and all help/opinions,
bob