W123 bodywork repairs

[s class]

in my spare time I've been sorting out a W123 here.  The car has previously had a collision on teh left front corner, and when fully assembled, the left front corner of the car appeared too low.  It was quite clear from sighting along the body line from the rear, that the front fender dipped down at the front. 

I started checking the simple stuff like panel adjustment, and found that it was already at the limit.  I then spend a lot of time under the car measuring the chassis accurately, and I found it to all be in spec.  The conclusion from all this was that some misalingment must exist, but only in the cosmetic panels like the inner fender and radiator cradle.  After some period of thought, I decided to strip the front end.  WIth the engine out, and the engine bay stripped down, it was quite easy to see what was wrong.  The left inner fender was bent downwards and inwards, and the (somewhat mangled) left headlight bucket had been welded to it in this state.  This means that simply pulling the damage is not feasible - the headlight bucket must be removed before pulling can begin. 

These next two photos show a red line on the bodywork, and if you look at the upper corners of the headlight buckets, the left side is about 15mm lower than the right side. 





This next illustration indicates how I will work the inner fender once the headlight bucket is off



Last weekend I got about halfway with the cutting.  I have now received the new headlight bucket and upper stiffening.  Hopefully I can get it all back together this weekend. 

THis next photo shows confirmation that the welds between the inner fender and suspension turret have separated.  They will be rewelded once the straightening is complete. 

[TJ 450]

It must be very satisfying to get things like that sorted out. I just fitted a pair of replacement front doors to my 126, as the old ones were rusted out... That was simply bolt on and adjust. Even that was satisfying, but with beating out panels like this, the level of satisfaction must be phenomenal.

Tim

[s class]

Thanks TJ.  I realise I perhaps didn't explain some aspects of those photos clearly enough.  In the photos, the chassis has been supported and levelled, correct to 1mm.  The red line is a laser level, which indicates my reference.  The right hand side is basically correct.  I will be installing the new left hand headlight bucket to be a mirror image. 

[nathan]

and i thought the red arrows indicated a low pressure system was moving in from the southwest!
you have become quite the merc man in SA it seems - nice work!

[TJ 450]

I see. Anyway it will still be quite an achievement when complete.

Nathan, that's classic!

Tim

[pompy]

...what s class doesn't realise yet is that, after he's done with my 450, my 500 SE will be booked in for some attention. The right front fender needs replacement as well as the hood. The PO had a slight bump on the rhs corner badly repaired.
And then there is the transmision which makes a whirr sound at idle... I was told that some bush or something had seized and is now spinning at engine revs - which could stuff up the torque convertor.
This on 117k kms car that sat for 3 and a half yrs at the coast before I saved it.

I'll have to check with reception to see wether there is a booking available within the next 2 mnths 

[TJ 450]

That sounds like the bush I was talking about in the other thread.

Tim

[s class]

I got some good time in on this project on saturday. 





normally, one should pull before cutting out the old panels, but in this case, I decided to do the reverse, because many of the joints around the left headlight bucket had been re-welded with very poor alignment. 

With these offending panels removed, I could align the right headlight bucket correctly. 

Before :



After :



New panels ready to go in on the left :



I am still busy with pulling and working the left inner fender.  It needed to be raised about 15mm at the front extremity.  I got it up about 3mm quite easily just by levering and tapping, but next weekend I'll get on with the serious stuff. 

[oscar]

  Reminds me of povo's early days  
Keen to see your welding sclass, see if you can better my turkey poop attempts.
Would the headlight bucket part get spot welded in and is that what you're going to use or are you MIGing?

[s class]

Oscar, its supposed to all be spot-welded, which is probably what I'll do.  I'm trying to get spot welding machine now...

[s class]

The owner decided that "while we're in there" we should strip back the wheel arches and underside of the car of all underbody sealant     

some progress has been made :

[s class]

The owner then decided that "hey, everything's stripped back nicely, let's rebuild the suspension while we're in there"

[TJ 450]

Stripping that that underbody sealant is nightmarish. Did I read correctly, in that the whole underside needs to be stripped? What a task!

By the look of those suspension parts, it was pretty well due for a rebuild.

I wasn't aware of the extent as to the similarity between the W123 and the W126 chassis design.

Tim

[s class]

The owner said 'he thought stripping and painting the underside was included in my original painting quote'.  I said no way buddy, I would definately have remembered if I'd agreed to do something so crazy. 

so yes, you read correctly - every spec of rubberising is to be removed. 

[SELfor50]

Reminds me of povo's early days  
Keen to see your welding sclass, see if you can better my turkey poop attempts.
Would the headlight bucket part get spot welded in and is that what you're going to use or are you MIGing?

Hahaha... was thinking exactly the same thing!  Great job sclass.  Looks like it's one of those - "actually, while i'm here, may as well do this......that.........oh yeah, what about......"  I do it aaaaallll the time.

Suspension definitely needed a look-in.

How do you remove the "rubberising"??

Cam