W115 (rust repair) Project

[EverythingisPeachy]

Lurked for years, thought I had an account, discovered I didn't, now here I am. Figured I'd make my first post a good one.

I recently.....obtained.....this '75 'one owner' W115. It's a lot like a baby first thing in the morning; looks nice in the front but the bottom is nasty. This isnt a post about whether or not its worth saving, as I intend to put my best foot forward and give this old car another chance, this is more so about documenting my process, gathering feedback and expertise and hopefully coming out on the other side of this with a halfway decent vehicle.

Background: Car was purchased new by 'this rich guy' and driven for years until husband and wife died. It was very well cared for with lots of documentation. Son inherited it next and, well... he did his best. The guy I got it from bought it from the son and a year later, flipped it to me. Here we are.

It's a halfway low mileage car with 127k documented miles on the clock and it runs amazingly well with no blowback or smoke. I haven't been brave enough to try and drive it yet as it has what I believe to be some semi-severe structural issues from rust and a horrid patch job on the pans. It's going to be a little bit before I get started on it as I gather knowledge and parts.

How would you tackle this?

[EverythingisPeachy]

.....some more pics of the carnage.

[EverythingisPeachy]

.....pics of the previous floor pan "fabrication".

[EverythingisPeachy]

So, I've had a couple of thoughts.

I'm thinking that I need to weld up some sort of cross bracing laterally before I start cutting all this out to ensure the car doesn't flex...more than it has. Is this necessary?

Ideally, I'd like to find a donor car and cut the complete pan out of it and work that. With the limited availability of rust-free parts cars, I've wondered about the viability of using a pan from a W123 chassis car. I know they are different, but I'm not sure whether or not they're SO different that it wouldnt work. Not 100% sold on this yet, but it's an option I'm considering.

[TZ_280SEL]

My two cents is that there is not enough rocker left to provide structure while you replace pans. If I was going to tackle this “mess”, I would replace rockers, then provide some bracing between them while I replaced structural bracing and mounts, then worry about pans last. What are your fab skills?

[shadetreemechan]

Where are you located? My son has a parts 115 that he has recently thought about getting out of the yard. It has no motor or transmission but the body is pretty good.

[EverythingisPeachy]

Originally Posted by TZ_280SEL

My two cents is that there is not enough rocker left to provide structure while you replace pans. If I was going to tackle this “mess”, I would replace rockers, then provide some bracing between them while I replaced structural bracing and mounts, then worry about pans last. What are your fab skills?

Hmm, interesting. Likely a good call. Question: I thought the inside of the pans, at least the replacement pans I've seen, have the inner structure of the rocker? Is this inaccurate? Fab skills? Ehh.....

[EverythingisPeachy]

Originally Posted by shadetreemechan

Where are you located? My son has a parts 115 that he has recently thought about getting out of the yard. It has no motor or transmission but the body is pretty good.

SE Virginia. Where's he at?

[Frank Reiner]

EP:

With all respect, stop. There is insufficient structure remaining to provide a starting point.

[EverythingisPeachy]

Originally Posted by Frank Reiner

EP:

With all respect, stop. There is insufficient structure remaining to provide a starting point.

You could be entirely correct. I'm not sure I 100% agree yet however. I need to do some cutting to make that determination for certain.

[shadetreemechan]

Originally Posted by EverythingisPeachy

SE Virginia. Where's he at?

Middle TN.
There has for quite a while been a yellow w115 for sale in Kingsport, TN for pretty cheap. It would be closer.
It is on facebook marketplace.

[subforry]

There are some vidoes out there, here is one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6audEMMEc

If you have time, cut off wheels, and a welder then you can't make it any worse. Have fun.

If I really needed to save that car, I would go big. Get a parts car. Mount yours on a rack/frame. Brace from the dash to the read deck. Cut the entire rocker and floor out. Weld in the cuts from the parts car.

[EverythingisPeachy]

Originally Posted by shadetreemechan

Middle TN.
There has for quite a while been a yellow w115 for sale in Kingsport, TN for pretty cheap. It would be closer.
It is on facebook marketplace.

PM'd you.

[EverythingisPeachy]

Originally Posted by subforry

There are some vidoes out there, here is one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6audEMMEc

If you have time, cut off wheels, and a welder then you can't make it any worse. Have fun.

If I really needed to save that car, I would go big. Get a parts car. Mount yours on a rack/frame. Brace from the dash to the read deck. Cut the entire rocker and floor out. Weld in the cuts from the parts car.

Thanks for the positivity. That's more or less what I'm considering. This isn't just about saving the car, although I'm always about that with older steel, but it's also about teaching myself how to accomplish certain bodywork and fab skills. In my mind, it's better to hone my skills on something like this than potentially ruin a much better car. This one can't get much worse.

[alabbasi]

These cars rust like crazy. I gave up on a Euro 280CE with a 4 speed manual. Beautiful drive train but the car was so rusty, it was impossible to fix.