I recently purchased an 82 240D Sedan which had light body rust. I did all the standard mechanical things to make sure the engine was sound first. Now, I’m turning my attention to rust and how to stop it.

I’ve noticed over the years that all 240D seem to rust in the fender/quarter panel area. I may not be using this term correctly, so please excuse me if I am. The area is just in front of the driver’s door and aft of the front tire and that’s what I’m defining to be the quarter panel / fender. Checking the front sunroof drains, I’ve noticed that the drains exit at a location in front of the driver/passenger top door hinge. Trying to figure out how water would drain out of the car from this point, I noticed a small hole at the bottom of the quarter panel / fender, right above the frame and front jack point.

Investigation through a dealer stated that this hole was put in by design.and is meant as a drain. Since all 240D’s that I’ve seen have this inherant issue with rusty quarter panels, it’s pretty obvious that this drain is not working to well and is trapping moisture resulting in rust over the years. So I’d like re-route the drain and would like some ideas as to where would be a good exit point of the car.

The fenders on the car will have to come off, for these quarter panel areas are pretty rusted up. New metal will need to be welded in to provide the necessary strength to the fender. If the drain is not re-located or re-routed outside the body so as to drain correctly, then I’ll have the same problem 5 years down the road and have to do this all over again.


I plan to user POR 15 on the backside of the fender but a drain scupper will need to be fabricated. Any ideas ?


Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Greg