The process has begun. I'll attempt to record the progress as I move from front to back on the car.
The first step is rebuilding the front suspension. Everything was in really sad shape once I got the car up onto blocks and the tires removed - both sides had the brake pad wear sensors in tatters.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/DriversMissingBrakePadWearSensor-800x600_zpsf49bf8e8.jpg)
The sheathing on the wear sensor wires had long since perished:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/DriversFrontFenderWell4-800x600_zpsf18d1713.jpg)
The passenger fenderwell was particularly nasty:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerLowerControlArm1-800x600_zps2c43ef68.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/MissingTorsionRodCoverPassengerSide-800x600_zps1f29f681.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFrontFenderWell4-800x600_zps7bb82f8d.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFrontFenderWell3-800x600_zpsd0a8d0ae.jpg)
The inner bushings on the upper control arms were almost non-existent:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/DriversUpperControlArm-800x600_zpse70ff07a.jpg)
I removed the struts - this was easy, no pressure in the system after sitting on blocks for several weeks.
There were three areas of difficulty -
I fought with the driver's side brake line where the flex hose attaches to the rigid line. The ham-fisted mechanic that replaced these hoses tightened the connection to the point where no amount of persuasion would break the connection. Even a set of locking pliers refused to release the connection. I spent over 2 hours trying to get the line to break loose from the hose. Finally resorted to a pair of wire cutters and cut both the hose and the line...
The second was disconnecting the steering knuckle from the lower ball joint. I have a tool that presses up on the control arm and down on the end of the ball joint where the nut attaches. I tightened this for all I could and nothing would give. Finally resorted to using a pneumatic impact hammer with a blunted chisel to hammer on the finger of the tool where it presses on the ball joint stud.
The final area was the lower control arms where they attach to the cross member behind the engine. The bolts were rusted solid in the bushings.
Removed the lower control arms as a unit with the transverse member, then used a pneumatic cutoff grinder to cut through the bolts on the head side of the bushing. With the nut removed and because the transverse member is slotted to allow for suspension adjustment during an alignment, I was able to pivot the control arm out of the cross member.
The rear bushings were shot - here's a picture of one before I removed it from the cross member:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/LowerControlArmRearBushing1-800x600_zpsac5a5f3b.jpg)
The front bushings appeared to be in good condition, but I removed them anyway, since I had a complete repair kit:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/LowerContrlArmFrontBushing2-800x600_zpsbf04b1fd.jpg)
Removing the upper control arms involved detaching the outer bushing carrier from the torsion bar, as there was no way to remove the bolt that goes thru the control arm and bushings and attaches to the torsion bar. Once the were on the bench, the state of failure was obvious:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/UpperControlArm1-800x600_zps6308953a.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/UpperControlArm2-800x600_zpsfb3bbb22.jpg)
The bushings in the transverse member are cactus as well:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/TransverseSupportBushing2-800x600_zps2fe04bf4.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/TransverseSupportBushing1-800x600_zpsdd27417f.jpg)
Started cleaning up the passenger side fenderwell. When I went to remove the oil tank, I discovered that the same monkey that worked on the brake lines also worked on the hoses to the oil tank. I could only get the smaller of the 3 busted loose. Resorted to cutting the other two lines - I have a new set of hoses anyway.
Discovered that there's a cover missing up by the torsion bar. It's present on the driver's side. Thank goodness this is so, because the parts were impossible to find in EPC. The driver's side part had the part # cast into the plastic. They appear in the section with parts for the center console...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/MissingTorsionRodCoverPassengerSide-800x600_zps1f29f681.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PresentTorsionRodCoverDriversSide-800x600_zps6fe66c37.jpg)
Cleaning with a mixture of Simple Green and Purple Stuff resulted in a fairly good outcome:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellAfterCleaning5-800x600_zps9032540d.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellAfterCleaning6-800x600_zps0392e8a9.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellAfterCleaning7-800x600_zps446f75a4.jpg)
Did discover some rust in the typical spot. Have to replace the rocker panels anyway and I'll fix this mess then:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellRustNearSills1-800x600_zps5da64ae0.jpg)
These rust spots are actually solid when probed with a punch:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellDuringCleaning3-RustAdjacenttoTorsionRodOpening-800x600_zpse6b43110.jpg)
I think this is a drain hole in the upper control arm recess - at least I hope it is:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellRustInUpperControlArmTunnel1-800x600_zpsba89685b.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/PassengerFenderwellRustInUpperControlArmTunnel2-800x600_zps585687d6.jpg)
I've decided to pull the fenders off the car and do a proper job. While I was waiting for the heat gun I ordered to arrive, I started cleaning up the parts in preparation for powder coating:
Lower Control Arm - before:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/ControlArmBeforeBeadBlasting2-800x600_zps1a2455e2.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/ControlArmBeforeBeadBlasting1-800x600_zps36cb2594.jpg)
Lower Control Arm - after:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/ControlArmBeadBlasted1-800x600_zps1db68630.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/ControlArmBeadBlasted2-800x600_zpsb0d7ae6a.jpg)
Brake shield - before:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/BrakeShieldBeforeBeadBlasting1-800x600_zps3d8091f5.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/BrakeShieldBeforeBeadBlasting2-800x600_zps8860072e.jpg)
Brake shield - after:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Suspension%20Work/BrakeShieldAfterBeadBlasting1-800x600_zpsdf2d87c4.jpg)
Sadly, the brake shield shows noticeable pitting - I think too many years sitting the shed is the cause. No rust-through, but they won't look as nice after powder coating as if they'd been un-pitted.
I'll see if I have versions of this part from #1164 that are in better shape.
That's all for now ---
W. Brian Fogarty
'02 S55 AMG (W220)
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
Here are some pictures of the Parts Washer I'm using.
For a cleaning fluid, I use Kerosene. Seems to work fine, and if I keep the lid on the washer closed when not in use, I'm not even aware that there's a parts washer in the room, odor-wise.
I modified the parts washer to externalize the pump, and even found a solvent-compatible pump (Little Giant Model 518550 PE-2YSA) on Amazon.Com for a reasonable sum of money.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Parts%20Washer/LittleGiantPump_zps2a76beb2.jpg)
The pump requires a sealed connection where the wires enter, so I took a 1/2" pipe and welded it to a cradle that stands up in a 5 gallon bucket. This elevates the pump off the floor of the bucket.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Parts%20Washer/PumpInstalled-800x600_zps01262587.jpg)
I added a setup to attach a large oil filter to the output of the pump. This is an attempt to keep the cleaning fluid clean - not sure if this is working for or against me. The system worked like crazy when I first turned it on. I cleaned some really nasty parts and then the flow dropped off dramatically, so I changed the filter, thinking it was clogged. The flow came back up some, but tapered again very quickly. I discovered that the lid on the solvent bucket was being sucked in as the level in the bucket drops if the outlet from the tub gets clogged, which it does regularly. I need to change the outlet from a 3/8" fitting to a 3/4" and add a screen of some sort.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Parts%20Washer/ExternalFilter-800x600_zpsca12bca5.jpg)
And I adapted the outlet of the pump to allow for either a brush or a nozzle.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Parts%20Washer/ModifiedFluidFeed-800x600_zpsdcc93da7.jpg)
The sand blaster is a unit of my own construction, using a parts kit from TP tools. The floor of the unit is 24" deep x 48" wide. The arm holes are the right distance off the floor such that I don't have to stoop down at all to use the unit.
It took 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF to build the cabinet. The top was easy, the funnel was a Pain In The Ass. The instructions from TP Tools give you the dimensions required to build a funnel for a 30" wide (if I recall) unit. It took quite a bit of fiddling to adjust the dimensions to make the funnel wider. In addition, the TP Tools instructions assume that you'll use caulk to fix all the inconsistencies in the joints.
I used caulk, but only to provide a radius in the corners - the joints on all aspects of this cabinet don't need caulk to seal tight.
The frame for the cabinet is my own design, and creates a cradle that the funnel sits in. A few bolts keep the funnel in the right place, and the top sits on the funnel. I do have a piece of 1/4" thick foam weather stripping between the top and the funnel. There's nothing other than gravity holding the top in place - it weighs about 100#, so it's not going anywhere.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/ExteriorViewNoLights-800x600_zps2f21d695.jpg)
For lighting, I added two 150w halogen spots in the back corners, plus a 36" long 2-bulb florescent light on top. A gasketed piece of lens designed for a suspended ceiling florescent light keeps the blasting media and dust from fouling the light.
Here's a view from the outside with the main light on:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/ExteriorViewMainLightsOnly-800x600_zps2b2fd764.jpg)
And with the halogens going:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/ExteriorViewAllLightsOn-800x600_zps295e21d7.jpg)
Interior views of same scenes:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/InternalView1-800x600_zps85d819c1.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/InternalView2-800x600_zps413de262.jpg)
As I started using the cabinet, I discovered that there was too much of a shadow in the front of the part, so I found 3 LED puck lights from SuperBrightLEDs.com - part # SSM-x3x
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/PuckLight_zps7080c5c4.jpg)
This adds some needed light between and adjacent to my hands. The pucks are rated for exterior exposure, and the wires are housed in the copper tube so they're safe from the harsh environment:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/LEDPucksInstalled-800x600_zpsf3809c77.jpg)
I painted the interior with gloss white paint, and the exterior with the same battleship grey that coats the floors in the shop, with a few blue accents thrown in.
I can see after just a little use that I'm going to have to get a piece of sheet metal to protect the back from the harsh effects of the glass media.
To bring air to the blasting gun, I decided to mount a regulator on board, with a 1/4" pipe welded to the frame to accept the air inlet:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/On-BoardRegulator-800x600_zpse82be5a9.jpg)
I also wanted a dust-off air gun inside the cabinet, so I added a tee to the back of the inlet, the dust-off gun air supply doesn't flow through the regulator.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/BackSideAirLineTee-800x600_zpse42d211e.jpg)
A 1/2 copper pipe passes the air across the back of the cabinet:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/AirLineforBlowGun-800x600_zps85f4b660.jpg)
and to the front where a short piece of 3/8" air hose passes the air to a custom bulkhead fitting:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/BlowGunSupply-800x600_zps0f19f462.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/BulkheadFitting-800x600_zps6d82ab68.jpg)
This nothing more than a 1/2" fender washer, drilled to accept a short section of 3/8" iron pipe which is tack-welded to the washer. A similar setup passes the air into the cabinet from the foot pedal to the gun.
To control dust inside the cabinet, I added a slide valve to attach my dust collector system.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/DustCollectorHookup2-800x600_zps4a221693.jpg)
The inlet is at the opposite side of the cabinet:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/AirInlet-800x600_zps8767e96d.jpg)
If I open the valve fully, the gloves inflate so much that they're difficult to move, so 1/2-way open is good enough.
The dust collector is the same unit I used for my wood-working equipment. It's a 3hp cyclonic unit with a high efficiency pleated air filter on the outlet of the blower, the airflow from which is ducted outside the workspace.
Since the cabinet is on wheels, I wanted to have a place to hold the foot pedal, so I added a hook on the front and drilled a hole in the top of the pedal.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/HangFootPedal-800x600_zpsc9f23fc3.jpg)
After using the cabinet for a while, I grew frustrated as the foot pedal would slide around too easily. A 1/2" rare earth magnet set into the floor at the right place keeps the pedal in the proper position:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/MagnetstoHoldFootPedal-800x600_zps1c53ac20.jpg)
I put two such magnets - one for the pedal in position for right-foot operation, the other in a position for left-foot operation.
The door has a full gasket seal, and two toggle latches keep it securely shut. Truthfully, I don't really need either of these - with the dust collector on, the door stays shut all by itself.
I did make a mistake in my choice of gasket material. Once closed and dogged down, if left for even a few moments, the door sticks to the gasket material and is hard to open. So far, no gasket material has transferred to the door, but I think a different sort of foam, maybe something open-celled would work better. I'll have to do some experimenting in this area.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/DoorDogs-800x600_zps26efac95.jpg)
Power comes in at the left rear of the cabinet. The upper switch controls the main florescent light and the LED pucks. The bottom switch turns on the halogens.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Media%20Blast%20Cabinet/PowerandSwitches-800x600_zpsbd3953d7.jpg)
So far, the only complaint I've got is how quickly the protective mylar sheet on the inside of the window has gotten fogged from the flying media. I think I'm going to devise a setup to allow me to add regular window glass easily. Then I'll buy a bunch of pieces and swap them out as they get obscured. The glass will last far longer than the mylar - I'll just have to devise a good seal to keep the media from getting between the two pieces of glass, and a frame to make it easy to exchange the glass as needed.
I've not had any issues with media flow, but I do plan to construct a pressure feed pot to make the media delivery more consistent.
On a different forum, I asked about inner fender colors, a reply was posted that the only proper way to restore a 6.9 was to properly restore it - not to cut corners.
The more I thought about it, I realized they were right - I was just hoping I could avoid a bunch of really nasty work...
So I began the task of pulling the front fenders...
First task - the bumpers, headlamps and valance(s) under the front bumper have to come off:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/1-20130825-RightFrontFenderBumperOff800x600_zpsa519e561.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/2-20130825-FrontofCarBumperOff800x600_zps46822853.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/3-20130825-LeftFrontFenderBumperOff800x600_zps25a3a6f1.jpg)
Then you need to buy, make and utilize some tools to remove the fenders. The first is a heat gun capable of generating 600C temps (about 1100f) - Amazon.com to the rescue for about $100.00.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/4-20130825-DewaltHeatGun1800x600_zps9e5ea564.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/5-20130825-DewaltHeatGun2800x600_zpse9fd985b.jpg)
A bent putty knife is helpful to release the seal that binds the fender to the fender well at the top:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/6-20130825-ModifiedPuttyKnife800x600_zps1dd63dc4.jpg)
A bottle jack and a brace puts gentle upward pressure on the fender to help ease it off the car:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/7-20130825-BottleJackRightFrontFender800x600_zps19ae3020.jpg)
The service manual says to heat the fender at the point where the bolts attach, then use a sharp knife to cut the PVC liner from inside the fender at the top where the fender and inner fender meet. While it might seem a good idea to heat the fender from the inside, this won't work well, as the PVC acts as a very good insulator.
I tried the passenger fender first, and a little over-zealous prying with a wide bar left me with some scars that will have to be repaired:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/8-20130825-DentinFenderatOilTank1800x600_zps809a88ec.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/9-20130825-DentinFenderatOilTank2800x600_zps53d49844.jpg)
This dent is in the top edge of the fender and was caused by pulling to vigorously before all of the PVC had been cut free.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/10-20130825-DentinRightFender1800x600_zps421f376a.jpg)
Once the fender is free of the car, the real picture can be seen. Very small surface rust on the inside of the fender:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/11-20130825-RightFrontFenderRemoved1800x600_zps03dc5839.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/12-20130825-RightFrontFenderRemoved2800x600_zps0b5916f0.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/13-20130825-RightFrontFenderRemoved3800x600_zps6df277e3.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/14-20130825-RustinRightFrontFenderLower800x600_zps449aaeb6.jpg)
This rust is not as bad as it appears, it should clean to bare metal and require no additional work.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/15-20130825-RustinRightFrontFenderUpper800x600_zps87b84b87.jpg)
I was more patient with the left side fender and no dents were created. I did have to drill/grind out one of the screws that attaches the fender to the body behind the trim at the bottom of the fender.
Rust not as extensive on this side, but holes are still there to be repaired:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/16-20130825-LeftFrontFenderRust800x600_zpsc73bf5ca.jpg)
I thought it would be a good idea to remove as much of the PVC with a combination of a sharpened putty knife and a small sharp chisel. What you see here is a small part of what must be done, and it took about 3 hours to get to this point. 99% of the rust seen in these pictures is surface only, but almost all of it was invisible under the PVC - as good a reason as I can find for following Ryan's (S Class) suggestion.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/17-20130825-LeftFrontFenderPVCRemoval1800x600_zpsbede4c1b.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/18-20130825-LeftFrontFenderPVCRemoval2800x600_zps8f1bfef3.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/19-20130825-LeftFrontFenderPVCRemoval3800x600_zps802596cc.jpg)
I ordered some quick-change rust removal pads that fit in my 4-1/2" angle grinder from Amazon.Com - about $12.50.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/StrippingDisc800x600_zps3ed1041a.jpg)
It requires an adapter to fit the grinder, but allows for quick swapping between discs - about $11.50
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/SrippingDiscAdapter800x600_zpsbf4720ae.jpg)
With the disc mounted in the grinder, this is the result after about 10 minutes work:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20-20130825-LeftFrontFenderCleantoMetal1800x600_zps84a25829.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/21-20130825-LeftFrontFenderCleantoMetal2800x600_zpsc7c86ef1.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/22-20130825-LeftFrontFenderCleanToMetai3_zps16381f2f.jpg)
I need to get some smaller versions of these strippers to get into the nooks and crannies. I've yet to figure out how I'm going to deal with the cup that receives the strut - it has nooks and crannies behind it that will be impossible to reach fully.
That's all for now - my shoulders and back are still angry with me...
Hi Brian
I just though I would say what a great write-up and good photos too! I really like the 'auto' section, as well as the 'tools and equipment'. I can't wait for the next instalment. Your parts have come up trumps in the sand blaster, they will look super once they have their final coating. Judging from your wheel-houses, your car could have originally been Cyprus Green Metallic.
Keep on going and keep us posted,
Gavin
Nice work! All things considered, that rust doesn't look too bad. Once the PVC is removed everything will be revealed.
Those 3M discs look rather impressive. I'll have to look out for them in future.
A regards to the fender... They are very easily damaged during removal indeed.
Tim
Quote from: gavin116 on 29 August 2013, 10:49 AM
Hi Brian
I just though I would say what a great write-up and good photos too! I really like the 'auto' section, as well as the 'tools and equipment'. I can't wait for the next instalment. Your parts have come up trumps in the sand blaster, they will look super once they have their final coating. Judging from your wheel-houses, your car could have originally been Cyprus Green Metallic.
Keep on going and keep us posted,
Gavin
Indeed - the car was originally Cypress Green Metallic. I picked up some of the paint for the inner fenders (along with the other required primers and materials) at my local Paint & Body supplier on Monday. Gads was it Expensive! $65.00 for a PINT!!! That wasn't even the most expensive they had either. I'll save the best quality for the exterior painting...
Paint has gotten REALLY expensive in the past few years. A quart of each for the etching primer for bare metal, along with the filler primer and required hardeners and reducers and thinners and the bill was over $300.00. That's not counting the >$100 I've already spent for seam sealer and Wurth rock-chip undercoating - and this is just for stuff that's more-or-less hidden when the car is on its wheels...
Sheesh!!!
Quote from: TJ 450 on 29 August 2013, 10:51 AM
Nice work! All things considered, that rust doesn't look too bad. Once the PVC is removed everything will be revealed.
Those 3M discs look rather impressive. I'll have to look out for them in future.
A regards to the fender... They are very easily damaged during removal indeed.
Tim
I did some more on Tuesday evening and found more rust. Some above the bracket for the brake hose, but nothing other than surface. Then down by the other existing rust, on the inside of the "stiffening tube" that runs across from the main bulkhead by the hole for the torsion bar outwards and down to the curve at the bottom of the fender. Where that item ends, towards the inside, completely hidden by the PVC was rust-through.
Joy.
BTW - what gauge metal should I be getting to make the required repairs? I've never done work like this before, and it needs to look right and function right as well.
As for the dent in the top of the fender, I recently arranged for a PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) service to remove a dent on my mothers new Lexus RX350. This dent was over the passenger side front tire and was a doozy. When they were done, the results were invisible. Her car is white.
At the same time, I had them remove a small ding in the right rear quarter panel of my 2002 S55. A door-ding type dent about 1cm in diameter (3/8"). When he was finished, he asked me to inspect the work. I said "looks great, the only evidence that remains is where the paint was scratched slightly by whatever hit the car" as I pointed to a blemish in the paint. He said "yeah, but the spot I fixed is over here" as he pointed to a spot about 2" away... My S55 is black.
I think a few $ spent letting him massage the divot out of the top of the fender and the oil tank recess will be money well spent.
Brian,
Awesome work.
I am a Texan just starting to restore a 6.9 (#4153)
I will be following your saga and hopefully someday copying your work.
Do you have a spare Fuel heater/regulator? A friend needs one.
Jeff
Thanks for the cudos.
Do you have a part # for what you're asking after? I can check my stock.
Regards
thanks
waiting on the call with that part number.
part # 0 438 140 060 for a 1979 model 6.9 that has to be specific to that year.
That looks like a non-MB part # - maybe a Bosch reference?
MB part #'s usually start with model # (116, 123, 108, etc), followed by 47 (fuel system) followed by 4 more numbers.
I wasn't even aware that the W116's had that feature. If I find what you're talking about in EPC correctly, it's actually a fuel cooler. It's an inline heat exchanger that uses the low side of the A/C to chill the fuel before it enters the fuel distributor. The part # listed there shows 107-476-04-17, or 116-476-02-81 or 107-476-02-17, but all show 126-476-00-17 as the replacement part #.
At any rate - since my '76 model lacks such a feature, it's not something I'd have available.
Sorry.
The part only has a Bosch number on it. What I understand the 1975-1978 has a warm up regulator with the Bosch number of 0 438 140 068 and the 1979 has a Bosch number of 0 438 140 060.
This is a part for a friend of a friend. I am only trying to learn and get good karma for when I am in need. I am just now entering into the 6.9 world and need all of the knowledge and help from friends as I can get.
What is your opinion on using Aviation Gasoline in the M-100 engine? My current problem is the varnished old fuel that has caused my fuel distributor to malfunction. My warm regulator may be in need of a rebuild as well.
Thanks again for your time.
Ah - Warm Up Regulator.
This is a topic of some reputation, what with the varying versions of that item and what version works best for which model.
There are several threads on that here on this site.
There's even a company that was making an electronic based replacement (UnwiredTools), but I don't know if it's still available.
Also - are you aware of the M-100.co website? If not, check it out. It's specifically tailored to the MB cars equipped with the venerable M-100 powerplant, the 600 Grosser, 300SEL 6.3 and the 450SEL 6.9. Good stuff over there.
Regards
Thanks for the info. Sorry for the fumbling of the name of the part.
Happy restoration.
I'll look you up when I am on the victory lap through Houston after getting my 6.9 on the road.
Here's some more "progress" thru 08/29/2013.
Started this evening stripping away more PVC under the driver's fender. Already revealed some rust on Tuesday, but it's surface and nothing to worry over:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/1-DriversFenderProgress1800x600_zps016e892d.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/2-DriversFenderProgress2800x600_zpsa6eac75c.jpg)
Worked more, and uncovered even more rust. I'm beginning to think that it's not "if" a W116 has rust, it's "how bad is it" There were virtually no external signs of most of the rust you'll see in the following pictures, with the exception of the rocker panel, although even that didn't look as bad as it appears now.
The rust below the fuse box looks worse than it is. The metal is still solid, although I expect the entirety of the metal behind the overlapping flange is rusty. I'll investigate from above how bad the problem is and may decide to drill the spot welds out, open the flange and do some abatement, then re-weld the assembly.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/3-DriversFenderProgress3800x600_zps476cf6b9.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/4-DriversFenderProgress4800x600_zps000c640a.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/5-DriversFenderProgress5800x600_zpsf6bb387d.jpg)
Once I got the fenders off, I took the time to wiggle out each of the clips that area attached to the body through which the bolts secure the fender to the car. Each was covered in the PVC from the fender side, and the sticky black foam from the engine compartment side.
I found the quickest way to get them clean was to hold them with a pair of pliers, and gently play the flame of a MAPP gas torch over the item. The PVC will catch fire and burn, reducing much of the goop to a charred grit which is easily removed in the blasting cabinet.
I made sure not to overheat the clips lest I destroy the temper of the item. They got hot, but probably not much more than sitting in the sun with the engine of a freshly shut-off engine baking them.
I tried removing the PVC with the blasting cabinet alone, and it acts like a resist material - it's too rubbery and the glass just bounces off.
This is one of the clips from the front of the fender where the light bucket is - it's not as bad as the clips across the top of the fender, but it gives some indication of how nasty each clip was:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/6-FenderClipDirty1800x600_zps13b20076.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/7-FenderClipDirty2800x600_zpsac9d699a.jpg)
And here's how the clean clips appears:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/9-FenderClipClean2800x600_zps74d6dadf.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/8-FenderClipClean1800x600_zps872ada05.jpg)
I'll either paint or powder coat the clips before reinstallation.
That's all for now...
Yes, all those rust issues are standard, as are icebergs when you see a "bit of rust". 8)
Tim
For making repairs where a patch panel isn't available from MB, what gauge metal should I use, and where typically can I find such material?
What I have done is used other MB panels such as W126 door skins etc. Sheet metal from whitegoods and the like would be OK too.
Tim
This is getting good. I look forward to seeing more of your repairs. Also, enjoy your new rubber cowl drain tubes. :)
Thanks Squiggle - the tubes look nearly unused.
I took the week of 09/02 off on vacation to spend more quality time with #521. Monday was "Labor Day" so no real "work" was done. Tuesday was work of a different sort - errands, etc.
Wednesday the work continued more-or-less in earnest. I have other projects going on in the shop, so I try to complete one non-6.9 task each day, so there were delays.
I continued with the stripping of the PVC liner from the drivers fender well - here you can see most of the paint and PVC have been removed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130906-1-DSFenderProgress-800x600_zpsee05e86c.jpg)
The upper recesses of the fender were a real pain to work with. The angles aren't good for digging the PVC out. I finally resorted to two pieces of EMT conduit, 1/2" and 3/4" OD, which I put a fine edge to one end. This works well for scraping the PVC out of the various curved recesses.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130906-3-DSFenderProgress-800x600_zps618ca0ea.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130906-4-DSFenderProgress-800x600_zps40b5d668.jpg)
I finally got all of the PVC removed on Thursday evening and was able to start the next step to remove all vestiges of the PVC, paint and primer down to bare metal.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130906-5-DSFenderProgress-800x600_zpsd4eaf0de.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130906-6-DSFenderProgress-800x600_zps5c09b84a.jpg)
I got a lot more done than appears in the pictures. I got the bulk of the PVC out with my 4-1/2" electric grinder fitted with a scouring pad. Then came the small right-angle pneumatic grinder with a 2" scouring pad. That allows me to get into the little nooks and crannies that the larger grinder can't access, but not everything. When I got to the point of needing to address the under side of the crease at the front of the fender well where it meets the engine compartment, there were still too many things in my way to do a credible job.
The engine compartment is seriously grimy, and there's a very real chance that if I don't take the time to clean it up, there will be issues with fouling the primers, paint and rock chip undercoating, so I started removing the items attached to the motor and in front of the motor.
First, I started removing the left and right main wiring harnesses from where they connect to the headlamps, horns, A/C fan, etc. I purchased some string tags that I used to label each wire when it was disconnected from something. Hopefully this will allow me to get the wiring back together again.
I have no pictures for the removal of the PS pump, Alternator, A/C compressor, radiator, A/C condenser or oil filter housing - the work there was simple enough. Hardest item was the two lower bolts on the oil filter housing - my socket mounted 6mm hex wrench was too large to fit in, so those bolts came out with a standard L-shaped wrench, 1/4" turn at a time - that took a while.
Once all those items were removed, what was revealed was a study in "nasty":
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Work/20130906-8-DirtyMotor-800x600_zps5f8e8895.jpg)
To the left in the picture below, you can see the string tags I spoke of earlier. More "hack" repairs can be seen on the bolt on the lower left hand corner of the water pump. There's a nut and a couple of washers behind the hex head. I'm guessing the right-length bolt wasn't available when the pump was changed...
When I removed the A/C compressor, I discovered that the lower rear mounting bolt had 3 washers between the compressor frame and the block, and the front tensioner pulley has 3 or 4 washers between the bracket and the compressor frame. When I get everything clean, I'll remove the frame from the compressor and see if the washers, etc were really necessary to proper alignment. I have a NOS compressor, so this grimy example will not be reused.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Work/20130906-9-DirtyMotor-800x600_zps721c7706.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Work/20130906-10-DirtyMotor-800x600_zpsc52de2a3.jpg)
It may be possible to see in this picture, but the fitting that feeds the bypass hose isn't really a fitting, it's a female pipe thread to compression fitting adapter - no hose barb as one would expect. Naturally, the inside of the bypass hose was cut to shreds from being clamped over the threads. I had thought that the seals had perished on the water pump - I think it may have actually been this hose leaking...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Work/20130906-11-DirtyMotor-800x600_zpsf47ff64f.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Work/20130906-12-DirtyMotor-800x600_zpsef4037ce.jpg)
All of the brackets, etc that have been removed from the engine have had their respective bolts bagged and tagged with application, and the brackets themselves have been through the parts washer.
I've decided to pull the motor and transmission out and finish the entire front clip of the car with the proper rust abatement, priming and undercoating, along with replacing the rockers. I don't want to do this stuff twice, and getting everything clean and tidy before any paint hits the metal is the best way to ensure success later on.
More pictures to follow as I return to work on the car next week.
In preparation for removing the motor and tending to painting the entire front clip, I've been removing things from the car.
Part of the risk of an endeavor like this is being unable to reinstall the parts back to the car when the time comes, which may well be some weeks (months?) in the future. As I remove any fastener or sets of fasteners, they go into an individual zip-lock bag with a label tag containing (I hope) enough information for me to know where the fastener should be used.
For larger parts, I tie the string tag to the item.
I'm sure the service manual tells where each of the hard lines from the suspension are supposed to go - I'd just as soon as be sure.
In the case of the front level control valve, there are 4 ports, marked N, Z, B & R (if I recall correctly). After removing the valve, I tied string tags to each of the line ends with the proper reference included.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130909-02-LabelSupsensionLines-800x600_zpsab62f17a.jpg)
When it came time to remove the 4 lines that run over the inner fender from the valve to the right front pressure sphere and connect to lines running across the car to the suspension tank and height control valve, the easiest method was to label each end of a disconnect point A matches A, B matches B, etc.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130909-01-LabelSuspensionLines-800x600_zps3136957f.jpg)
After these lines were removed, I could start cleaning the grunge that was found on the fender and at the bottom on the frame rails
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130909-04-PassengerInnerFender-800x600_zpsff425014.jpg)
Method was the same as the wheel well side of the fender, Zep Industrial Purple cleaner, scrub brushes and patience:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130910-01-PassengerInnerFender-800x600_zps6dba3503.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130910-02-PassengerHeadlampBucket-800x600_zps26c32f1d.jpg)
It's not done, but it's a start.
The driver's side inner fender was far cleaner to start with, as I'd previously cleaned much of the gunk out when I first got the car:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130909-03-DriversInnerFender-800x600_zpsad27d64f.jpg)
But it's coming along nicely, too:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130910-03-DriverHeadlampBucket-800x600_zps22e9eb9c.jpg)
More progress from Monday, 9/16 and Tuesday 9/17.
With the decision to pull the motor in order to properly strip and repaint not only the fenders but basically the entire front clip of the car, on Monday, I took on the particularly nasty task of removing the exhaust system and driveshaft.
The exhaust is a butchery job - it looks like it was replaced at some point at a local muffler shop, with pipes that are too small for the application. Notice how they reused the flare portion where the pipe meets the manifold?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20130917-03-RattyExhaustSystem1-800x600_zps6e4de458.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20130917-04-RattyExhaustSystem2-800x600_zps885b29f5.jpg)
Surprisingly, only 1 of the 4 bolts that hold the exhaust to the manifold gave me any grief, and it appears that it was one replaced by someone at some point, as it wasn't a 13mm head like the rest.
Pulling the driveshaft wasn't too difficult - the bolts on the front flex plate came off with little persuasion. The rears, however, were apparently installed by that Grunter fellow - - had to get the rattle gun out to break them loose, which meant a face full of dirt and grime... Thanks Grunter...
When I pulled the transmission support to get at the front flex disc, I was reminded why it's not a good idea to let seals leak on cars, particularly when rubber items are in the path of the leaking seal. The transmission mount has Melted...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20130917-01-MeltedTransmissionMount-800x600_zpsabf13c87.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20130917-02-MeltedTransmissionMount2-800x600_zps4ade563e.jpg)
As I was removing the driveshaft, the carrier bearing revealed just how completely shot it was...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20130917-05-BustedCarrierBearing1-800x600_zps1e312302.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20130917-05-BustedCarrierBearing2-800x600_zpscec94611.jpg)
Still working slowly to remove all of the PVC stone guard from the driver's fender...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-06-DriversFenderMoreProgress1-800x600_zpsd458d048.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-07-DriversFenderMoreProgress2-800x600_zps9cf4896f.jpg)
I'm not certain how I'm going to get at all the undercoat and grime around the cup that retains the top of the strut - the right-angle grinder that I'm using, combined with the peculiar angles of the fender components means this is as far as I can get with pneumatic/mechanical assistance. You can see the remaining coating on the left-hand side of the mounting cup.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-08-DriversFenderMoreProgress4-800x600_zps7e803046.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-09-DriversFenderMoreProgress3-800x600_zpsb78fe33d.jpg)
This view is the interior of the recess where the upper control arm mounts. The shiny spot at the back is the extent of the reach of the grinder - going to have to do better than this...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-11-DriversFenderMoreProgress6-800x600_zps01106f27.jpg)
Tonight, I finished (98%) stripping the coating on the exterior side of the fenderwell - a little surface rust to be found, but nothing scaly at all...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-10-DriversFenderMoreProgress5-800x600_zps7f583afe.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-12-DriversFenderMoreProgress8-800x600_zpsc2b21a2d.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20130917-13-DriversFenderMoreProgress9-800x600_zpsd3991105.jpg)
I've managed to purchase the last two large tools needed for the motor/suspension work. The largest wrench required to service the dry-sump hoses is a 36mm. My stock of wrenches goes up to 32mm only. Here's a comparison of the Armstrong 36mm I just got vs a 30mm Craftsman unit - just a tad more beefy, wouldn't you say?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Miscellaneous/20130917-14-36mmWrench1-800x600_zpsa8016ead.jpg)
Both wrenches are USA-stamped - getting anything Craftsman with USA on it is becoming a real challenge. I've had the 30mm wrench for about 4 years.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Miscellaneous/20130917-15-30mmWrenchUSA-800x600_zps9b2d5e74.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Miscellaneous/20130917-16-36mmWrenchUSA-800x600_zpsb4d22016.jpg)
Well I think you should do the whole car like that and just add a thick clear coat! The polished steel looks fantastic! For the really tight bits I'd look at a portable bead blaster as I've seen some in action before. Do a Google search and you might even find they can be hired for DIY or just get a mobile operator to do the awkward bits for you
That shiny metal is a real bear to deal with visually, both for pictures and video. It also confounds the eye when trying to find areas that need further cleaning - the body primer is grey and only shows vaguely as a dull area at some angles. I initially thought that more light was the solution to seeing what remains for cleanup, but that actually makes the problem worse with the glare.
I've got a portable bead blaster. That is actually my plan, but I've got to build a cart strong enough to hold the chassis and get it outside. No way I'm going to try it inside the shop.
That being said, the biggest obstacle at that point will be the rubbery nature of the PVC itself. It will act like a resist material, very similar to the masking material used by folks that etch glass and make tombstones.
But first - the motor has to come out, and then I've got to build the cart.
I've got the casters for it - they're monsters rated at 1250# per caster - should be more than enough to handle the weight of the chassis minus the motor. The biggest challenge for that effort is making sure that the casters are mounted perfectly perpendicular to the cart frame, and that the cart frame can't flex under the weight of the chassis....
So much to do, so little time and even less $...
I've not forgotten this project, but have been sidetracked by things that must be done before I can continue with the stripping of the fenderwells.
I've decided to pull the motor and transmission. This will give me the opportunity to clean the engine compartment 100% and paint it back in the original Cypress Green that it should be, at the same time I paint the fenderwells.
I've got work to do on the motor as well. New seals, etc, plus new intake rubbers. To facilitate this - the engine needs to go on a stand.
After viewing the stand that Art & Justin (names from the M-100.co site) built, I decided that I was up to the task of creating one "like" that one.
Part of the "problem" of creating something like this is that I'm missing several critical pieces of data:
1) How much does a fully dressed M-100 motor from a 6.9 really weigh?
2) How much stress will that weight, when bolted to a plate and suspended in mid-air place on the device trying to overcome gravity's strong desire to drop the block to the pavement?
3) Any sort of engineering training that would allow me to take the value from #1 and calculate the answer to #2.
So, true to my nickname "Bullet-Proof-Brian", what I constructed (I think) is an engine stand that takes overkill to the next level.
Started out on eBay for a pair of pillow block bearings:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/1-20131009-PillowBlockBearing_zps97abbf9d.jpg)
These have a 2 inch (50.8mm) bore.
Art & Justin's use of a right angle gear box to rotate the block was a stroke of genius, so I sourced one - also from eBay.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/2-20131009-RightAngleGearBox_zps29e7ba13.jpg)
I had originally ordered one about 60% as big as this one, but the seller didn't have the one I wanted, so he sold me this one instead. It's quite a bit larger, but there was no additional cost.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/3-20131009-GearCaseTag_zps6e2ef3f8.jpg)
At this point in the process, things got a little screwy - mostly my fault. The original gear case had a 1" drive shaft, so I ordered a set of spider shaft couplings from McMaster Carr - this on the same day as the completed eBay purchase, but before the seller contacted me.
The gear box arrived the same day as the shaft couplings, and I took one look at the output shaft and realized that it was much larger than 1". I think I measured it and came up with 1-1/2".
Ordered a piece of 2" 1018 rod for the shaft - also from eBay. This came in at the same time as the gear box, so I gave it to my buddy Tin, who's a machinist, to turn one end down to 1-1/2" to correspond to the ID of the shaft couplings I was going to have to reorder.
Placed an order for the new, correctly sized couplings. They arrived about the same time Tin gave me the modified shaft:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/4-20131009-MachinedShaft_zps5b5d0806.jpg)
Tested the fit of the couplings on the shaft - perfect fit.
Got to the shop, all excited to assemble the shaft with the pillow blocks and the gear box, and went to slip one of the couplings on the drive shaft - and the coupling is TOO BIG. WHAT?!?!?!?
Caliper in hand I check - the drive shaft is 1-3/8"... UGH.
So another set of couplings to return, and the shaft back to Tin for more turning...
For the frame of the stand, I sourced a 20' piece of 3" square tube. I'd asked my supplier for a 5/16" wall thickness (yes - overkill to the extreme), and when I arrived to pick it up, they only had 1/4" wall tube. They cut it into 2 10' pieces for transport in my truck.
Good thing they didn't have 5/16" wall - I was very surprised when I went to remove the tube from the truck - 1/4" wall 3" square tube weighs 8.8 pounds per foot. 5/16" is over 11 pounds per foot.
Cut the tubing up into the various sizes required to construct the stand. Two pieces to create a mounting frame for the pillow block bearings - cut and drilled with 5/8" holes for the bolts:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/8-20131009-ShaftInstalledinBearings_zps95cd3130.jpg)
Welded them together:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/5-20131009-WeldofBearingBlock_zps5a419696.jpg)
This was my first effort at welding this size and thickness of metal. I must say it was invigorating - the crack and sizzle of the MIG welder cranked up for 1/4" stock is mesmerizing...
Welded a 30" piece of tube to the pair I just joined together. This joint is going to be under the most stress with the engine mounted to the stand, and my Hobart 187 welder manual suggests multiple beads for maximum strength in 1/4" material using .030 solid core wire.
Welds don't look very good, but I think the penetration is acceptable:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/6-20131009-BearingMountonUpright_zpse43b3e7c.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/7-20131009-BearingMountWeld_zps91596f6a.jpg)
Taking a design cue from Art & Justin's work, I wanted to cut the tubes for the front and rear "feet" to allow the casters to be attached to the top of the tube - allowing for a 3" closer-to-the-floor stance.
Frankly - this was MISERABLE work. I used a 4" hole saw in my drill press to cut the arcs. The problem is that my 17" Delta drill press has some serious design issues, and the clamping bolts and trunion pivots under the table have cracked, so the table is held in place with a couple of C-clamps and is far from rock solid. I think it took about 3 hours to cut 8 arcs in the two legs. Then I removed the remaining metal on my Milwaukee 14" cold-cut saw.
This is one of the legs before I cleaned up the work with the right-angle grinder:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/9-20131009-JawHorse_zps236b4941.jpg)
The front leg is 24" long, the rear is 30" long. They're joined by a 30" piece of 3" tube.
Fabbed up the mounting shelf for the gear box and ground the welds flat to make sure the case would sit square on it's base:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/10-20131009-GearCaseonStand_zpsfa42643f.jpg)
For the mounting plate for the engine, I got a 24" x 24" x 5/8" thick plate for $.40/pound. It cost just over $40.00 - yep - it weighs about 100#...
I took a piece of plywood and attached it to the front of the spare transmission and used a transfer punch to mark the location for the bolts. I knocked the corners off the plywood and traced the shape onto the plate and cut it out with the torch:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/11-20131009-CuttingEngineMountPlate_zps84965acd.jpg)
I managed to make 6 cuts for the mounting plate without dropping any molten steel on my feet or burning my hands. After I was all finished and had wrapped the hoses back onto the cart I backed into the tip of the torch and burned my right arm...
My original plan was to weld the mounting plate directly to the shaft. I had Tin tap the end of the shaft for a 1/2"-13 bolt so I could bolt the shaft firmly in place before welding it. I decided instead to cut a 6" square from the leftovers from the mounting plate, drill it for a central hole and 4 mounting holes. That way I can have other uses for the stand in the future besides supporting M-100 motors.
Here's what the 6x6 plate looked like after the torching:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/12-20131009-CleaningupTorchCuts3_zpsa54bd0b4.jpg)
And after a few minutes with the grinder and a 36grit segmented disc:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/13-20131009-CleaningUpTorchCuts1_zpsc9be5038.jpg)
5 - 1/2" holes drilled:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/14-20131009-MountingPlate_zps5a52a9c0.jpg)
The rough-cut mounting plate:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/15-20131009-CutoutEngineMountPlate1_zpsa5381382.jpg)
Cleaned up with the grinder - this took about an hour:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/16-20131009-CutoutEngineMountPlate2_zps06719368.jpg)
When I went to drill the holes in the mounting plate, I discovered that only 2 of them were accessible on the drill press. I drilled those first, and tapped them for 1/2"-13 bolts. I discovered the quick way to tap the holes is to mount the tap handle (which has a removable T-bar and a recess for a 3/8" drive ratchet) in my Makita 18v impact driver. With the proper tapping fluid and care, I can go back and forth quickly with minimal risk of breaking the tap. Each hole took about 2 minutes to tap.
After I got the second hole tapped, I noticed something peculiar - the bolts weren't in straight. I checked the drill press table and it was not perfect, but it was very close to perpendicular to the drill bit used to drill the holes. What went wrong?
I used a piece of 5/8" plate scrap with a 1/4" hole drilled in it as a guide bushing for the other two holes in the plate which I had to drill by hand. As I was drilling the pilot hole in the plate, I noticed that the table moved when I pulled down on the quill handle to drill the hole. I confirmed my suspicions by putting the mounting plate on the drill press and checking for perpendicularity - it was off a lot more with the weight of the plate (about 75#) on the table. Those stupid busted trunions bite me in the a$$ again... (what parts are still available - press is a whopping 5 years old) are on order from Delta. When those get here - that can take 1-2 months depending on who knows what - I'll figure out what I'm going to have to do to fix the table...)
The second set of holes tapped nicely - nothing out of kilter, even with doing it all by hand.
Here's the almost complete stand - the hand wheel is missing:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/17-20131009-FinishedStand1_zpsef9ffe30.jpg)
A closeup of the gear box, Lovejoy couplings and the pillow block bearings:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/19-20131009-GearBoxwithCouplingsandBearings_zpsfde27bfa.jpg)
I sourced the casters from eBay - they came with hollow king pins ready for 1/2" bolts. The wheels have annular bearings and are rated at 225# per caster - hopefully that's enough to carry the engine plus the weight of the stand... To mount them I took 1/2" carriage bolts and ground the square block off the back of the head and used nylock nuts on the caster side.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/20-20131009-CastersandStabilizers_zpse3445869.jpg)
The stabilizers use a 3/8" stainless all thread - there's a 3/8" nut welded inside the tube under the top. The feet and knobs are McMaster-Carr faire.
When I ordered the second set of wrong motor couplings, I also ordered a handwheel, going from memory that the input shaft was 7/8" diameter. IT IS NOT... so that handwheel went back and I got this one instead. The input shaft is 1-3/16, and Tin was nice enough to bore it out for me. A 5/16 set screw holds it in place, and I made the handle with a 5/16" bolt through a 3/8" brass pipe nipple from which I removed the threaded ends:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Engine%20Stand/22-20131009-Handle_zps053d60bd.jpg)
Hopefully next weekend we can pull the motor - the stand is ready and I think (hope?) up to the task.
Been a while since I've provided substantive updates, so here we go.
Two weekends ago, Tin and I pulled the motor out of the car. The process went very smoothly, given that fact that the engine/transmission assembly weighs only slightly less than a small planet.
Nothing will put the fear of gravity into a person like the sound of metal popping when the engine assembly is 3 feet in the air and still a ways from being out of the engine compartment...
I had previously removed all the external attachments to allow for quick removal of the assembly. All that remained was to disconnect the engine mounts, remove the transmission support and lift/coax the engine out of the engine compartment.
Naturally, since the bolts that attach the engine mounts to the engine are steel, and the attachment points are aluminum, the bolts wouldn't break free. However, a lot of heat applied with a MAPP gas torch to the aluminum, along with a shot of PB blaster and the bolts came free with no issues.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20131030-01-EngineRemoval-800x600_zps411dc0c7.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20131030-02-EngineRemoval-800x600_zpsd0f66578.jpg)
In order to completely clear the core support, we had to take the body off of the support blocks in the front and lower it almost all the way down to the floor.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20131030-03-EngineRemoval-800x600_zps12c87c25.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20131030-04-EngineRemoval-800x600_zps6db58d5a.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20131030-05-EngineRemoval-800x600_zps4d812863.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Motor%20Removal/20131030-06-EngineRemoval-800x600_zps689ab5bd.jpg)
Total start to finish was about 2 hours. No fingers were pinched, no knuckles skinned and no damage to the body or to the engine assembly.
After the engine was out, next came the task of disconnecting the engine from the transmission. I should have removed the torque converter-to-flex plate bolts while the engine was in the car, but a little effort laying on the ground with the engine lifted off the floor provided positive results.
After that, the engine needed to be attached to the yet-as-untested engine stand. That process went very smoothly until I discovered that the mounting point of the adapter plate was WAY below the center of gravity of the motor, making it VERY top heavy.
Add to that the fact that the rubber "spider" that's in the Lovejoy coupling on the stand is way too soft for the application, what resulted was a very unstable and unsafe situation.
Disconnected the engine from the stand and removed the adapter plate from the engine. Shifted the mounting point for the stand-to-adapter plate 6" upwards and that improved things immensely.
I am VERY pleased with how the stand is working out. I can rotate the motor completely upside down with no issues at all. The casters are up to the task of rolling the assembly around, and the stabilizer feet allow me to jack the frame up to prevent the weight of the motor from causing flat spots on the caster wheels or leaving dents in the wood floor of the shop.
This week, I worked on getting the car dolly under the unibody and the unibody securely attached to the dolly.
The rear "attachment" point relies on gravity to place the car. The 1-1/2" square tube is welded to the trolley frame, but only the weight of the car and the subframe bolt head keep the car in position.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Car%20Dolly/20131030-08-CarDolly-800x600_zpsffbefb80.jpg)
In front, I made a pair of staddle stands, and bolted the car to the stands through the holes in the side of the front crossmember attachment points.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Car%20Dolly/20131030-09-CarDolly-800x600_zpsf207cb41.jpg)
When it comes time to move the car, these saddles will make sure the car won't separate from the dolly.
I tested the dolly once fully installed and I can indeed move the car. Doesn't move easily, mostly due to the wood floor and the very small contact patch offered by the caster wheels.
One of my ideas for the dolly was the ability to raise the car up for better underneath access as well as making sill replacement easier.
At each corner of the dolly, I added a tube I purchased from a trailer supply company designed to accept a 2" square tube.
Made 4 12" legs with bottoms - jacked the front of the car up and slid the legs into place. Repeated the same at the rear, and the car is now sitting nice and high (sills are about 18" off the floor).
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Car%20Dolly/20131030-11-CarDolly-800x600_zpsa9fb64b4.jpg)
Tonight, I resumed cleaning by working on the items at the firewall. Central to this task was removing the fuse box to ensure there was no rust damage behind the fuse box where it attaches to the firewall.
I'm happy to report there appears to be no issue. I carefully marked each wire that was removed from the fuse block, so hopefully everything can go back together when the time comes.
(How I'll get the top 3 nuts on the fuse box studs at that point is another matter for speculation...)
More updates coming soon.
The M100s are such an impressive engine; they're just enormous! And it must be a very scary task to have it hanging so far off the ground....
Looking at it I don't think they were ever designed to come out that way, but without a hoist any other option is near impossible. Unless you had 2 engine cranes to lift the body from the subframe/engine. But then you'd have the whole body suspended high in the air which could be just as dangerous....
Great work BTW; any pics of the empty engine bay? What is now easily accessible?
I'd like to design a engine stand that supports the engine by it's normal mounts and not by the bellhousing bolts. I'm sure they're strong enough but it doesn't seem right...
Quote from: oversize on 31 October 2013, 06:09 PM
The M100s are such an impressive engine; they're just enormous! And it must be a very scary task to have it hanging so far off the ground....
Indeed it was scary. At the peak of the lifting process, the engine hoist started making very scary noises. PING!!!! or POP!!!!! and I'd jump every single time. We traced it to tension on the main pivot point of the lifting arm, which is nothing more than a square tube with a big bolt through it. The tension was so high that the metal was grabbing...
Quote from: oversize on 31 October 2013, 06:09 PMLooking at it I don't think they were ever designed to come out that way, but without a hoist any other option is near impossible. Unless you had 2 engine cranes to lift the body from the subframe/engine. But then you'd have the whole body suspended high in the air which could be just as dangerous....
Unfortunately, the W116 chassis isn't designed like it's predecessors - there is no separate subframe to disconnect from the chassis. The main cross member that joins the left and right fenders is welded to the car.
Quote from: oversize on 31 October 2013, 06:12 PM
I'd like to design a engine stand that supports the engine by it's normal mounts and not by the bellhousing bolts. I'm sure they're strong enough but it doesn't seem right...
Interesting idea, but the "industry standard" has always been to hang the engine from the bell housing bolts. A stand that holds the engine from the mounts might get in the way of any bottom-end work. Plus, the precision needed on such a fixture would be far beyond my abilities as a novice welder. I can purchase flat plate all day long. Making a frame that holds the engine on the sides is wayyy beyond my abilities.
Quote from: oversize on 31 October 2013, 06:11 PM
Great work BTW; any pics of the empty engine bay? What is now easily accessible?
Just because you asked....
Now that the massive bulk of the M100 has been removed from the engine bay, cleaning operations are at full speed - or at least my speed.
Here are a few "before" pictures - remember that a lot of the engine compartment forward of the strut towers was already cleaned - things were really a LOT more nasty than they appear here:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-01-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps7ed9263c.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-02-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zpsb37f95bc.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-03-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps9cf0481d.jpg)
Just like the PVC in the wheel wells can hide a massive amount of rust, the sound dampening mat on the firewall can do the same - so off it comes.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-04-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zpsbe1d8244.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-05-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps715fd558.jpg)
Hurray! No rust!
The "off it comes" seems like it was an easy task, and frankly it was, once I'd removed everything from the firewall that was in the way, which includes, but is not limited to the following:
- Fuse box (this comes with a special prayer that I can get it reinstalled and all the wires hooked back to their proper positions when the time comes)
- HVAC low and high pressure lines. This required first the removal of the driver's seat, which typically had frozen height-adjustment slides which are required to be free-moving to gain access to the rear screws, then about 4 or 5 trips in and out from under the dash to get the right size wrenches.
- Vacuum line grommet adjacent to the fuse box - easy.
- Hood release cable - easy.
- Heater control valve - this would have been easy if the idiot that installed (or likely replaced, given the age of the car) the hose that's inside the cowl connecting the outlet of the valve to the inlet of the core would have put the band clamp on the valve oriented such that it didn't require removal of the wiper motor...
- Wiper motor - reason noted above. Turns out this was a good idea, as the grommet for the power cable had perished and there was evidence of water incursion (small amount) in that area under the dash. This also took a couple of trips in and out of the dash.
- Hose for heater outlet on passenger side - easy.
- Windshield washer nozzles. I marvel at MB's ingenuity. My modern W220 and predecessor W140 cars have electrically heated washer nozzles. The W116 engineers solved the problem of freezing nozzles by wrapping the pipe that starts in the engine compartment and terminates at a swaged end to form the nozzle around the heater core inlet and outlet hoses.
- Oil pressure line - easy.
- Suspension control line - easy.
Once all this was done, a little careful pulling and prodding with a putty knife released the mat without a single tear. I'll re-attach it later using the same adhesive used to put the hood liner in place.
Lots of scrubbing and washing reveal a more-or-less clean engine bay:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-06-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps5e50374f.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-07-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps0e496ddc.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-08-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zpsa8a8f7e5.jpg)
This a view down into the area where the front level control valve mounts - nice and clean:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-09-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps44a59212.jpg)
The drivers side shows the damage that occurs with leaking master cylinders, the subsequent removal of paint and the rust that follows. All of this is surface rust. The wetness is fresh water after wash-down of the "Purple Stuff":
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Engine%20Compartment/20131101-10-CleaningEngineCompartment-800x600_zps7b8b81ab.jpg)
I'd like to have removed the suspension lines and the rear brake line from the car, but that proved impossible.
The rear brake line is a single unit that terminates at a T in the rear of the car. I can't get the nut on the line attached to the T to break loose, even with line wrenches. It's smack up against the bottom of the body, so there's no way to get any heat in there to coax it free.
The rear suspension lines run between the rear subframe and the chassis. I do plan on removing the subframe to replace the mounts and clean it up, but not this minute.
Thanks for reading...
When did you remove the stabilizer bar?
LOL! I forgot about the cross-member!!! But then that raises the point of how the factory got the M100 in there in the first place..... Perhaps without the transmission? Would it be easier to just remove the engine?
Make sure you thoroughly inspect the cross-member for cracking. Can you take some pics of the welds in that area so I can compare (I think someone has tried to repair one of mine before)? Also check the frame around the steering box mounts, as there was an upgrade for that area which included a reinforcing plate.
I'd even go so far to say it might be wise to have a chassis welder seam-weld both cross-member ends to the inner fenders. The factory tack welds don't look strong enough and I've heard at least one 450 let go in this area; which will likely result in a one-way trip to the wreckers! :( :o ??? :'( With a 6.9 this area would be under far greater stress and I'd do it just for the peace of mind (and particularly since it's easily accessible now).
You're making progress! Putting the fuse box back in place looks like it will be no easy accomplishment. I've taken out a few, but haven't installed any, at least not on a W116. W116s have so many wires...
QuoteWhen did you remove the stabilizer bar?
After the engine was removed - it's the only way, so far as I can tell.
QuoteLOL! I forgot about the cross-member!!! But then that raises the point of how the factory got the M100 in there in the first place..... Perhaps without the transmission? Would it be easier to just remove the engine?
The M-100 service manual, of which I have a really sorry copy, indicates the engine should be removed with the transmission. It is indeed possible to remove the engine from the transmission and extract the engine from the car at that point, but then you have to contend with supporting the transmission in the chassis. The transmission's only attachment point, other than to the block, is at the rear of the housing via a small rubber-isolation joint. As my intent is to fully scour the car for hidden rust, having the transmission out is part and parcel to that effort.
QuoteMake sure you thoroughly inspect the cross-member for cracking. Can you take some pics of the welds in that area so I can compare (I think someone has tried to repair one of mine before)? Also check the frame around the steering box mounts, as there was an upgrade for that area which included a reinforcing plate.
I've never heard of the cross member being a weak point in the W116 chassis line. That doesn't mean that the tin worm, if allowed free reign, won't cause a failure. Having cleaned the crossmember thoroughly, I find no indication of rust. I do have some dents to remove in the underside of the crossmember from previous damage due to overzealous jacking of the car without proper support. Not really required for structural integrity, but "as long as I'm there"...
I'll be happy to snap some detailed pictures for you.
Also, regarding the steering box, I also am not aware of any issues with frame stability in this area. I do recall that the 300SE predecessors had issues in this area and MB did produce a stiffener plate to help with this problem.
Point well taken that it is a good idea to check these areas for potential problems. The design of the attachment point for the steering box involves 3 tubes that pass through the hollow of the frame rail and are welded on both ends. I'll check these welds for cracks. There is no problem with rust, so far as I can tell.
That phrase - "as long as I'm there" is going to be the bane of my existence if I'm not careful to keep it in check....
Quote from: oversize on 01 November 2013, 09:44 AM
I'd even go so far to say it might be wise to have a chassis welder seam-weld both cross-member ends to the inner fenders. The factory tack welds don't look strong enough and I've heard at least one 450 let go in this area; which will likely result in a one-way trip to the wreckers! :( :o ??? :'( With a 6.9 this area would be under far greater stress and I'd do it just for the peace of mind (and particularly since it's easily accessible now).
I don't know if I agree with you on this point.
If there is no visible indication of problems with the welds, I think it's best to leave things as found. Welding on the structural members of unit-body constructed cars is not something that should be done without careful attention to the cleanliness of the area being welded. When these cars were assembled originally, the metal was scrupulously clean, allowing for a quality weldment. Fast forward 37 years, adding road grime, leaking engine fluids and the addition of MB primer and paint and you don't have a good substrate to guarantee a solid weld - even if "thoroughly" cleaned with wire brushes, abrasive pads, and even media blasting. There are also risks involved with the hardening and in some cases embrittlement that can come from re-welding already welded structures.
I do agree with you that if this is a good idea, it's easy to do this type of work "as long as I'm there"... :)
I fully acknowledge the depth of my understanding of metalurgy is not nearly complete, so if others more qualified have dissenting opinions, or can confirm my assumptions, I welcome their input.
Quote from: Squiggle Dog on 01 November 2013, 02:35 PM
You're making progress! Putting the fuse box back in place looks like it will be no easy accomplishment. I've taken out a few, but haven't installed any, at least not on a W116. W116s have so many wires...
Yep - every time I look at that bundle of snakes I get a chill up my spine. I think the hair on my head would stand up as well - if I had any hair on my head...
That being said, the risk for having major rust under the fuse box is very real, and removing the box is the only way to know for sure whether there is rust or not.
I'm glad I found none.
We shall see what the future holds regarding reinstallation. My shoulders hurt just from thinking about the contortions I'll be forced to endure to make it happen - and that's just getting the box reinstalled to the chassis.
The good thing is that I've got the driver's seat out, and have removed the brake pedal assembly. That makes under-the-dash access a lot better.
I have a crack free dash that's going to replace the current unit, and I'll likely the reinstallation of the fuse box to coincide with the R&R of the front windshield (which is cracked and needs a new seal anyway) and the R&R of the dash and R&R&R (removal, refurbishment, replacement) of the HVAC box. Once the dash is out, access to the wiring harness and bolts for the fuse box through the firewall are WAY easier.
I'm trying VERY hard to not do things that will only have to be undone, or redone later. I've got a limited number of days to accomplish the majority of the renovation to get the car road worthy. I do not have time to waste. Deadline is June 1 of next year, and while that may seem like a long way in the future, the car has already been at the shop about 10 weeks and I'm a long way from starting to put things back on the car...
My attention right now needs to focus on everything forward of the cowl/firewall area. Once the front suspension is back in place and the engine compartment is repainted along with the inner fenders, then I can look at other things.
The motor needs some work - I'm replacing everything that is rubber, including the upper-to-lower intake seals. These items harden and crack overtime and cause pesky vacuum leaks that result in rough idle. Anything rubber on the engine has turned to concrete and anything that has to come off will break in the process. I've got new parts for every known rubber item on the upper section of the motor.
I've even got a new timing chain and most of the guide rails. The timing chain replacement will be decided pending an investigation for stretch - the car and motor have <60,000 miles, so hopefully I won't find much in that area.
I don't know if it's possible to have a leak-free 70's era engine, even an MB, but I'm going to try.
The transmission is getting new seals, front and rear as well. Anything that looks like it's leaking or might leak is going to get attention. I'm even contemplating replacing the input shaft with the upgraded version, as this is a known weak point on these otherwise nearly bulletproof boxes.
As long as I'm there....
Fascinating project Brian, thanks for taking the time to post your pics, most informative. I can't offer any advice but I think that your methodical and thorough approach will see the job done right.
Looking forward to the next update.
Thanks Ken. Words of encouragement are a good thing.
This week I'm working on pulling the undercoating off of the passenger (RHS) inner fender. This is the fender that had all of the oily mess when I started working on the car.
Surprisingly, or maybe not so, several areas of PVC that were really oil soaked to begin with had completely delaminated from the metal and just peeled off leaving pristeen primer paint below.
Or maybe there was a bonding issue from the factory?
I'm about 75% done with removing the PVC coating. I'm being more fastidious about getting as much PVC off as possible. Learning from the driver's side fender tells me that less PVC means the scouring pads last longer and work better - the PVC tends to gum up the works.
very very nice WBF, and very very scary!
having put together a few 116s in the last few years we revived, this one looks like a monster effort.
you are tipping me over the edge to get my mechanic to rebuild my engine, and get the engine bay painted at the same time. removing that firewall liner will give an awesome result. did it come off in one piece or tear?
keep the pics coming
nathan
Quote from: nathan on 06 November 2013, 06:47 PM
very very nice WBF, and very very scary!
having put together a few 116s in the last few years we revived, this one looks like a monster effort.
I don't know about monster effort. So far, things are going about as one would expect for a car of this vintage. The only thing that has surprised me is the amount of rust that the PVC lining concealed without giving any indication of what lurked beneath. I'm afraid that there are many W116 owners out there that have what appears to be a solid car, but is in reality suffering the effects of the tin worm in many unseen places.
While crawling around under the car trying in vain to remove the brake and suspension lines I discovered a rust bubble on the driver's side where the frame rails "die" into the body. I don't think it's penetration rust, but now I've got another tin worm to chase. I may end up putting the chassis on a rotisserie so I can deal with the undercarriage properly.
As an aside, I find it interesting how owning a MIG welder has changed my perspective on what can be accomplished or should be attempted. Prior to ownership, it would never occur to me to build a chassis cart, or an engine stand. I'd either be altering my work processes to avoid the need for such items, or be scraping together the funds to purchase same. Now, I just start thinking about what it will take to build it...
Quote
you are tipping me over the edge to get my mechanic to rebuild my engine, and get the engine bay painted at the same time.
eek! - rebuilding an M100 is not for the faint of heart nor slight of pocketbook.
Quote
removing that firewall liner will give an awesome result. did it come off in one piece or tear?
Not an issue at all - the contact adhesive used to attach the liner wasn't fully engaged at many places. I was just careful with a putty knife and the liner suffered no tears at all. Key to the process is removing everything one can from the firewall so there's less manipulation of the liner required for extraction. The only thing that was in the way of a clean removal was the passenger (RHS) wiring harness and the hole in the liner is plenty large to carefully snake the harness out during removal.
Quote
keep the pics coming
nathan
Will do.
BTW - looking for any new MB brochures? My S55 keeps me making regular trips to the dealer. I can fetch whatever you're longing for.
More updates - right-hand inner fender has been scraped of all undercoating:
Reading President Dr. Love's column in the recently-received Lode Star, I see with shock and awe that I have been mentioned... I hope my efforts will be worth the cost of the typesetting.
More updates - right-hand inner fender has been scraped of all undercoating:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20131123-01-RightWheelhouse-800x600_zpsc7ca61f0.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20131123-02-RightWheelhouse-800x600_zpsa3ae97a3.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20131123-03-RightWheelhouse-800x600_zpsb0b86d03.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20131123-04-RightWheelhouse-800x600_zpsa8c98755.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20131123-05-RightWheelhouse-800x600_zps39ff2262.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/20131123-06-RightWheelhouse-800x600_zps28bb5ed1.jpg)
These pictures don't show the completed work. It's done and cleaned to bare metal.
Rust was similar to what was discovered on the driver's side.
I'm getting better at this - the whole process was about 10 hours work...
I've started work on the sills. This will be slow and fiddly work, but is absolutely required, at least for this car.
To do a full replacement, you need 8 parts. Two front end caps (left & right), two sills (left & right) and 4 washers that are used to connect the sills to the jacking points.
End caps:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-01-SillReplacement-800x600_zps765c4730.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-02-SillReplacement-800x600_zps65cd373c.jpg)
Washers - somehow I've lost one... :(
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-03-SillReplacement-800x600_zpsaae58291.jpg)
Sills:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-04-SillReplacement-800x600_zps976ea88b.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-05-SillReplacement-800x600_zpsfdfcfe24.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-06-SillReplacement-800x600_zps319d81bb.jpg)
The sills are attached with spot welds to the A-pillar, B-pillar and rear quarter panel of the car, along the seam where the inner floor pans meet with the sills at the bottom of the front and rear door frames, at the bottom of the car as well along the main body seam from front to back. "In theory" once all of the spot welds are removed, the sills should just "drop out" - we shall see...
I also find a weld line at the front of the A-pillar that will need to be removed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-10-SillReplacement-800x600_zps5aaaf2c9.jpg)
Here you can see one of the many spot welds that will have to be dealt with:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-11-SillReplacement-800x600_zps467a7eb7.jpg)
There are several ways to remove spot welds. One method involves drilling through the weld with an appropriate sized bit, but that means two holes to deal with during reassembly.
I purchased a rotary spot weld cutter manufactured by Blair Equipment - part # 13224:
(http://www.blairequipment.com/Spotweld_Cutters/images/13224-shadow.jpg)
I paid about $US18 for it from McMaster Carr. There are other cheaper sources for a few $ less.
The pin in the center of the cutter is hardened and spring loaded with a very stiff spring. You start the cutting process by using a sharp cold punch to mark the center of the spot weld:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-15-SillReplacement-800x600_zps9faede96.jpg)
The instructions say no more than 500rpm, and to go slowly until the cutter has a chance to create a groove in the outer layer.
Here's the result of removing what was left of the front cover:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-12-SillReplacement-800x600_zps260db7c6.jpg)
You can see the small circles in the underlying metal. There was very little left of the front cover to remove. The tin worms had made a feast of the metal.
The metal that was the weld and the outer layer of metal will have to be ground down to flat before the replacement cover can be installed (and a lot of other rebuilding must obviously occur...)
The bane of this tool is the unknown you meet as the cutter passes thorugh the inner layer of metal. If there's a sharp edge or crease, damage can occur to the cutter. If the cutter skips away from the weld, the teeth can get damaged. I failed to notice that one of the teeth on the cutter was damaged from cutting against the pocked substrate on the front cover, and while attempting to drill out the example weld shown above, I cleaned all the rest of the teeth off the cutter:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-16-SillReplacement-800x600_zps84286a0b.jpg)
This is the damage that I didn't notice:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-14-SillReplacement-800x600_zps04dd1266.jpg)
The cutters are reversable, so a quick clamp in a vise and a pair of locking pliers had me back in business.
Learning that the cutters are fragile (they are hardened like a drill bit, so take the same care), I purchased some replacements - 3 cutters (6 sets of teeth), Blair part # 13214 can be had for about $US9 for the set.
I also purchased some lubricant that Blair recommends - part #11750 - we'll see how that turns out.
In order to get at all of the welds on the top of the sill, you need to remove the front and rear doors. I'll say no more on that subject other than I built a little cradle to help me do this by myself. It bolts to a floor jack and makes the removal process practically painless (ignoring the scratched nuckles one gets while working on door internals...)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-22-SillReplacement-800x600_zps3366d9d8.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-21-SillReplacement-800x600_zps6bdc3e26.jpg)
You also have to remove the sill covers, front and rear. Take your time as to not break these old and fragile parts.
Once all of the obstacles are removed, drilling can commence.
This is the front of the driver's door:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-27-SillReplacement_zps5cdb81c0.jpg)
Rear of driver's door at B-pillar:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-23-SillReplacement-800x600_zpsdeb530fd.jpg)
B-pillar vertical welds - this is almost completely obscured with the rear door installed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-24-SillReplacement-800x600_zps57b26730.jpg)
Front of rear door opening at B-pillar:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-25-SillReplacement-800x600_zps7350315a.jpg)
Rear door at rear quarter panel:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20131124-26-SillReplacement-800x600_zpsd8fcc3b4.jpg)
The sill is also welded to the rear quarter somewhere near where the blue meets the green in the above picture.
In the above photo you can also see the drilled spots on the vertical seam where the sill meets the inner section of the chassis in the cabin. There are about 15 of these welds in each door frame, and they're hard to get at. They're positioned right where the sill transitions from vertical to horizontal.
If you put the punch mark in the center of the spot weld, the cutter meets the outer layer at the bottom before it hits the top, because of the curve of the bend. This makes the cutter want to jump.
It's also difficult to get a good angle on the cutter because the tool is short and the chuck of the drill is in the way.
By moving the punch mark up about 1/8" to near the top of the weld, you can get a more square approach, and enough of the weld is still removed to allow the panels to part.
Knowing when you're deep enough is easiest when there's rust behind the outer panel - you'll see rust in the shavings when you penetrate. When there's no rust, you can usually "feel" when you've punched through.
I've not started on the bottom spot welds. They're going to be a complete PITA to get at - the seam has more than it's share of damage from curbs and careless jacking.
When I started looking at what it's going to take to separate the sill from the chassis down there, I came up with a one-word answer:
Rotisserie....
More to come on this in the next few days...
Since the last posting, I was able to construct and attach a rotisserie to the chassis, and the pictures that follow show that it is indeed possible to flip a W116 chassis "up on edge"
There are several designs for rotisseries out on the web, but most of them are being used on cars far smaller and lighter than a W116. I took several design aspects from each of the examples I found on places like GarageJournal.com and elsewhere and came up with my own design.
In order to effectively rotate a car of this size, you must first obviously get it up in the air sufficiently high enough to rotate without the rockers hitting the floor. To do this, I'm using a pair of worm-gear-driven winches I got from Harbor Freight. They're rated at 2,000# each.
They're attached to a piece of "receiver tube", which is a 2-1/2" square tube with a 1/4" walls that has had the welding seam broached out of the inside such that it slips easily over a 2" OD square tube.
I could have purchased seamless tubing, or fashioned a grinding stone to do the broaching myself, but I found two 3' lengths of receiver tube on Amazon.com for about $50 each, which was more than enough for the needs of this project.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-01LiftingWinch800x600_zpsa275db59.jpg)
You can see the holes in the winch trolley, and holes in the vertical strut. This allows for a 5/8" pin to be placed to allow the weight of the car to be removed from the cable and winch. I put 3 holes in the trolley at 1" and 2" separation thinking it would give me some variability for position. Sadly, I failed to consider that when loaded, the trolley wouldn't sit perfectly perpendicular to the vertical strut, so none of the holes line up. I need to ream out the holes in the vertical strut about 1/16" inch to cure this problem. In the mean time, putting the pin in position in a hole below the trolley and resting the trolley there is more than sufficient.
The cable from the winch travels up and over a cast-iron roller designed for rolling gates - about $10 each from my local steel supplier:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-02TopPulley800x600_zpscdc01675.jpg)
The advantage of this method is that the lifting force is somewhat balanced - the pull comes from the front where the cable is attached, and the back where the cable wraps around the winch hub.
With a worm-gear drive, there's no need for a brake.
To allow for a balanced rotation, there has to be a way to offset the chassis center of gravity from the rotational centerline of the rotisserie. This is done by allowing the lifting arm to slide in another piece of receiver tube, positioning controlled by a 1/2" piece of all-thread passing through a coupling nut welded to the rotation head. The end of the all thread has a nut welded to the end, and a needle-bearing thrust washer assembly to take the load and allow for smooth rotation minimal risk of galling.
In this picture, you can see two of the 4 pinch bolts to allow the lifting arm to be locked securely in position. Each welded nut accepts a 1/2" bolt. You can also see the single nut on the rotation hub to allow the rotation to be locked - also accepting a 1/2" bolt.
To make sure there's no damage to the rotation hub, there's a groove cut into the internal sleeve that's welded to the lifting arm assembly. It's about 3/4" wide and .050 deep. This keeps the lifting arm from sliding out of the lifting trolley in addition to allowing the rotation to be locked.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-03BalanceAdjustmentRod800x600_zpsf64f1eb3.jpg)
I didn't want to make the rotisserie ends as permanent fixtures, so the vertical strut is attached to the horizontal foot with bolts and a 1/4" thick 18" wide x 12" tall triangle brace. That keeps the strut from leaning side to side. To keep it from pitching forward, I built a "kick stand" that braces against the reinforcing ring at the front of another piece of 2-1/2" receiver tube. The receiver tube at the bottom allows a long (very long) piece of 2" square tube to connect the front and back of the rotisserie together.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-04MainColumnKick-Stand800x600_zps0de90ab9.jpg)
When I originally started attaching the rotisserie to the car, I built some attachment brackets that I bolted to the mounting wings that supported the rear bumper. This ended up being a bad idea - there's enough slop in the way the 2-1/2" tube slides over the 2" tube that the assembly was twisting when I'd lift the rear of the car. This risked distorting the body where the mounting wings passed through the unibody structure.
The solution was to make longer arms that would reach nearly 3 feet up under the car and allow me to build some adapter blocks that bolt to the body where the rear sway bar attached. This is a very solid mounting point with no risk of distortion.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-05RearAttachmentatSwayBar800x600_zps011a76aa.jpg)
To control the position of the car relational to the rotisserie center as the car was turned on edge, and also to limit the amount of sag in the lifting arm, I crafted a couple of stand-off blocks that mounted in place of the bumper mounts. I connected these blocks together with a welded horizontal brace with diagonal stiffeners.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-06RearAttachmentatBumperMountwithBrace800x600_zps252489f7.jpg)
The front attachment point isn't ideal - it's just a pair of mounting blocks attached where the front bumper braces attach at the edge. I am seeing some give in the attachment point, and I've not decided whether it's worrisome enough to warrant designing a similar lifting frame for the front for the small amount of time the car will be on the rotisserie. The attachment point is just a few inches off the edge of the front lifting bar, so the distortion is minimal.
So, without further delay - the pictures of the car on in the air. You can see the front attachment point for the driver's side at the bottom left-hand corner of the picture.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-07CarLiftedonRotisserie800x600_zpsce5a0b0c.jpg)
This has the car almost 3 feet off the floor.
Initial rotational tests showed the car was top-heavy, so I lowered the car in the balancing frames and tried again. Then it was too bottom heavy, but I'd prefer it want to come back to "normal" orientation, so it will remain where it currently sits.
And here it is on edge. Note that all it took was a determined tug on the end of the lifting arm to make this rotational change. No cheater bar or additional leverage was required.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-08CarRotated90Degrees800x600_zps949e085b.jpg)
And an alternate view:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-09CarRotated90Degrees2800x600_zps6b1117e7.jpg)
The fuel pump, differential and rear suspension:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-10RearHalfofUnderCarriage800x600_zpsecad7f4d.jpg)
Middle of the undercarriage:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-11CenterSectionofCar800x600_zps0cf67db7.jpg)
And front of the undercarriage:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rotisserie/20140101-12FrontSectionofCar800x600_zps84c6fb96.jpg)
W. Brian Fogarty
'02 S55 AMG (W220)
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
Yesterday, I was able to move the car in the shop. This is a good thing, as with the added length of the rotisserie frames, it was impossible for me to walk around the car at the front. To get from one side to the other, I had to walk around the table saw table, which adds 50+ feet by the time I circumnavigate.
Just like a dropped jelly sandwich always lands jelly side down, when the shortest distance between two points is a long walk, you're forever needing something that's on the other side of the car.
Once I get the sills off the car, I need to move it out into the lot in front of the shop to do a bit of spot sand-blasting. The problem with that plan is the design of the rotisserie.
The cross beam that connects the front and rear assemblies is too close to the ground. I can solve this by putting spacers between the casters and the frame, but at some point it would just be easier to reconstruct the base of the frames to raise the cross beam.
The floor of the shop sits 8+ inches above the parking lot. I have ramps, but the center beam will high-center the moment the rear rotisserie frame starts to go down the ramp.
Since the car will only be moving out of the shop into the lot to do the blasting and then back in again, I'll probably just build a couple of bridges to allow it to roll straight out and back in again. If I properly align the casters and fix them so they can't swivel, this "shouldn't be a problem."
I like the write-up about the spot weld cutter. I am going to need to use one for another project.
Thanks, Squiggle - there are three purposes for a thread like this. 1) To help me remember how far I've come and 2) to inspire or educate others in how various aspects of a restoration might be accomplished and 3) to give others the benefit of a laugh at my expense as I stumble blindly through the process...
It's no joke that the cutters are very fragile. The cutter arbor has a hardened spring-loaded point that is supposed to engage the dimple created by a sharp center punch into the weld. If you don't present the cutter at a near perfect right-angle to the cutting face, or if the cutters grab as they're cutting through the first layer of metal, it will tear the teeth clean off the cutter.
A lot of what I've learned about using this tool has come via trial and error.
I'd recommend that you purchase extra cutters when you buy the cutter kit. They're not expensive but do search around, some places have a very inflated idea of what this stuff should cost.
I paid $8.35 each for two sets of 3 replacement cutters. (Blair Part # 13214) Each cutter is two-sided, so that's 12 cutters, effectively. (I note with sadness that these same cutters are now $14.75...)
I got the original cutter assembly that comes with the shaft and one double-ended cutter for $18 from McMaster-Carr (Blair Part # 13224) . I've since found it for a few $ less elsewhere.
I also purchased a "lube stick" (Blair Part # 11750) for $10.50 that is recommended by the manufacturer if the cutter - Blair Tools.
So, I'm into the 'spot weld cutting business' for 45.20 plus some small tax and freight costs.
The limits of the cutter I've previously noted, but I've noticed a few more and so will repeat and amend here:
1) If you don't get a good center punch dimple in the weld, the cutter will skip and you may lose some cutter teeth.
2) The cutter is difficult to use when the spot weld is nestled in a corner where the face presented to the cutter teeth has a radius along the edge - the cutter wants to grab and jump.
3) The cutter teeth are hardened, and therefore very brittle. Start very slowly - I use just a bit of trigger pressure on my Makita 3-spd model BDF451 drill, set on the lowest gear range which allows max 300 rpm. I'd say I'm starting at 100 rpm or less, and maxing out at 300 once a clearly defined channel is cut in to the metal.
4) The cutter teeth have a limited cutting depth. In some cases, especially as noted in #2 above, that may mean you don't cut cleanly through the outer layer.
5) The cutter overall length is only about 4" and when chucked securely into the drill you don't have much stick-out, which makes working in areas like the top seam in the door frame on W116 sills difficult - the chuck of the drill prevents you presenting the cutter at a 90-degree angle to the metal. I'm going to have a machinist friend create a 6" extension that I can use.
6) It may be a good idea (I've not tested this) to use a sharp punch to dimple the weld, and then drill through the weld with a 1/16" drill. That will give the pilot point something to engage securely and prove a more stable event.
7) When it comes time to change the cutters, you WILL need a vice to make this happen. Note previously I mentioned that the cutters are hardened. This makes it very difficult to get a set of locking pliers to "bite" into the material to unscrew the cutter from the arbor. If the pliers slip, you'll remove a bit of the black oxide coating on the cutter, and round off the teeth on the pliers. You must have a way to securely grip the shaft of the cutter. I clamp the shaft in my bench-mounted vice, take my best set of US-made Vice Grips (the Chinese-made crap available now are way too soft) and clamp them tightly to the cutter. Then I take a wood or rubber mallet and sharply whack the pliers to break the cutter loose from the arbor. It seems to take a sharp blow to break the threads loose - just pulling seems to allow for the pliers to slip on the cutter or the arbor to slip in the vice.
8) You always break the last available cutter when there's just one more spot weld to go - keep a set of spares on hand.
Have a look at the Blair website - they have lots to offer. http://www.blairequipment.com/Spotweld_Cutters/Spotweld_Cutters.html.
Keep reading and I'll keep posting.
Regards
I've been on a medical-enforced hiatus from the project since January 20 when I had Achilles tendon surgery on both ankles. I'm just now getting back into the shop, and progress is good, although my ability to stand for extended periods is somewhat limited.
So - here's the update:
The more I thought about it, I didn't like the way the front of the rotisserie attached to the body. The bolts that hold the front bumper in place are just attached to a plate that's inside the front bumper frame, only separated from the rotisserie mount by a thin piece of sheet metal.
My first real project back in the shop was to change the attachment point for the front of the rotisserie. I added long arms like in the rear that reach all the way to the mounting frames for the cross-member that hosts the rear of the front lower control arms. There's already a factory hole on the outside edge of these frames - I just reamed it out a little to accept 1/2" bolts:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-1-RotisserieAttachmentPointFrontCrossmember_zps5cc309fa.jpg)
Where the arms passed under the frame rails, I added a piece of angle iron, welded to the arms and bolted through the frame rail. I had to drill holes in the frame rail for the bolts, but there are other holes in the rail near by, and I figure by the time I get all of the rotten metal replaced on the car, I'll be good enough to weld up the holes...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-2-RotisserieAttachmentPointFrontFrameRail_zps12c83584.jpg)
Now there's no worry with turning the car on its side, or completely upside down.
Resumed work on the driver's sill. I'd gotten the upper spot welds mostly drilled out. The lower seam was far more challenging, especially in the front where it had been mostly crushed by poor jacking techniques against tin worm-riddled metal:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-5-DriversSillatFrontFenderUnderneath_zpsa9649f34.jpg)
In some places where the seam was folded up, I was able to straighten it with some locking pliers, but in the end, I wound up cutting the sill free around the areas too smashed to get pliers on the seam. I've got a body slide hammer on the way to help with these areas.
Got the balance of the spot welds removed, but there was still more work to do to get the sill out.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-6-SillUnbuttonedfromBelow_zps49027839.jpg)
The sill is line welded to the body at the bottom of the A-pillar:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-3-SillatA-Pillarbase_zps79b9f800.jpg)
This seam doesn't show with the fender in place, so appearance isn't critical.
It's also welded at the back of the rear door where the sill meets the rear quarter panel. Portions of this area are hidden by the sill covers, but some show, and those areas are brazed. I've already started cutting at this point, you can see the brass in a few areas.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-4-SillatrearofRearDoor_zps0114f18e.jpg)
The sill runs behind the B-pillar, and I finally figured out that the only way to detach it completely would be to unbutton the B-pillar from the car, which would require a chassis dolly to prevent damage to the body when that structural member is removed, so I gave up on that idea immediately. I used a thin cutting wheel in my grinder to cut underneath the B-pillar to free the sill from the outer section of the pillar, and then up each side to the inner seam.
The sill also runs up inside the car on the left footwell, and there's a bunch of line welding there to hold the sill to the base of the chassis behind the kick panel, so that's going to be another challenge. I ended up cutting the sill free on the outside and up to the upper seam in the front and the back. Once this was done, the sill dropped to the ground without much fuss, exposing the sill cavity:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-8-Sillcavity_zps47ec802a.jpg)
First, I knew from looking down the sill from the driver's tire position I was going to find rust - how much was the question.
What do you think - can I salvage this jack point?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-9-RemnantsofFrontJackPoint_zps969b8444.jpg)
The rear one is in better shape, but it needs help too:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-10-RemnantsofRearJackPoint_zpsae6c4a4a.jpg)
Looking into the space behind the rear jack point, it looks like - what's that on the right? Rivets? RIVETS?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-11-BehindRearJackPoint_zpsf3db926d.jpg)
Yep - rivets holding a scab patch inside the rear fender:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-12-Patchpanelinsiderearfenderwell_zps5395ccfb.jpg)
Removed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-13-Patchpanelremoved_zps0c9ffc1b.jpg)
When I got a good look at the jack points, I decided to reach out to Tom Hanson to see if they're still available from MBCC.
The rear jack points are sold individually - part # 116-610-01-31. The front jack points come as part of the inner sill, sized for the non-L chassis. Left part # 116-610-01-09, right 116-610-02-09.
I figured if the prices were reasonable, I'd just buy it all and cut the front jack points loose from the sills.
The rear jack points are still available. The driver sill is back-ordered, but the passenger sill is available.
Prices - not so great. Sills are $510 for driver's side (but really $1zillion since they're back-ordered) and $525 for passenger's side. Rear jack points - $790 EACH! Of course, I still get my MBCA 20% discount, but event that means $1684 for the available parts...
Looks like I'll be building my own jack points.
Rust is never as simple as just "one little spot." Looks like I've got some more skills to learn...
That was last week's work.
I knew in order to do a proper job on the underside of the car, the rear end needed to come out. The advantage of a rotisserie is that you don't have to lay under the car to work if you don't want to.
So I went out and bought an engine hoist, tipped the car on its side and unbolted the rear end from the chassis and lifted it away with the hoist. The whole effort, including assembly of the hoist, was less than 2 hours, and I barely got dirty.
More pictures of this in the next installment.
Hi Brian
Sorry to hear that you've had to have an op, but hope you're on the mend soon. I worked with a lady who ruptured her Achilles playing netball, apparently a common injury for netballers. So much so, when she got back to netball, she then ruptured the other one too! Now she just umpires...
Glad to see that you are still continuing with the project. I enjoy each of your instalments; I like the way in which you write things up and all the photos.
Whilst trawling the internet I can across a fellow UK man who is big into BM's (I know this is a MB forum). He does some incredible welding work, and I thought you may get some very good tips and inspiration from this site where did a similar resto project to yours.
http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/119596 (http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/119596)
From his own personal website, I liked this write up on restoring his headlamps.
http://www.tonybmw.co.uk/pages/project_m/projectm_headlamps.html (http://www.tonybmw.co.uk/pages/project_m/projectm_headlamps.html)
Hope this gives you some inspiration.
Keep 116ing,
Gavin
Awesome work man, proper craftsman at work. Keep the updates coming.
Hello Brian,
Firstly, congratulations on the progress you have done so far. I just finished reading your story from day one until now. Impressive to say the least!!! You did indeed inspire me but in a sort of different way. I recently bought my 2nd W116, a 1979 280SE with solid engine/transmission but some body improvement to be completed. I discovered last week that there was rust building up inside the sills and you "inspired" me in fact to let my shop to the job :) It requires skills, creativity, tools, space, time and ca$h all of which I'm short of :) I used to live in Chicago and back then at least I had a bit of time, tools and space to work in my cars. Not quite the case since I moved to France where I'm living now.
Anyway, your story and especially your pics will be a great resource when dealing with the guys doing the work for me. I learned A LOT and feel much more prepared to deal with my rust issues after reading your amazing posts.
Your story truly gives meaning to the phrase "As long as I'm there...." wow !!!
Keep posting your progress Brian and I wish you courage to finish your awesome project.
Robert
This thread shows the enormous work involved if you intend to do the jobs PROPERLY! Well done and keep up the good work...
Quote from: wbrian63 on 03 April 2014, 05:07 PM
The rear jack points are still available. The driver sill is back-ordered, but the passenger sill is available.
Prices - not so great. Sills are $510 for driver's side (but really $1zillion since they're back-ordered) and $525 for passenger's side. Rear jack points - $790 EACH! Of course, I still get my MBCA 20% discount, but event that means $1684 for the available parts...
One of the UK dealers (MB of Poole) today confirmed that the left side sheet metal is out of stock and won't be available anymore - that's sills, sill end pieces, fenders/wings and trunk floors. The right side is "available and at reasonable stock levels".
Annoying for those needing left side metal. Any alternatives out there?
Quote from: jimmyricket on 09 April 2014, 12:24 PM
Annoying for those needing left side metal. Any alternatives out there?
Well, Van Wezel make fenders, sills and rear wheel arch patches, there's also Schlieckman, and Klokkerholm in the US. Opinions are generally not favourable, but apparently with some persuasion the parts do fit. Another alternative is to source used originals in good shape, or look for NOS parts online.
Progress is being made, although not as much as I'd like.
I've completed work on the replacement jack points, and most of the body work on the passenger side in preparation for the sill panel installation.
I'll post up pictures of the jack points at a later time. I think I've come up with a valid option for replacement of these very important but costly chassis assemblies.
Friday's task was to deal with the rust that had invaded the bottom corner of the passenger rear door frame where it intersects with the outside of the car.
This how the spot looked before the reconstruction:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140504-01PassengerSideSillWork_zps008015b9.jpg)
Much of what should be there was cut away when the original sill was removed. The area below the cut line was so rusty it was impossible to tell where the spot welds were to cut them out.
You can also see a lot of body filler behind the blue paint which makes one wonder how much rust is hidden behind the filler.
And this is how it looks now:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140504-02PassengerRearDoorOpening2_zps802cfb19.jpg)
Obviously I have some more work to do to smooth out the welds, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Before I started replacing the metal, I removed the paint and body filler up the arch until I found just paint and primer and no filler. Fortunately, there wasn't any more rust other than the bit found at the very bottom about 1" above the cut line in the first photo.
In the picture above, you can see the sill installed, but it's just there for fitment purposes. I'm happy with how it looks and aligns at the b-pillar:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140504-04_zpsd0bfab22.jpg)
Still have some fitting to do at the a-pillar. The sill is being grafted on to the remains of the original panel where it ties up into the bottom of the a-pillar. The metal was mostly solid there, and the seam welds where the sill meets the body up inside the footwell would be just too hard to deal with to get a clean removal.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140504-03PassengerFrontSill1_zps6abf8eee.jpg)
It is nice to see the sill back in place, even if it is only temporary.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140504-05Sillinplacefortestfitting1_zps4ad2d67a.jpg)
In this last picture, you can see a welded seam just below the hole where the side molding attaches behind the door. I'm not certain if this is a factory weld, or if that weld is from a previous repair and the panel alignment was poor after the fact and required the nearly 1/8" of filler that I tediously ground away.
Once the rear door is reinstalled, we'll know for sure.
Thanks for reading...
and that is how you do the job properly!!
Thank you, Nathan!
Time for an update on the passenger sill replacement work.
The sill is mostly installed and here are the steps that led up to that point:
After I fabricated the jack points, I had to make sure they were placed properly on the chassis and welded in place before the sills were installed.
I thought I'd posted a topic on how I made the jack points, but apparently those pictures were on a camera I lost recently, so I'll take some more pictures of the driver-side units that are still to be completed and post that later.
Here are the jack points protruding from the sills. I didn't attempt to make them exactly the right shape on the ends from the start - longer is better.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-01-PassengerFrontJackPointFittment800x600_zpsd6e54b26.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-02-PassengerRearJackPointFittment800x600_zpscb2789d5.jpg)
While the cover washer provides a little bit of slop, having the tube centered in the hole is better than not.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-03-PassengerRearJackPointAlignment800x600_zps1d6137aa.jpg)
Once the location of the jack points was set, I marked and drilled holes through the chassis to rosebud weld the jack points in place. This is the rear jack point - there are 6 points on the top, 8 points where it mounts inside the sill to the chassis vertically, and 4 more points where it mounts to the bottom of the floor pan where it extends to meet the sills.
With all the holes drilled, I sprayed the inner area of the sill with a high-zinc weld-through primer. Later I'll spray the insides of the sills with cavity wax.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/2dde95f2-2eed-4fb9-acbb-e856ec15c7fc_zps805c6528.jpg)
Here is the same view with the rosebud welds in place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-05-WeldingInPassengerRearJackPoint2800x600_zps934833e8.jpg)
Once the jack points were secure, I carefully aligned and clamped the sill panel in place. Here are the views of the panel alignment at the C-pillar:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-06-PassengerSillFittmentC-Pillar800x600_zpsf7721348.jpg)
B-pillar rear
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-07-PassengerSillFittmentB-PillarRear800x600_zpsa763ba98.jpg)
B-pillar front
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-08-PassengerSillFitmentB-PillarFront800x600_zps6507b877.jpg)
A-pillar rear
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-09-PassengerSillFitmentA-PillarRear800x600_zpsa4dc0678.jpg)
A-pillar front
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-10-PassengerSillFitmentA-PillarFront800x600_zpsb417888e.jpg)
I think I mentioned in a previous posting that I opted to not cut out the entire sill panel at the A-pillar because 1) the existing sill material was still mostly solid and 2) it would have been a real bear of a task to get it freed from the chassis without causing damage that would have to be repaired before the sills could be installed.
The risk of this method is that I need to be very sure that the new sill material lands in the same place as the original structure, because the bottom of the front fender attaches to the sill. If the new sill is too far inset to the car, or protrudes too much, the profile of the fender will not align with the front door, and that would not be good.
Prior to putting the sills in place for welding, I drilled what seemed like hundreds of 5/16" (8mm) holes in the sill for the rosebud welds that would attach the sill to the car. I ground away all of the paint on the areas where I'd be welding, and cleaned up the mating surfaces on the car. I did not spray the high-zinc primer on these flanges because I don't have any easy way to clean the paint out of the holes before I weld, and that is required to get a good weld bond. I'll trust the cavity wax to seal and guard against rust.
Here the process of tacking the sill into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-11-PassengerSillTacking1800x600_zps78b13f70.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-13-PassengerSillTacking3800x600_zpsf1ceee6a.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-12-PassengerSillTacking2800x600_zps025d7089.jpg)
At the B-pillar, I used sheet metal screws through the original spot-weld holes to pull the material tight to do the tacking. Then I removed the screws and finished the welding, closing up the hole made by the screw in the process.
I read once about a student welder that had a task-master instructor that insisted that every weld be placed in whatever orientation the material was at weld-up time. "You can't rotate a battleship" was the saying he used.
Well - I'm not that student, and I don't have the skills of that instructor. What I do have is a rotisserie, so I put the car in the best position to create a horizontal welding orientation for the mass weld-up process.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-14-PassengerSillChassisOnEdge800x600_zpsc83b9fe8.jpg)
For each hole, I used locking pliers to clamp the sill to the car, one on each side. Then I started the weld bead in the center of the hole, circling outward until I had blended in the sill metal with the chassis - over and over and over again...
At the C-pillar, there's a section where the sill/chassis connection is visible after the inner sill covers are installed. That required a series of small pin-point welds connected together. Once ground down, the seam should be invisible:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-15-PassengerSillC-PillarWeldedIn800x600_zps4bdb269c.jpg)
Connections at the B-pillar were more rosebud welds. The series of pin-point welds in the recess are to fill in a groove I accidentally cut when slicing the original sill off of the car. The vertical rosebud welds will also be ground down as they'll show when the car is complete.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-16-PassengerSillB-PillarRearWeldedIn800x600_zpscb803a14.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-17-PassengerSillB-PillarFrontWeldedIn800x600_zpsdaed5fcb.jpg)
At the A-pillar, it's a process of connecting the dots. Welds placed midway between each of the tack welds that were used to secure the sill at the beginning of the process. Then welds between those welds, and so-on and so-on until the entire seam has been welded closed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140520-18-PassengerSillA-PillarWeldedIn800x600_zps11cda8b8.jpg)
W. Brian Fogarty
'02 S55 AMG (W220)
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
When cutting out all of the spot welds to remove the sills and jack points, eventually, you'll end up with a hole where you need solid metal.
I was concerned that closing up a hole would be difficult, but it is actually very easy.
The first thing you need is a copper backing plate. The weld won't stick to the copper, and the copper acts as an excellent heat-sink keeping the welded up hole from shrinking too much and causing a divot in the panel.
I made my backing plate out of a 3/4" copper pipe coupling. I slit it lengthwise with a hack-saw and flattened it out on the anvil of my bench vise:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Welding%20up%20a%20Hole/3FlattenedCopperCoupling800x600_zps893bfbdb.jpg)
Here's the hole that needs to be welded up:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Welding%20up%20a%20Hole/1HoleToBeFilled800x600_zps9c1a9abc.jpg)
Why? Because it aligns with a hole in the flange of the jack point below that will be used to rosebud weld the jack point to the car - you can see the edge of the jack point hole here:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Welding%20up%20a%20Hole/2WhyitMatters800x600_zps84bef51b.jpg)
Clamp the copper behind the hole, then start the welding wire along the rim of the hole, circling inward until you have the entire hole filled in with welding wire:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Welding%20up%20a%20Hole/4HoleFilled800x600_zpscb0ec324.jpg)
After a bit of work with a grinding flap disk, it's hard to even find where the weld occurred:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Welding%20up%20a%20Hole/5WhereitWas800x600_zps9175bca6.jpg)
Time for an update. The sill work on the passenger side is complete! The last part of fiddling involved closing in the end of the sill where it faces the rear fenderwell. Originally, the inner fender material provided this coverage, but the tin worm ate mine.
Here's a picture of the hole to be covered:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-01-PassengerRearFenderwell1800x600_zps5f205cf0.jpg)
The patch needs to be but welded at the top, and rosebud welded along the left side. The right side - the long arc - needs a lip that faces the rear of the car.
First, I fashioned a template out of poster board to get the approximate shape for the flat piece of metal to fill the opening.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-02-PassengerRearFenderwell2800x600_zps6ecea95b.jpg)
Then cut a piece of sheet metal of the same shape, refining the profile so it would fit into the opening.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-03-PassengerRearFenderwell3800x600_zpsc3d75c77.jpg)
Cut a strip of metal about 3/4" wide and attach it to the flat piece to form the lip described above. Check everything for fitment.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-04-PassengerRearFenderwell4800x600_zpsa6bc53ab.jpg)
Butt weld it along the top, with 4 rosebud welds along the left side.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-05-PassengerRearFenderwell5800x600_zpse0df8119.jpg)
Clean everything up - almost. There's a small gap where the patch intersects another patch I formed to replace rusted out inner fender. The edges overlap, but I still need to form something to cover the hole.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-06-PassengerRearFenderwell6800x600_zps87ed1657.jpg)
Here's the fully-installed sill from the rear facing forward:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-07-PassengerSillComplete1800x600_zps849e8727.jpg)
And from the front facing rearward:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-08-PassengerSillComplete2800x600_zpsc871ea7a.jpg)
The front cover installed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-09-PassengerSillComplete3800x600_zps2bb597a1.jpg)
Cleaned up the visible portions of the sill at the front edge of the front door:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-10-PassengerSillComplete4800x600_zps57e1cec4.jpg)
Cleaned up the visible portions of the B-pillar where it meets the sill:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-11-PassengerSillComplete5800x600_zpsc47d0bae.jpg)
I'm not happy with how the welding turned out where the sills and jack ports meet. I cleaned up the welds with a carbide burr and re-welded the front and it looks good.
When I re-welded the back, I sadly discovered I'd ground too much metal away and the weld blew through the sill. It took a lot of fiddling to close the hole back up and it looks like crap.
Worse, the heat from the second set of welds caused the sill to buckle at the top of the jack ports.
I don't know how noticeable this will be when the car is painted, but as I've got some small dents to be removed via a paintless dent removal process, I'll let them have a go at these areas to see what can be done. I think that any attempt to add body filler here would eventually fail when if the car was jacked up using the MB-supplied crank jack.
Next post will contain the work done to make the drivers side ready for the new sill.
I'm very glad I started on the passenger side. The amount of work that must be done to fix the drivers side is far greater and my skills have improved enough that I'm making great strides there.
W. Brian Fogarty
'02 S55 AMG (W220)
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
An on to the "fun part" - the driver's sill area.
In previous postings, I noted that the front of the sill area was severely rusted - Severely...
This is a view looking rearward inside the front fender well:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-12-DriverFrontInnerSill4800x600_zpsa5dddf9d.jpg)
And a quarter view looking forward at the point where the front jack port would be attached.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-13-DriverFrontInnerSill5800x600_zps8c7f6134.jpg)
A lot of structure had to come out to get back to clean stable steel:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-14-DriverFrontInnerSill6800x600_zps4308b27a.jpg)
There was even rust in the floor pan, most likely where water had been trapped under the sound mat. This view from below shows where the spot welds were removed on the structural "beam" to allow the floor to be cut away from above:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-15-DriverFrontInnerSill7800x600_zps1e4c3e45.jpg)
Same area, as viewed from above:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-16-DriverFrontInnerSill10800x600_zps1e989224.jpg)
In the front part of the foot well, exploration with a pick revealed fairly substantial rust behind the structural channel that runs from below the fuse box:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-17-DriverFrontInnerSill8800x600_zpsd0ff8156.jpg)
And the same area, viewed from inside the car:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-18-DriverFrontInnerSill9800x600_zps6e652b77.jpg)
A flat patch was formed to cover the hole in the bottom of the floor pan:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-20-DriverFrontInnerSill12800x600_zps44f07ee6.jpg)
And a single long piece to cover the hole in the inner sill from the leading edge of the foot well rearwards:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-21-DriverFrontInnerSill13800x600_zps1e5811c6.jpg)
Carefully butt welded into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-22-DriverFrontInnerSill16800x600_zps67ebb517.jpg)
And the welds ground down:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-24-DriverFrontInnerSill19800x600_zps6f0dc218.jpg)
In the above picture you can see an area where there are no welds. This is a channel that is used to pass wires and the vacuum lock hoses from the A-pillar down into the edge of the floor. On the passenger side, I formed this channel with a lot of persuading from a body hammer, and it is less than ideal in shape.
I decided on the driver's side to get the major panel welded in place, then form a separate piece to duplicate the channel, cut away the major panel and weld the channel piece into position - like so:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-25-DriverFrontInnerSill20800x600_zps92b6ad4f.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-26-DriverFrontInnerSill21800x600_zps7a499af0.jpg)
There was so much damage to the upper portion of the sill behind the front fender that it was easier to cut the entire section out up to the A-pillar attachment and weld a piece from the replacement sill into position. I cut away a section of good body to allow me to get into the A-pillar and remove the spot welds that held the upper sill in place, and also to provide access for rosebud welding the sill section into place.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-27-DriverFrontInnerSill23800x600_zps2773081d.jpg)
This is a "mostly finished" shot of the repaired section of front inner sill and foot well:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-28-DriverFrontInnerSill24800x600_zps968d94d9.jpg)
Remember the rust I found in the rear fender well?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-13-Patchpanelremoved_zps0c9ffc1b.jpg)
This is what it looked like when I found the extent of the rust and cut it free:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-29-DriverRearFenderwell4800x600_zps33d7cfe8.jpg)
Having learned my lesson on the passenger side, I'm working one side (the inner fender) first, leaving the chassis side in place as a positioning reference point - with my limited metal-forming skills, it's easier to put the metal back in sections:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-30-DriverRearFenderwell6800x600_zps49744c48.jpg)
The metal behind the rear jack point is complete cactus, so I'm patching in that as well. This is a small rust-through point just in front of the well where the rear cross-member bolts to the chassis:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-31-DriverRearJackPoint2800x600_zpsffb3d6e5.jpg)
Cut away with a pneumatic hack saw:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-32-DriverRearJackPoint3800x600_zps4b52094f.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-33-DriverRearJackPoint4800x600_zpsbc55de85.jpg)
Shape of cutaway traced onto a new piece of metal:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-34-DriverRearJackPoint5800x600_zps91de761a.jpg)
Carefully shaped and welded into position, all welds ground smooth:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-35-DriverRearJackPoint6800x600_zps613ba561.jpg)
Hopefully, I'll finish up the patching for the chassis behind the rear jack point and into the fender well this week. Then a little more inner fender work and I can start fitting the sill into place...
Onward through the fog...
I gotta say, Brian, you are doing a hell of a job here. Thanks for being conscientious enough to keep us posted on your progress.
I did a similar, but not as big, sill replacement a number of years ago and I was wondering if you had considered using lead to finish off your welding seams - particularly where the sill meets the bottom of the B-pillar. The factory uses lead and it has many advantages. Kinda of old school and a bit of a learning curve, but it sure looks like you could handle it.
Ken
Thanks for the kind words, Poly.
My car didn't have any lead in the seam where the B-pillar met the sills. Before I removed everything, there was a clean line of demarcation between the B-pillar and the sill. Once the spot welds were removed, there was no problem to remove the sill from the car in this area.
Not saying this isn't a good idea, and in fact I've been considering the argument of lead (not really "lead" anymore) vs filler for the areas that require it.
The sill was brazed into place where the seam shows outside the sill cover plates at the back of the rear door. This was clear when I cut the old sill out - I could clearly see the color change where the brass met the steel. I elected not to attempt brazing this junction even though I have brazed parts before. I'm getting "better" (far from good) at MIG welding and was able to get a satisfactory result - at least it looks satisfactory now. The truth will be revealed when the primer goes on...
Regards
This really is outstanding work! Certainly not something for the uncommitted and it's great to know what you could face before you start.
I'd be keen to know the different welding techniques and the theory behind each one. I think it'll be a good idea for me to enroll in a welding course or three.....
BTW it might pay to chemically treat and seal BOTH sides of your welding to ensure the rust doesn't rapidly return
There appears to be cracking in the structural section and I'm wondering if it's a common problem. Where is that in relation to the suspension mounts?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-33-DriverRearJackPoint4800x600_zpsbc55de85.jpg)
Are you talking about the lines that appear in the upper left-hand portion of the above picture, near where the seam appears and below the spot welds?
Those aren't cracks - they're how the cavity wax "puddled" as it was sprayed in at the factory.
If you're not talking about those lines, please tell me where you see cracks. I'm very interested...
Regards
Yes that's what I was referring to. It does look cracked but then the next few pictures it does not. The reason I ask is because one of mine has cracked at rear strut area above the rear axle shafts and at the steering box mounts. I've also seen some crack at the front suspension mounting points.
Thankfully, I've seen no cracks on my car anywhere.
I know the 6.3's were prone to cracking around the steering box mounts to the point where MB came up with some sort of fix.
I think cracking in the W116 is a rare condition. I've heard of it, but it's not something that's heard of often.
Regards
Yes thankfully Mark saved us all the need to check for chassis cracking on 6.9's by looking for and purchasing all known 6.9's with cracked chassis. There by removing them from the market. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Haha funny! And that was even after I had it 'professionally' inspected before purchase!! :o >:( ??? ::) Just doing my part to save these cars from neglect; don't look after it and I'm likely to take it off you!!! ;D
I do believe it's not an isolated issue so you should check your car thoroughly.
Hi Mark have already done so took it to workshop that had serviced it before purchase put it on hoist to inspect underneath and check for rust it was as clean as WGB had said it was from his inspection. :)
As noted in previous posts, the inner chassis where the rear jack point mounts on the driver's side was completely cactus.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140403-11-BehindRearJackPoint_zpsf3db926d.jpg)
The picture above doesn't look "that bad", but once I removed the jack point, more damage was revealed. While not a direct shot, at the far left-hand edge of this picture, you can see the holes through the metal where the right flange of the jack point would attach. These were hidden by the jack point itself. The surrounding metal was nearly just as bad. The open hole in this picture corresponds to the black grommet in the previous picture, location-wise.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140608-29-DriverRearFenderwell4800x600_zps33d7cfe8.jpg)
Fortunately, this section of the chassis is a nice flat section of metal. I produced a patch panel, complete with grommet hole and a horizontal bend at the bottom to meet up with the floor pan, and welded it in place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-01DriverRearJackPoint7_zps55a58dfc.jpg)
While the image appears as if the lower flange isn't co-linear with the rest of the chassis, this is an image distortion - I made sure to use a straight-edge to align the patch with the adjoining section of sill.
The rusted metal to the right of the new patch is part of the inner chassis behind the fenderwell. That will be removed in the next step.
First step was to rotate the chassis on the rotisserie so that the driver's side was "down" and I could look directly down at the repair area from above. Took some time to clean all of the undercoat away from the repair area, then figured out what shape the repair would need to take. You can see the back side of the jack point repair on the right side of this image:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-02DriverRearFenderwellInside1_zps5d3b74df.jpg)
Quick work with my trusty pneumatic hack-saw and the rust was gone:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-03DriverRearFenderwellInside2_zps933b3b3a.jpg)
An here is the cut-away piece to be used as reference:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-04DriverRearFenderwellInside3_zpsebe5f373.jpg)
My skillset and toolset are not up to the task of forming the repair patch in a single section of metal, so I broke the replacement patch into sections:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-05DriverRearFenderwellInside4_zpsccd0e3e4.jpg)
With the first piece, I was able to form the curve at the bottom where it arcs to meet the welding flange. Then I added a small pie-shaped piece:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-06DriverRearFenderwellInside5_zps36341c75.jpg)
The 3rd piece in the patch isn't flat where it arcs to meet the welding flange, so I formed the top section with the curve first, then cut away the back side of the curve so it would sit straight across the arcing weld flange. Then I added a flat piece and stitched the two together to form a single piece:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-07DriverRearFenderwellInside6_zps31f565f2.jpg)
The last section was formed the same as the previous. This joins on the right edge to the jack point repair shown earlier in this posting:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-08DriverRearFenderwellInside7_zps03cf980b.jpg)
And all cleaned up:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140613-09DriverRearFenderwellInside8_zpsd9e4aff2.jpg)
You may notice in these pictures that the inner fenderwell patches have a matte gray appearance. I finally figured out the methods required to utilize weld-through primer.
The idea behind weld-through primer is that it can stand up to the temperature of welding without burning away.
While working on the passenger side, I tried to use this paint on surfaces where I was needing to rosebud weld to meeting parts together. The problem was that in my ignorance, I assumed the phrase "weld-through" meant I could literally "weld through" the primer when joining the parts. Not so, grasshopper... Possibly this would be true when using a high amp setting on the welder, but for this thin work, I've got my trusty Hobart 187 turned down to 1 and the welding attempts resulted in a lot of popping, snapping and generally crappy weld quality.
Reading online I discovered the trick is to clean the primer away from the "behind" piece before you attempt to weld. The author of the thread I was reading had a great method that I'll share here. He uses a 1/4" drill for the hole. Then, once the pieces are mated and clamped for welding, he takes a modified D drill (.242 diameter) and cleans out the primer from the hole. The modification is simple - he blunts the tip on a bench grinder to where the drill looks more like an end-mill. He described a method to restore the cutting edge if the bit isn't effective, but I've not needed to do this with my drill.
Method works a treat and now I can fully prime all the repair patches that are installed on the car.
With the exception of making the flange pieces for the front and rear of the inner sill to join to the outer sill and constructing and installing the jack points, this concludes the work required to install the driver's side outer sill.
While had the car up "on edge" to do the passenger sill, I discovered two areas on the driver's floor pan that have rusted through. In the next posting, I go through the steps required to repair those areas.
The floor pan under the rear seat on the driver's side had rusted through. I'm completely confused as to how this could have happened other than possibly a leaking sunroof hose, as the one installed currently appears to have a non-standard design.
Anyway - as with most rust, it didn't appear that bad from the surface. This was after the first cleaning:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-01UnderDriverRearSeat1800x600_zps132f947c.jpg)
A little tapping around the edge of the cleaned area revealed more punky areas:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-02UnderDriverRearSeat2800x600_zps0323a39e.jpg)
Again, no way for me to form the patch as a single piece of metal, so I planned to break the repair into 3 pieces. The top would deal with the angled area adjacent to the grommet hole. The middle would be the easy piece, just one flat piece formed to the curve of the floor pan. The last piece would deal with the balance of the rust.
This is what it looks like from inside the car. It's interesting to see how a flash picture can reveal some details while hiding others:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-03UnderDriverRearSeat3800x600_zps7aba4776.jpg)
Same area - no flash, but back-lit from below the floor pan:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-04UnderDriverRearSeat4800x600_zpsa49a4cf6.jpg)
I used the existing material to help me form the patch. That is to say I didn't cut any old stuff out until I was almost ready to fit the patch pieces. The first piece bends in three planes, so I took my time to shape it to fit. Then I scribed around the patch with a carbide pen and removed the material with the pneumatic hack saw.
In order to be able to hold the patch piece in place for fine tuning the hole size and then for initial welding, I tacked a tab of metal onto the piece. This I did after the 10th or so time the patch piece fell through the hole and into the car necessitating cussing prior to retrieval...
One thing I've discovered with this process is butt welding two pieces of flat metal together goes very smoothly unless one of the mating pieces hides rust. The moment the circuit is made to tack the edges together, the rusty metal literally evaporates and you're left with a "half tack". This is true even when one side of the piece has been ground down to nice shiny metal.
And so this is how I discovered that the cutout area for the first patch was not large enough and there was nearly rusted through areas surrounding the grommet hole. You can see these new holes above the first welded patch:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-05UnderDriverRearSeat5800x600_zps931917af.jpg)
Same picture - with a flash:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-06UnderDriverRearSeat6800x600_zpsfbc65d8d.jpg)
After I added the third piece, I went back and added three more small pieces to remove and replace the rusty metal around the grommet hole.
And here's the finished product:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Rear%20Seat/20140613-07UnderDriverRearSeat7800x600_zps26549168.jpg)
The floor pan under the driver's seat ended up being far more involved than I had expected. (Isn't that the way it always is with rust?)
I thought I had a picture of how I discovered the rust as a small bubble in the undercoat where the left frame rail terminates into the floor pan under the driver's seat, but I think that pic was on the camera I left sitting on the truck bumper some time ago...
One thing was obvious - I was going to have to remove the cross member that sits under the driver's seat from sill to transmission tunnel in order to gain access to the floor pan for a full cut-and-remove session.
This is all that was visible on the rearward edge of the cross member:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140613-01UnderDriverSeat1800x600_zps135cb8a8.jpg)
The sound deadening material came out in bits and pieces, but it wasn't very well secured so the total removal effort was measured in minutes, not hours.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140613-02UnderDriverSeat2800x600_zpsccf71983.jpg)
With the cross member out, I removed a test section of floor pan to see how badly rusted the frame rail was - results were encouraging. The "T" at the end was badly pitted, but still viable. Sprayed liberally with rust conversion spray and later with weld-through primer, it would be usable.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140613-03UnderDriverSeat3800x600_zpsd4a3b7fc.jpg)
With a "Sharpie" in hand and with much trepidation, I traced the edges of the pan to create a cutout line. Then drilled holes at the intersections and removed the panel with my trusty pneumatic hack saw:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-04UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps6edc7354.jpg)
Funny how the shape of the hole in black line doesn't look nearly as big as the finished product...
I determined the boundary of how far I was going to need to cut by finding the edge of the badly pitted metal. I decided I needed to cut out a major section when moderate probing with my welding pick opened up all of the holes circled on this photo:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-05UnderDriverSeat800x600_zpsa1f24afe.jpg)
What was curious was there was almost no rust in the areas where the beads were concave and would have collected and held water. The rust-through areas were on the flats and along the tops the convex beads. Strange...
I started out with a flat sheet cut to approximately the right shape with a bend in it to match the rough contour of the floor pan:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-06UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps45904903.jpg)
Then I added beads where they belonged with this tool:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/BeadRoller_zps96c38bc4.jpg)
It did an acceptable job of creating the beads needed to stiffen the panel. They weren't as wide as the factory beads, so where the new panel intersected the original panel I had to do some material massaging to make the edges meet.
The biggest problem with this tool is there is no way to start a bead in the middle of a panel, so several of the stopped beads had to be started at the edge and then the edge had to be flattened out to remove the bead. This creates a bow in the panel because forming the bead stretches the metal and it doesn't shrink back to original size when you pound the bead flat on an anvil. Still made it work.
I started with one panel and ended up cutting it into two pieces to make it fit. There was just too much fiddling with the larger panel to make everything work.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-07UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps28baefc1.jpg)
The hole in the front (left side of picture) needs to become an inverted channel to mate with the frame rail underneath. The right side of the panel, adjacent to the welded seam will need to be cut away and a new piece formed to join to the channel that runs into the rear floor board.
Here's the panel fully welded in before more modifications to deal with the left and right areas. You can see the seam as a series of dots in the upper quadrant of the picture - I didn't weld it up because most of that metal will be cut away in a later step:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-08UnderDriverSeat800x600_zpsed6cb1e1.jpg)
I forgot to take pictures as I removed and replaced the pan to intersect with the frame rail, but the process started off with a piece formed to match the channel:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-09UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps6912f9ba.jpg)
Here are the steps for fixing the right side of the pan. First, form a piece to intersect with the channel:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-12UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps1d24287a.jpg)
Then use that to cut a hole in the floor pan:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-10UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps03c85359.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-11UnderDriverSeat800x600_zpsfa5e2c7c.jpg)
Tack the patch into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-13UnderDriverSeat800x600_zpsbc5c58da.jpg)
"Connect the dots" and grind everything smooth:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-14UnderDriverSeat800x600_zpsbbcbdc79.jpg)
Here's the view from below. I ground away all of the welding pips that appeared from below and filled in a few areas that needed it:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/Under%20Drivers%20Front%20Seat/20140627-15UnderDriverSeat800x600_zps0df92000.jpg)
Like most things with this restoration, I hadn't planned on doing this much work. Because of the unexpected amount of rust found in this floor pan (entered into the floor pan from the badly rusted front foot well at the sill behind the front tire), I now will remove the sound deadening on the passenger floor pan, as well as strip all of the undercoat from the bottom of the car.
I've gone this far over the edge - might as well complete the jump...
Next will be to weld the cross member under the seat back into place and then fit the jack points and drivers outer sill.
Thanks for reading...
you are on fire mate. keep up the great work and posts. this is a monster effort thats for sure!
The level of work you are doing is way beyond anything I am capable of but it is a credit to your skills that you are and can do this level of work to your car. :)
It's pretty clear from these last few pics Brian just how far your skills have come along, you should be pretty pleased and proud with your progress I would say, I'm very much appreciating your effort in
documenting this ever increasing task.
Cheers,
Thanks to KenM, Motec and Nathan. I am pleased with how things are turning out but hardly satisfied with the speed at which the results are achieved. "I'll never make a living doing this"...
The saying "Time flies when you're having fun" - it also apparently flies when you're welding stuff...
The driver's sill is in and done. The front section was not as easy to do as the passenger side because I'd left very little of the original good sill to match the new sill, but I managed to get it done and it's good and tight, both structurally sound and water tight, which is equally important.
At the rear of the sill where the sill meets the driver's rear fenderwell, the remaining exterior metal was too thin to successfully reattach via rosebud welds, so I had to cut that part away:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-01DriverRearFenderatRearSill1_zps47b502a2.jpg)
I was careful to leave the outside edge of the body where it forms the door frame. It was structurally sound and will prevent me from having to reconstruct the arc and the radius of the edge which would necessitate reinstalling the rear door to guide the shape of the new parts:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-02DriverRearFenderatRearSill2_zpsf6de8cc7.jpg)
The replacement piece wraps into the fenderwell where it meets the edge of the sill. All done, welded in place and ready for the next step:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-03DriverRearFenderatRearSill3_zpsa15dae0d.jpg)
The front of the sill has a plate that comes from MB and is welded in to close the hole between the inner rocker and the outer sill. The rear of the sill has no such part - the cover is formed by the inner fender structure, which I doubt is still available from MB and even if it is would cost a king's ransom. So there's a hole to be filled. Apologies for the out-of-focus picture:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-04DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell1_zps1df54fe7.jpg)
I approached this effort differently than the passenger side. I formed the first part of the patch out of an angle-bent section that I put through the shrinker to get it to mostly conform to the curve of the sill:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-06DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell3_zps19ea9c88.jpg)
Shrinking metal, especially of the thickness of these replacement parts is difficult. Eventually, you just can't gather the metal enough and the shrinking stops. At the end (bottom) of the curve, the radius tightens up where the sill intersects the inner rocker. To match this curve closely, I cut away thin sections of the part with my pneumatic hack saw, then closed the kerfs up by bending the part and tacking the metal back together. This is the side that will face the inside of the fenderwell. I tacked the "fingers" of the piece together on the other side first, then finished the work on this face:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-08DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell5_zps1e20f0ed.jpg)
The end result is pretty enough - I'm trying to avoid leaving small gaps in the metal where moisture can lodge and start rust. All of this will be covered in seam sealer and rock chip coatings, so the unevenness of the final surface is not much of a concern.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-11DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell10_zpsdfbe1737.jpg)
This out of focus picture shows the piece in place before I finished up the kerfed surface. I made sure the piece was the right shape and length before I spent the 1 hour-plus closing up all the kerfs.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-05DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell2_zpscdec88eb.jpg)
Once that piece was tacked into place, it was a simple matter to cut out and fit a pie-shaped piece to close in the hole:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-12DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell11_zpsc085d574.jpg)
Lots of small welds and grinding and we have a finished product:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-13DriverSillEndInsiderRearFenderwell12_zpsd1270bee.jpg)
I got the washers welded up around the jack points tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to start on this little surprise.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-14DriverFenderwellatSwaybarSupport1_zpsa8660678.jpg)
I had thought all the major rust had been found, but when I was buttoning up the sill work, I happened to push against this area of the fenderwell while positioning myself for a weld, and the metal gave under my push. A little exploratory surgery reveals what appears to be the start of a repair that was abandoned.
When I got the undercoat removed, all the cuts in the inner fender were filled with latex caulk...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-15DriverFenderwellatSwaybarSupport2_zps4af1e727.jpg)
I've already been through one 10 pound spool of .024 welding wire. Hope I don't burn through another before I run out of rust to repair...
Thanks for reading.
W. Brian Fogarty
'02 S55 AMG (W220)
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
Unbelievable Brian,
What a huge job you have taken on, I really appreciate the effort you have gone to, to upload the photos and keep us informed along the way.. I'm sure it has inspired many others as it has me to get out in the shed and get cracking.
Cheers
Robert
You're doing one fine job there Brian. It'll be so much more rewarding then having it done by someone else (as I did, since I've got two left hands when it comes to welding).
On your remark about inner fender availability - surprisingly, they're available. Can't remember if both sides, and what the exact price was, but if memory serves it was well north of 300GBP/500USD.
Yegods, I'm starting to have worries about what my own cars are harbouring under that bloody sound deadener, best not to look methinks... 8)
To quote an "old time" radio show: "Who knows what evil lurks in the heart's of men? The Shadow knows..."
Adjusted, and put into context for this thread: "Who knows what rust hides behind the veil of factory sound deadner? wbrian63 knows..." (and he's not happy about it)
I grow increasingly tired of uncovering one problem after another. I don't have a problem with the rust that had invaded the sills over time. My biggest issue is the shoddy work performed by others before I took possession of the car. I know it's not cheap to get this type of work done, but the difference in cost between a poorly done job and one done properly can't really be that much, can it? If one is going to have stewardship of a vehicle the calibre of a 6.9, one should have to promise to not attempt repairs like those I've had to fix on this car.
The cost of redoing someone else's dodgy work is many times more than what it would have cost to do it right in the first place...
I'm currently about the task of stripping the sound deadner out of the drivers rear fenderwell. I'm about half way up the back side of the well, and that took about 2 hours on Friday. The work will go more slowly as I encounter the curves that form the fenderwell above the tire. Not looking forward to that effort - plus there's the passenger fenderwell to do after that...
Sadly, I don't think there's any other way to accomplish this effort. Media (sand) blasting might remove the coating, but the cost would be high and I'd have to take the car off the rotisserie and put it back on the trolly to transport it - assuming I could find a shop to do the work. Then I'd have the problems endemic to having other folks work on my stuff - namely that I can't expect quality, pretty much no matter how much money I'm willing to pay. I'd also have to worry about panel damage, as one would have to use a very aggressive media to cut through the rubbery undercoat. Soda or glass bead isn't going to touch this stuff.
So I'm back to my heat gun and chisel...
Brian, you have my sympathies (and encouragement) - I have done this job. As far as the deadner, I might have a suggestion. We are painting my garage and my wife bought a Wagner PAINTEater at Lowe's for about $70, and as soon as it came out of the box I could see all kinds of uses. Its a rotary tool that uses a 3M abrasive sponge disk. Used it for an entire day stripping old boards and it was very quick and I saw no noticeable wear on the pad. It would be the first tool I would try when the need to remove this material comes up again.
Ken
Thanks for the suggestion, Ken. I'll keep that in mind.
One of the "small" advantages to doing it the way I've been doing it is the reduced amount of airborne particulates. I scrape as much of the undercoat as I can off the car. This has the advantage of longer roloc disc life because there isn't as much stuff to clog the pores of the disc.
One thing for sure that is to be avoided is trying to remove the stuff that is now covered by undercoat that was added to the car at some point. That stuff appears and behaves just like cold-set tar. Touch it with any sort of grinding disc and it immediately liquifies and clogs the disc.
I've seen the Wagner product of which you speak. It for certain revolves at a far lower speed than the pneumatic tools I'm using, and if I recall, the "weave" of the discs it uses are more open, which should delay the eventual problem of clogging.
I have another technique I'm going to try - a "multi-tool". I posted a question about my trials on GarageJournal.com where someone replied with a link to a PelicanParts forum where someone was showing the progress on undercoat removal from a 80's (I think) era Porsche 911. They used an inexpensive Harbor Freight (lots of inexpensive Chinese-manufactured stuff - some of it good, some not so much) multi-tool with a non-toothed scraper blade. Said it cuts through the PVC coating like nobody's business.
I've got one of those tools - a Dremel-labeled device that I'm eager to try.
I need to get all this crap off the car before I'm too old and decrepit to enjoy the vehicle
It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep my spirits up regarding the amount of work that I still face before I can even hope to start putting things back ON the car...
In my last installment, I showed some rather grizzly rust/abuse in the driver's rear fenderwell adjacent to the attachment point for the rear sway bar.
Given the "surprise" that greeted me with this discovery, I've decided to stop any rust re-work and concentrate on removal of as much of the undercoat/stone chip as I can. Some of it will be very difficult to get at given the location on the chassis. Some of it will be inaccessible because of how the rotisserie attaches to the car.
Rest assured, I will persevere.
So, given that new goal, I started work on the coating in the driver's rear fenderwell. There is a combination of dirt, which covers a tar-like undercoat, which covers the stone chip. To keep the amount of dirt falling on me to a minimum, I started with a "manual" wire brush.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-2InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zps03dffbc2.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-3InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zps8195f298.jpg)
The plan was to work on the vertical sections of the fenderwell, then rotate the car to where "up" was "down" and continue the work.
The method remained the same - heat gun set to 1100F, a sharp 1/2" wood chisel and a safety knife. I cut hash marks into the coatings down to metal creating an approximate 1" x 1" grid pattern. Then I heat several of the grids to soften the stone chip and attack with the chisel.
It is slow, dreadful work.
But there is a reason for this - as seen in this picture:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-4InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zps7e8c4963.jpg)
Near the center of the image, you'll see a rust spot. This isn't something that will have to be repaired via cut-and-replace, but if it had been left covered, it would eventually have resulted in more damage.
Most of the W116 chassis is assembled with spot welders. There are a few places I'm finding where they used what I call "rosebud" welds. The outer panel has a small hole in it where it meets the inner panel. The welds are done manually starting with the arc in the middle of the hole through to the inner panel, and "swirling" out to join the outer panel to the inner panel. You can see several of those welds below the rust spot. This rust spot is a place where the rosebud weld was not performed. There's a neat 3/16" or so hole in the outer panel - too neat and to close to the other welds to be anything other than a missed weld.
I removed as much of the undercoat as I could, then cleaned up the metal with 3M abrasive roloc discs to bare metal. Then I flipped the car over about 215 degrees to where the fenderwell is now "down" and I could continue with the work.
I should note that the work that preceded the flip took about 4 hours.
And so the work begins again. No need to scrub off the dirt with a wire brush when all the work is down hill.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-5InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zpsb75cd42f.jpg)
Even though the work is below me, it's more difficult than the previous work, because it's in a "bowl". This makes the chisel work more difficult as I can't get a proper angle on the tool against the metal to remove the undercoat without digging into the underlying metal. Much slower going here.
This little section probably took 30-45 minutes:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-6InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zps7dc683fb.jpg)
And another 30-45 minutes for this:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-7InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zps3a3d37a9.jpg)
And 15 minutes for the balance:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-8InsideDriversRearFenderwell800x600_zps8b759643.jpg)
What? 15 minutes for all that? How can this be?
Well, in a bit of frustration, I posted a question on GarageJournal.com, where I'm also a member (same name as here). There are many members there that have restored cars, I figured someone might have a suggestion.
I indicated that I wasn't interested in any sort of chemical strippers, and media blasting was also not an option. Several suggestions came in for twisted wire cups in a right-angle grinder. Possibly an option, but a really nasty, dirty option.
Then someone posted a link to a thread on PelincanParts.com where someone was restoring a 70's era Porsche 911. Another German car with a similar problem of rust lurking under the PVC stone chip. The solution was there - and this is the solution:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-16TheSavingTool800x600_zpsa90593b9.jpg)
Something that's been sitting in a tool box not 15 feet from where I've been suffering and toiling to liberate #521 from its PVC prison.
I won't say that it cuts through the stone chip like a hot knife through butter. It's more like a room temp spoon through ice cream, but it beats the living hell out of my previous methods. Plus, the health benefits are bound to be better, as there's no heat involved and therefore no chance of out-gassing from the tar undercoat and stone chip.
So, I got the fender cleaned out post-haste, and this is what I found:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-10InsideDriversRearFenderwellLip800x600_zps1193561d.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-11InsideDriversRearFenderwellLip800x600_zps7b4b0bff.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-12InsideDriversRearFenderwellLip800x600_zpsff672236.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-13InsideDriversRearFenderwellLip800x600_zpsb0990724.jpg)
Apparently, the outer lip of the driver's fender has been replaced at some point, and I'm guessing these nicks and tears in the inner fender are from the gorilla body men. There's obviously rust that will have to be cut out and replacement panels created and installed.
Sigh...
This is where the back edge of the rear fender meets the "well" panel in the trunk. I originally assumed that I would just remove the bad and replace with good...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-14DriversRearFenderwellatTrunkWell800x600_zps495f3567.jpg)
As I cleaned the underside of the well panel, I discovered rust inside the seam where the well panel is (in this case) brazed to the side of the trunk frame.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-15DriversSideSeamatTrunkWellEdge800x600_zps792a35d1.jpg)
This is what happens when water gets in the trunk and sits in the wells. It seeps into the seams and causes rust.
It doesn't look like the well panel will have to be replaced, but I'll know more when I remove it. Doesn't look like that's too hard a job - but I've said that before.
Yesterday, I continued with the stone chip removal. Starting about 4:00 pm, I completed all of this work by 6:45 pm. The work area was from around the rear subframe mount all the way forward to the front cross-member mount. The rusty area is the new panel I fabbed in to replace the rusted floor pan under the driver's seat.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140813-17DriversSideAlmostDone800x600_zps2531f07e.jpg)
And yes - I've got some crush-type damage to deal with adjacent to the subframe mount and also on the front subframe...
More sigh...
At least I can put the chisel and heat gun away...
Thanks for reading.
Hopefully my next post will have a picture of the naked underside of a W116 for your viewing pleasure [:D]
Wow Brian you have certainly opened up the proverbial can here.
On the plus side, nakedness is always to be viewed with interest, play on good sir!
Imagine how good you'll feel when you're done knowing there's no rust!
Thanks for all the encouragement. Time for an update...
As I noted previously, I've grown tired of discovering all the little surprises this car seems to have lurking under the covers, so I'm working on stripping the entire underneath of the car, back to bare metal or close to it, anyway.
I took vacation from Aug 18 thru Aug 22 and can happily report much progress in this effort, although typically not as much as I'd hoped.
The driver's side is stripped, and doing so revealed some rust in the area where the spare tire well attaches to the bottom of the trunk. Fortunately, this is just surface rust:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-1RustbySpareTireWell800x600_zpscdbf8845.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-2RustbySpareTireWell800x600_zpscddd8a97.jpg)
None of this was visible prior to removing the dirt and undercoat.
With some scrubbing with a wire brush on a right-angle grinder, the rust is largely removed. What remains can be dealt with using a rust-converting paint or spray.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-3RustbySpareTireWell800x600_zpse6c1bb30.jpg)
You know I love Mercedes, but sometimes I truly am amazed that these cars have lasted as long as they have. Take as a case in point the pivot housing for the parking brake cable. The bar that accepts the cable from the parking brake pedal in the cabin and also the pair of cables that mate up with the parking brakes at each rear tire pivots here and slides on a mating flange on the other side of the drive shaft tunnel.
This heavy duty housing is welded to the tunnel, but obviously is suffering from some surface rust:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-4ParkingBrakePivot800x600_zps6cb03220.jpg)
Based on the amount of surface rust found around the perimeter, I'm considering cutting the welds loose and removing the housing from the car so whatever is hiding beneath can be properly addressed.
As I was grinding away the rust found near the spare tire well, I discovered a new surprise. This car has had rather extensive repairs done to the rear. If you look closely, you can see tabs of metal beneath the upper layer of metal. These tabs are what remains of the original upper layer, having been cut away most likely with a pneumatic chisel (a true butcher's tool).
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-5DamageRepair800x600_zpsc0bce789.jpg)
The hacks that did the work didn't even bother to grind away the remnants of the original parts, they just slapped the new part on top.
Further evidence of shoddy repairs are evidenced by the gap behind this part where it should mate tightly to the vertical panel that forms the vertical edge of the inside of the wells on either side of the trunk:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-6DamageRepair800x600_zps516aa316.jpg)
When I used a bunch of shop rags and some mineral spirits to clean away the dirt, rust preventative and oil, the original primer black parts are revealed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-7DamageRepair800x600_zpsf49a5614.jpg)
This explains the cuts I found above the sway bar on the driver's rear fenderwell:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140731-15DriverFenderwellatSwaybarSupport2_zps4af1e727.jpg)
These were made during the repair attempt by someone that didn't know what needed to be removed and what should have been left alone.
There's a matching set of cuts in the same place on in the passenger rear fenderwell - hidden by sealer:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-8DamageRepair800x600_zpsf885ebd2.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-9DamageRepair800x600_zps61d9787d.jpg)
The good news is that I'm 95% done with stripping the underneath of the car - here's the passenger side almost done:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140822-11PassengerSideProgress800x600_zps14356159.jpg)
I've still got to deal with the passenger rear fenderwell, and the underside of the trunk well on the passenger side - then I'll know for sure what needs fixing.
I'll have to deal with the inner edges of the rear fenderwells - what I can see on the passenger side is similar to the carnage that I found on the driver side. I'll have to repair the cuts to the body around the sway bar supports on the driver and passenger side. I'll also have to repair the driver side rear inner fender where it meets the trunk well - and likely a similar repair on the passenger side.
I had a friend from the next-door body shop drop by yesterday to see the progress. He suggested using a twisted wire cup brush rather than the scraper with the multi tool. He gave a demonstration with one from his tool kit, and the progress one can make is astounding. Likewise, the amount of mess that one creates is astounding, so even though the progress is slower, I stuck with the scraper.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/CupBrush_zps539cdb57.jpg)
The cup brush will come in handy with the final cleanup where I can't gain access with the right-angle grinders and roloc disks, and I've already used it in that fashion with good results.
I asked him about what to do with the seams and crevices found throughout the engine compartment. Most of the are "clean", but they harbor large amounts of oily residue, which will play havoc with paint when the time comes. His suggestion was "a wire brush and gasoline."
All I could think was "boom"...
I for sure have to do something to clean out these pesky areas so that I can get a good result with paint. Maybe a steam cleaner is a good investment...
Thanks for reading.
This is exhausting even just by reading it from a warm sofa and with a cold beer within the easy reach.
great work....
Progress this week has been delayed a bit. I spent a couple of days installing a refrigerated air dryer. My Quincy air compressor had of late been producing (so it seemed) as much water as air, despite my attempts to drain the lines on a fairly regular basis.
At every point in the air system in my shop, where a line turns up to go to a hose reel, there's a corresponding down leg with a drain at the bottom. This works fine to capture small amounts of condensation, but when I'm using high-draw tools like air grinders, the air flow is rapid enough that the moisture stays in the flow until it gets to the point of usage. Obviously, this isn't good for the tools, nor is it good to spray bare metal with a light misting of water.
I tripped across a thread on GarageJournal.com where someone was showing off their compressor installation, and in the pictures there they referenced a refrigerated air dryer they'd purchased from Harbor Freight. I had always assumed that a refrigerated air dryer was going to be outside my budget, but when "Harbor Freight" was mentioned, I figured it was worth a look.
For those not in the US, Harbor Freight is a retailer of mostly Chinese-manufactured tools and supplies. Some of their stuff works wonderfully for the prices paid - some not so much.
Anyway - I did a little checking and the unit seems to have favorable reviews. Most of the negative stuff was from damage in shipping and general issues with the cabinet assembly, so I figured it was worth a try.
Harbor Freight is also famous for its 20% off coupons, and using one of those, I was able to get the unit delivered to my home for about $375.
I built a frame to hang it on the wall outside the closet where the compressor lives.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Air%20Dryer/AirDryer800x600_zpsf4423f4f.jpg)
Here's the control panel:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/Kirkwood%20Workshop/800x600%20Images/Air%20Dryer/AirDryerControlPanel800x600_zps1e2420c0.jpg)
My compressor is rated for 15.6CFM at 90PSI, so this unit has ample capacity.
One problem with the installation is deciding to use diagonal supports from above means I can't reinstall the side panels, which must be removed to wire the unit in for operation... Looks like a bit of a redesign is in order.
Anyway - initial testing reveals good results. After draining all of the lines in the system as best I could, I've used a right-angle grinder for 30+ minutes and have had zero visible moisture at the point of use.
I think that's a good thing.
Now for 6.9 pictures.
The last part of my "strip the chassis" task is the inside of the passenger rear fender well, and that effort is proceeding nicely, with the expected amount of rust being revealed.
There are a couple of 1" diameter areas like this that show serious pitting, but no structural compromise. Obviously the inner lip of the inner fender is garbage and will have to be re-done.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140829-1PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zpse99cc48d.jpg)
The trailing edge of the inner fender is also cactus where it links up with the trunk side well panel. Not as bad as the driver's side, but we're looking at replacement yet again.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140829-2PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zpsbd1ee2ab.jpg)
And more of the carnage that is the outer lip of the inner fender...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140829-3PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps888fabd0.jpg)
Thanks for reading
I just realized it has been one year since I started on this 3-month project...
Well, I finished stripping the undercoat from the passenger rear wheel well, and in the immortal words of Gomer Pyle - "surprise, surprise, surprise" - there's more to fix.
Most of what appears below I assume is a combination of the ham-fisted repair efforts and the actual damage to the chassis when the car was hit from behind some time in the past.
Here, you can see that the section of the inner fender that would ordinarily box in the chassis on the outside of the sway bar mount has separated. Don't know if this was from the crash, or from the repair efforts:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140904-1PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps6dda37ae.jpg)
Most of the undercoat in the above picture from the tear adjacent to the sway bar mount and up to the puncture was completely separated from the body and a fair amount of surface rust was found beneath.
Below, what appears to be a face with really beady eyes is actually two spot welds that have pulled free along with damage from (likely) an air chisel. Positional reference places this above the first picture. You can see the rectangular punch-through at the top of the first picture.
MOST of what you see below was completely hidden by the undercoat. There were two layers - the original, and a second layer slathered on by the repair shop in a vain attempt to cover up the unnecessary hacking done on the body.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140904-2PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps2e076155.jpg)
Here, you can see more damage and poorly attempted repairs:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140904-3PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps3e7c06d1.jpg)
It is hard to tell with all the swirls from the surface prep discs, but the metal in this area is heavily dimpled - I think this is from the accident. This same area on the driver's side is relatively smooth. This picture was taken with the camera more-or-less parallel to the surface.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140904-4PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps12ad5c16.jpg)
I've still got a small amount of undercoat to remove from the underside of the trunk side well, and the requisite stripping of the paint there - then it's "cuttin' time" again.
Repairing the damage around the sway bar mounts will be the first repairs I've had to do that actually involve something structural on the chassis. I shall proceed slowly.
After what I've experienced with this car I cannot stress strongly enough that all W116 owners seeking to preserve or restore these magnificent machines should closely examine the factory undercoat in areas that are exposed to road spray and could potentially hold water.
Thanks for reading.
On Friday last I finished the work to strip all remaining undercoat from the car so any and all rust issues will be visible and can be corrected.
It is my semi-informed opinion that any W116 car currently on the road, unless it had the good fortune to be delivered to a place where it never rains (or rarely rains) likely has one or more hidden issue with rust. It is truly amazing (and more than a little disconcerting) how much the factory PVC undercoating hides from view.
So yesterday, I started to work on the hack-repaired collision damage inside the rear fenderwell.
You may remember this picture from my previous post.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140904-4PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps12ad5c16.jpg)
I've got some more pictures to add, and I'll do so later, but suffice it to say what is seen above is truly the tip of the iceberg, and the level of butchery and incomplete repairs is staggering.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140904-3PassengerRearWheelWell800x600_zps3e7c06d1.jpg)
My biggest concern with making this repair is that now I'm tampering with structural items that are "participating" in the suspension of the car from the rotisserie. I don't want to make the mistake of "cutting the branch between me and the tree".
Looking at the above mess, starting at the tear in the metal above the rotisserie mount and continuing on down and towards the rear of the car, if you could see behind the outer layer, you'd know that it's not attached to the chassis. So - that's not doing anything to help hold the car to the rotisserie, so it can be removed.
I disconnected the metal at the brazing area seen in the bottom middle of the picture. Then I made a cut starting at the top of the sway bar mount where the metal is torn away and horizontally (as viewed in the picture) passing below the two rosebud welds and across the fold about 1" towards the area of mass rust. Then vertically, I ran a cut parallelling the fold to connect to the horizontal line.
On the driver's side of the car in this same area, there is similar damage. However, the outer layer of metal (the inner fender) sits more or less where it needs to be, once I fix all the cuts and will be easily reattached to the frame that forms the pocket for the sway bar.
On the passenger side, cutting away this outer layer has revealed that there is at least a 1/2" gap between the inner fender metal and the frame....
When the car was in the accident the impact pushed the back side of the sway bar pocket inwards toward the center of the car.
As a side note, I've always wondered why someone would take the time to repaint the car and change the color from Cypress Green to the color we see now. In this area of the car, where there is blue paint over the factory black primer, there isn't any cypress green underneath. Maybe the accident was the trigger?
Anyway - back on topic...
As it sits right now, the sway bar pocket is open to the elements. It's not likely to cause any structural failure of the car unless I might get crazy one day and try to repeat Bob Bondurant's Road America test drive (assuming the track is still in existence). There's really no way for water to collect - but it is FAR from correct.
Looking at possible solutions for repair, I must find a way to push the pocket back closer to where it belongs so that all of the pieces of the puzzle will meet and can be re-welded.
The logical way to achieve this will be to use the opposite intact place on the frame as a push point and carefully, using a hydraulic jack, push against the passenger side.
Unfortunately, in this area there is no direct line of approach between the opposing sides of the car - the spare tire well encroaches into this space.
So - after much thought - I've started pulling the spare tire well.
This has required me to lower the car back down and support it via jacks from below the rotisserie at the sway bar points. This is done for two reasons - 1) to remove the load where the rotisserie is tied to the body via the rear bumper tab mounting points below the tail lamps and 2) so I can lean into the trunk to do this work without causing the car to rotate on the rotisserie. The spare tire well isn't structural to the chassis (at least not as it is currently installed - more on that later), but I don't want any "lifting" from the rear end of the car once I remove the well.
And yet again, #521 has offered me more surprises. In the next posting I'll add pictures of what I found when I opened the trunk and started studying on how the spare tire well is attached and how to reverse the process and still be able to reinstall when I've fixed the other problems. Suffice it to say the people that worked on this car should seek other employment - body repair is not where their true talents lie... On the other hand, if their goal in life is to make half-efforts (or less) while probably charging full price, they are doing a FINE JOB [:(!] ...
I keep reminding myself that it is a "good thing" that I'm now removing the spare tire well - when it goes back in, it will be done properly.
Thanks for reading.
I am happy to report that the spare tire well is 99% ready to come out of the car. I really screwed up when I started this effort - I failed to notice that the rear towing hook is attached to the bottom of the well, and adjacently to the side of the trunk well adjacent to the spare well. Once I got all of the brazing removed, I had to lay on my back on a creeper with a grinder to detach the tow hook from the body of the car - not fun in the least.
Here are the pictures I promised.
This is the gap that exists between the inner fender and the frame that forms the socket for the rear sway bar.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-01GapatPassengerSwayBar800x600_zps8068389d.jpg)
In this picture, we see the top of the edge of the spare tire well in the passenger side corner of the trunk towards the rear. The red line indicates the edge of the trunk well piece. Just to the left of the line is the rear valance that stretches from side to side where the tail lamps mount. The spare tire well is brazed in place, but the valance is loose. You can move the valance just by pressing rearward...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-02SpareTireWellPassengerSideatRear800x600_zps423f76f9.jpg)
This next series of pictures are varying views of the same area - namely where the spare tire well meets the inner fender and floor of the trunk on the passenger side of the car. The colors vary depending on whether I used a flash for the picture or not.
When I started the task of removing the seam sealer to locate the weld points to be removed in order to extract the spare tire well, NONE of the gaps you see were visible. Much of the seam sealer, once loosened at a point, could be pulled free by hand.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-03SpareTireWellPassengerSideatInnerFender800x600_zps42e21122.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-04SpareTireWellPassengerSideatInnerFender800x600_zpsa424a915.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-05SpareTireWellPassengerSideatInnerFender800x600_zpsf1784d1d.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-06SpareTireWellPassengerSideatInnerFender800x600_zps81730e35.jpg)
If some brass is good, more is better, right? The top of the spare tire well missed meeting the underlying structure by nearly 1/4" at this point. No need to align the parts - just braze the hell out of it and be done.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-07SpareTireWellPassengerSideatInnerFender800x600_zpsf1ecd482.jpg)
These two pictures are down in the well adjacent to the spare tire. The hose seen is the drain tube from the fuel filler door. These through-holes (seen as black areas due to the flash) were completely obscured by undercoat...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-08PassengerTrunkWellatFuelFillerDoordrainhose800x600_zpsfb8abe7b.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140909-09PassengerTrunkWellatFuelFillerDoordrainhose800x600_zpsc68c8f42.jpg)
One final "thank you" from the repair - the way the spare tire well is assembled, the bottom section lips around the top section. The overlap is spot welded in many places. This creates a lip where water can get in if no seam sealer is used - none was, not surprisingly.
I'm following your thread with keen interest and I appreciate the time you are taking to document your work. It's alarming to see what can be hidden. It looks like a perfectionist's nightmare! Keep at it, and good luck.
Well, I am officially aggravated - more like royally p$$$ed-off.
I thought it was strange when I found brazing attaching the sills to the rear fenders at the bottom corner of the rear doors. Seemed unlikely that MB would braze parts of the car.
Then I found the poorly repaired rust.
Then I found the poorly repaired accident damage.
In order to properly re-align the rear passenger sway bar mount, it is necessary to remove the side panel that forms the inner edge of the side well of the trunk.
Fortunately, the shoddy workmanship made it easy to detach the leading edge - it wasn't really attached at all - more like sandwiched in between the sway bar mount and the inner fender, then "gooped" in place with seam sealer.
However, that was not the case along the bottom edge where it joins the floor of the side well, nor where it attaches to the rear valance.
All of the attachment was made by brazing the parts together. While this is probably a sufficiently strong method - it is a royal SOB to detach parts that are brazed together when you can't get any sort of grinding tool into the space.
So I've had to resort to the worst possible tool - the blue-point wrench aka Oxy/Acetylene torch. I got most of the well side detached from the well floor - gravity is your friend here and when the brass liquifies, you can easily separate the pieces with a wedge long enough for the brass to cool
However, where the parts are mated as they were at the rear valance, as soon as the brass liquifies, it flows to another part of the assembly and re-hardens, reattaching the pieces together in another spot.
I ended up cutting the side piece away about 6" from the rear of the car so I could work with it better.
Then I prodded and heated and prayed and cussed and finally got the piece out - but not before I mortally damaged it. The edge where the locking pliers are attached is horizontal when installed and the spare tire well lays across this edge. The torn spot at the top of the picture attached to the rear valance up near the bottom of the trunk floor - nearly impossible to get the torch up in there and heat the right part of the assembly.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140915-02RemnantsofPassengerTrunkWellSide800x600_zpse4aff2b1.jpg)
Additional damage was done to the rear valance. There is now a hole where there was none before - you can see it in the upper right-hand corner of this picture. The hole in the bottom left is more tin-worm damage:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140915-04InteriorDamageafterWellSideRemoval800x600_zps08369033.jpg)
Trying to get the last of the well side piece out, I created a stress fracture in the outer sill - dammit!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/079ea937-9310-43c4-b257-03dbe28b767f_zpse60271ff.jpg)
The amount of rust in the trailing edge of the inner fender is not too terribly bad, considering everything else:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140915-05PassengerRearInnerFenderRustInsideTrunk800x600_zps89a0248f.jpg)
And just so we won't forget why I'm doing all of this - here's yet another view of the semi-attached sway bar mount.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140915-01PassengerSwayBarPocket800x600_zpsbb9ce35a.jpg)
Next step is to see if I can get the pieces I just hacked out of the car from MB for reasonable $. I can repair the damage that was done, but it will be far easier to get new pieces. They're small, so they shouldn't be "too much money"...
Thanks for reading...
W. Brian Fogarty
'07 Lexus LS460L
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
I talked with Tom Hanson today - all the parts are still available, but typically, they're not cheap...
The "floor" pieces which are the bottoms of the trunk wells are 116-637-01-60 (left) and 02-60 (right) - $182.00 each from Germany.
The side pieces - the sides of the trunk wells are 116-616-03-42 (left) and 04-42 (right) are $177.00 each from Germany.
I believe he said those prices are pre-discount amounts.
The floor on the driver's side came out without much damage. I'm hoping for the same result on the driver's side, so I'm skipping those parts.
I've ordered the two side pieces. Tom says they should be in my hands by early next week.
Maybe - just maybe, I'll be able to start putting stuff back on the car instead of taking things off...
Brian, thanks very much for keeping us updated, I always enjoy this thread. I commend you for making continual progress, well done.
I have been watching your progress from the safety of the Southern Hemisphere for months. I can't really express my admiration for your grit and determination in the face of so much hidden adversity. You are a legend.
Your adventures have also made me appreciate how fortunate we are in Oz to be able to pick and choose between cars that are basically structurally sound. My old girl has a few spots of rust, but nothing of significance.
Please be encouraged that you are not alone in your endeavours. Hang in there!
S Class - Beagle:
Thanks for the nods. I am well past the point of no return on this car and must press on to completion.
As I've noted previously, it is truly amazing the amount of rust that can be hidden by the factory PVC undercoat. I'll state with some authority that there are places on the car where the factory PVC undercoat is the reason for the rust. The frame rails that run under the front floor pans have holes all through them - I expect for positioning pins during assembly. They also have other smaller holes which I can only assume are for water drains. Those holes were 90% clogged by the PVC on my car.
There are plenty of other areas where the original design is just barely adequate for the purpose intended. These cars can literally last for decades if they're lucky enough to land day-one in an arid or semi-arid climate. Unlucky versions that wind up in a tropical or semi-tropical environment (which is what Houston is) will suffer the effects of rust, but only after decades of exposure. Cars that draw the very short straw of winding up in a climate where they use salt on the roads in winter are doomed. I can imagine that a lot of "salt country" cars start showing the effects after just a few years exposure.
Add to this mess the tendency of aftermarket undercoating to make matters worse by sealing up what few drain holes remain and you wind up with what I've encountered with this car.
I don't mind battling the tin worm. It's nature's way of returning man-made elements to their baser metals.
I do mind battling ham-fisted "body men" that butcher a perfectly good car in the process of trying to fix it.
I really need to get to the point of putting things BACK ON THE CAR instead of taking them off. I'm paying $$$ each month for a workshop that now exists solely for the purpose of finishing this car. That wasn't how it was supposed to go.
Thanks for reading and listening to me rant.
Time for an update. In the last installment, I had removed the spare tire well, along with the side and bottom of the (for lack of a better term) side well on the right-hand side of the car.
I had attempted to remove these two pieces intact with the hopes of making repairs and reinstalling them. The bottom came out easily enough - the side, not so much. I ended up cutting the front 2/3 free leaving the rear section. Even that small amount gave me real fits and resulted in damage to the rear valance of the car that will have to be repaired.
Since the car has two sides, my adventures on the right side meant the left side went comparatively easy. Less than 1 hour of effort resulted in the side and bottom of the well out of the car.
The purpose of all this effort is to attempt to reposition the damaged section of the right side rear sway bar mount - pushing it about 1/2" outwards.
In this picture, you can see the alignment issue:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-03GapatPassengerSwayBarPocket800x600_zps1ac2ae64.jpg)
If the mount were in its proper location, there would be no daylight visible between the mount and the inner fender edge.
To accomplish this feat, it's easiest to turn the car on its side - but we now have a problem. Poorly installed as it was, the spare tire well nonetheless provided a diaphragm stability to the rear wings and valance.
When I tried to open the trunk to work on removing the spare tire well, I found that the lid was somewhat stuck. A little prying released it, but I became concerned that possibly I had "tweaked the tail" of this marvelous W116 beast.
To elaborate - in the front of the car, the rotisserie is mounted at 4 points. The forward two mounts are on the frame "rails" just back of the cross member that provides mounting for the front bumper. The rear two mounts are also on the rails where the cross member mounts that provides the attachment point for the rear of the lower control arms. This provides a stable lifting point that will not shift even if turned on its side.
In the rear, the rearmost mounting points are through the rear valance at the point where the "y" brackets attach to the car. These brackets are what the lower bumper connects to. The foremost mounting points are at the rear sway bar, which is structurally the last major chassis framework in the entire body. From the sway bar mounts backwards to the rear bumper, there are no structural attachment points that one would typically call a "frame" - everything is crumple-zone.
Because the rotisserie is constructed as an adjustable device, there is some give in the arms where they mount to the lifting "t" on which the car rotates. Shifting at the back of the car while the mounts at the sway bar sockets are held firm is a sure formula for tweaking the rear of the car - compressing the uphill side and stretching the downhill. This would effectively damage the car beyond my ability to repair.
Once I got the spare tire well out of the car, it occurred to me what support it was providing, and I became nervous, especially in light of the stuck trunk lid that possibly I had done some damage to the car.
A measuring tape and some string answered the question in short order. I tied the string to the rearmost hole at the top of the inner fender where the front wings mount. I pulled the string back to the rear of the car, allowing it to touch in the crook of the fold that runs above the door handles and below the windows from the front of the car back. The string touched at its attachment point, and in the crook just at the back of the rear door, and nowhere else. I then measured from the inner edge of the trunk opening over to the string.
On the left side, I got (if I recall) 7-1/16" inches. On the right side, I got 7-1/8" - a difference of just 1/16" inch or 1.58 mm. Good enough for me. If I had tweaked the tail end of the car, I think I would have seen it in these measurements.
Anyway - how to replace the structure that the spare tire well provided? By connecting the arms of the rotisserie with an X brace:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-02XBraceinTrunk800x600_zpseea8d221.jpg)
Now we can turn the car on edge again to continue the work.
With the car on edge, I began by cutting away the portions of the inner fenders that exposed the disconnected parts of the sway bar mounts. The forward sections above where the bar actually mounts are still properly connected, so I'll not tamper with that. Here we see more of the damage from the body work. Two large holes punched in the mount - I've persuaded them mostly closed with body hammers and dollies - to be welded closed shortly.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-01PassengerSwayBarPocket800x600_zps750f5f8a.jpg)
Now that the spare tire well is out of the way, I can work on pushing the right side sway bar mount back into position. There's only one problem - where to push against. As this picture shows, if I use the left hand mount as my base, I'm actually pushing in 2 directions - there is no way to force the right side more than the left.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-04JackingPointswithnotes800x600_zpsc8b0a694.jpg)
Talking with the body man next door, he suggested a devilishly simple solution - use the mounting points for the rear differential mount to attach a plate. From that plate, extend a bar over to the leg that attaches the rotisserie to the left sway bar mount. This locks the left mount in position allowing it to serve as a base to push the right mount back out where it belongs.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-05BraceFabbedUp800x600_zps722b20fb.jpg)
Sit a bottle jack on the leg of the rotisserie like so:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-06JackInstalled800x600_zps0e7a7200.jpg)
And a 2x2 board with a plate on top creates the connection by which we'll push the socket back where it belongs.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140922-07JackandPole800x600_zpsa7c8c4e0.jpg)
A little testing reveals it's easy to move the mounting point. However, it wants to return to it's original position (or nearly so) when the pressure is released.
I may have to cut out a couple of spot welds to allow the mount to pivot a bit. I have already loosened the mounting bolts that hold the rotisserie to the chassis at the right sway bar mounting point - just to make sure we're not attempting to bend the rotisserie as well. I'll also have to loosen the bolt that holds the mounting leg to the rotisserie arm - just to make sure everything can give ground when I push the sway bar mount back into position.
I also need to see if I can lift the back end of the mount upwards by about 1/4" - that shouldn't be too hard - if I can get something attached to the mount to allow me to exert pressure in the right direction without denting it further.
The replacement well sides are due in from Mercedes Classic Center tomorrow, so work can continue on reassembling the trunk on Thursday.
More updates as the become available.
Brian, if you need (and don't yet have) I can send you the numerous reference dimensions, with control points for the body. It may make life easier confirming before/after alignment.
I do not have these dimensions and would greatly appreciate having them.
Thanks for the offer - please send at your convenience.
Regards
Hi Brian
I previously posted these details.
Hope this helps,
Gavin
http://forum.w116.org/mechanicals/engine-bay-measurement-needed/msg116389/#msg116389 (http://forum.w116.org/mechanicals/engine-bay-measurement-needed/msg116389/#msg116389)
Ah, mine are in that thread too.
I'll find the footnotes and will update later today.
Sources:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5z3finlls7lh99/measurements_drawing.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bplfn149ee4th0g/measurements_values.jpg
Edit: some info on the columns:
- left: maximum allowed deviation between right and left side
- center: dimension, with tolerance
- right: model restriction
Given the effort you're putting into this massive project, you may want to get yourself a printed copy of the Tabellenbuch (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-Tabellenbuch-Personenwagen-1980-inkl-Typenbezeichnung-80-Manual-/271602207924). Probably the best money I have ever spent on my Benz :)
Thanks for the links to the dimensional drawings. I'm sure they will come in handy.
I'm particularly interested in the dimension between the bolt centers for the rear sway bar.
One dimension I'm not seeing is something that shows how far out the center of front bumper frame (the piece that joins the frame rails at the extreme front of the car from left to right and houses the bolts that the front bumper attaches with) is from some reference point. The car has bumped into something in the front that has pushed this bar uniformly backwards and flattened the curve of the bumper. It's pushed back to the point where the bottom of the grille almost touches the back edge of the bumper. I can easily pull the bar back out - but how far?
Maybe I'll figure it out.
Interesting link to the Tabellenbuch. I wasn't sure what Tabellenbuch was, and google told me it's a "Table Book". My interpretation of "Table Book" is something one might find sitting on a sofa side table or coffee table - something like a travel guide or portfolio.
Then I thought more about it and now I'm guessing the proper interpretation of that translation is "A book with Tables", not "A book to set on tables"...
I wonder what the English-language equivalent is? I don't mind having a German-language book if that is all that is available, but seeing has how my German stops at Danke Schön, makes a right turn at Bitte Schön and a U-turn at Dummkopf, it's probably best if I get something in English. :)
The "Tabellenbuch" is basically a technical data book for workshops, somewhat similar to what Autodata was releasing for years now. It covers all models on the market as of year of issue (mine's from January 1980), with all model and market variations. I haven't yet seen one in English on eBay, but there is one for 1966 available from the classic centre shop, so there's bound to be later ones too. That, or all technicians were required to be fluent in technical German :D
There are no dimensions for the bumpers, front or rear, I'm afraid.
As for the footnotes:
1) To properly verify dimension V1 front wheels caster and camber must be within their respective tolerances,
2) With hex bolt mounted front to back (until August 1978)
3) With hex bolt mounted back to front (from August 1978)
4) While checking this dimension the body height at the rear axle should be as close as possible on both sides. Max deviation 3mm. If required, load the higher side using weights in the trunk, or lift the rear axle at the lower side. The given tolerance for dimension H1 is only allowed if the toe-in is within tolerance.
5) With rubber bearings of previous type (until July 1977) with mounting hole offset, in direction of travel, by 38mm from bearing centre.
6) With rubber bearings of current type (since August 1977) with mounting hole offset, in direction of travel, by 15mm from bearing centre.
I'm not 100% on the last two, but the others are correct.
The English versions are called "Technical Data for Passenger Cars" and there are usually a fair amount available on eBay at any time. They are not published every year, as far as I know, so I get one that is close but later.
A goto reference!
I found, ordered and have received a Technical Data Manual and boy what a treasure-trove of valuable information.
Thanks all for the suggestions.
I was able to persuade the right-hand sway bar mount over by the required amount and now have the factory-specified separation between bolt centers.
My initial attempts were not successful, as when I released the jack, the parts returned to more-or-less where they started out.
Then I realized that the rotisserie mount was also moving when I exerted pressure from the jack.
Simple solution was to loosen the bolts where the vertical post on the rotisserie attached to the sway bar mounts, and also the bolt where the vertical post attached to the rotisserie just enough to allow the chassis to move unrestricted.
Then I "over corrected" the position of the sway bar mount so that when the pressure was released, it returned to the proper location. Tightening the bolts again on the rotisserie ensures that the chassis will stay in the proper location until everything is once again welded solid.
On to other work - rebuilding the side wells and attachment points in the trunk that hold the spare tire carrier.
In previous postings I noted that I had to destroy the side stiffeners that form the edge of the side wells and the horizontal attachment ledge for the spare tire carrier. Tom Hanson had a new set in my hands just days after ordering, and I set about testing their fitment.
Fortunately, both sides slide into place as designed.
What remains of the wells are the bottom sections, which I thought initially I would save, restore and reuse. They cost nearly $200 each and I've got more money than time...
First step was to put each of the parts in the media blasting cabinet and use glass bead to clean the paint and other crud from all surfaces. What it revealed was less than optimal:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140929-01PassengerWellBottom800x600_zpseb85c2f6.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140929-02PassengerWellBottom800x600_zps4d218075.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140929-03PassengerWellBottom800x600_zps1a150c70.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140929-04DriverWellBottom800x600_zps572dbff4.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20140929-05DriverWellBottom800x600_zps681ee9d8.jpg)
Some of what is seen in the previous pictures is damage that was done trying to extract the part from the car, but most of it is damage from rust resulting from the poor installation during the wreck repair some time in the past. This is only a small sampling of the damage revealed.
I further damaged the parts trying to get all traces of the brass used during installation ground away. In some areas, it came away easily, removing very little of the underlying steel. In other areas, too much of the surrounding steel was removed and that would require additional patch panels and more repair.
There are hours and hours of work involved.
A call to Tom Hanson and the parts are on the way. Sigh...
When I was looking at the repair sections in the Chassis Manual, I discovered that two parts were missing from the car entirely. They are "L" shaped pieces that connect to the bottom inner (towards the center of the car) edge of the side wells, and sweep upwards towards the outside of the car to provide support for the rear bumper where it wraps around the corner...
Damn hacks...
I've ordered those parts as well.
While I'm waiting on the postman, I've got stuff to fix.
This is what a section of the front edge of the trunk floor where the spare tire carrier connects looked like once I got the spare tire carrier dislodged from the car.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20141006-01TrunkRearLip800x600_zps0392998b.jpg)
The wreck repairmen didn't remove the carrier properly. The unit attaches to the trunk floor from below at the front edge. Rather than removing the 20+ spot welds that held the part in place, they cut it free at the meeting point, leaving the original lip in place and slid the replacement carrier in under the mess and brazed that all together.
In some places, I had to drill out spot welds to remove the original lip - in others, I had to drill, cut and torch the metal to release the brass. The end result was a lip that looked more like swiss cheese.
The solution is to cut out all that holey metal and replace it with new.
My metal brake cannot handle bending a 2+ foot long (610mm) piece of sheet metal as thick as what is required, so I'm doing the replacement in 6" (152mm) sections.
Fortunately, there's no rust to contend with here, so it's a simple case of cutting away the bad stuff leaving about 1/8" (3mm) of the vertical lip in place, then adjusting the size of the replacement piece to where it lines up with the original lip section still in place.
I used a piece of 1-1/2" (38mm) square tube clamped at each end and in the middle to hold the trunk floor in proper position during this process.
The pieces I bent up have about a 3/8" (9.5mm) vertical section, and I really only need about 3/16" (4.75mm), so there was quite a bit of grinding involved, but slowly the lip was reconstructed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20141006-02TrunkRearLip800x600_zpsea4eb700.jpg)
It's the same process as used everywhere else. Tack the section in place with a series of spaced welds. Use the edge of a 4" grinder cutoff wheel (about 3/32" - 2.4mm thick) to dress the weld back to where it's barely sticking up from the surface, then add another weld intersecting the first. Grind again, weld again until you stitch the entire seam fully into place.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20141006-03TrunkRearLip800x600_zps23b6d680.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20141006-04TrunkRearLip800x600_zps8bdec55b.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Sill%20Replacement/20141006-05TrunkRearLip800x600_zpsb1001c0c.jpg)
I've got all of the repairs done to this part of the trunk as of last Friday (10/03) except for the right corner and I'll finish that today.
I will say that this has been some challenging work - I'm not a tall person at 5-8", but nature decided I should be proportioned like a person that should have been 6'+ tall. I've got a very tall torso and short legs. That makes for a real challenge trying to sit on the cross braces I put in place on the rotisserie to hold the rear of the car square while the trunk floor is out, and curl my head and attached welding helmet into place where I can see what I'm doing. Trying to do this type of work at arm's length usually results in a weld placed no where near it actually needs to be.
I'm off work this week with the true desire to make some serious progress on this section of the car. Hopefully, the parts will arrive from Tom earlier rather than later this week, but there's nothing I can do but wait. I have to have the well bottoms and bumper braces before I can install the well sides and those parts have to go in before the spare tire carrier can be reinstalled.
Off to the shop I go. More updates as progress continues.
Thanks for reading...
The previous posting should have been submitted on 10/06, but I forgot to click submit after previewing... oh well.
Anyway -
I spent nearly 8 hours yesterday repairing the damage done to the spare tire carrier as I ground away metal to release it from the car previously.
There is a very small amount of rust to contend with - most of it involved cutting little crescent shaped sections out of the flanges where I'd ground the metal away and replacing with new metal.
More of that same slow fiddly work.
Good news is I got a note from Fedex that my parts from Tom Hanson are en-route and should be here tomorrow. I was thinking that I was going to need to use the old well bottoms as reference for reassembly of the spare tire well and related parts and then try to fit the parts when they came from Tom, but gladly that will not be the case.
I've got plenty of rust to repair on the car before these parts can even be reinstalled, so Wednesday delivery is more than soon enough for me.
Regards
Progress is ongoing but typically slow.
I got the two lateral braces installed that connect the rear panel to the sway bar mount housings at the back of the rear fenderwells. Sorry for the focus issues - camera was looking where I wasn't...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-01TrunkBraceInstalled800x600_zps709d9fb9.jpg)
Welded with rosebud welds from the fenderwell side - good penetration:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-02TrunkBraceSpotWelds800x600_zps112f5197.jpg)
Then on the driver's side I installed the floor of the side well and welded that in place with more rosebud welds. The "dirt" you see in the picture is grinding dust from dressing the welds.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-03TrunkWellInstalled800x600_zps16d20d12.jpg)
This inconspicuous hole is the middle mounting point for the bumper overriders. There's one at the trailing edge of the rear wheel well, then this one about half way to the corner of the fender and a couple more in the rear panel.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-04HoleForBumperOverrider800x600_zps3531500c.jpg)
This brace is supposed to be spot welded to the bottom of the well and provide support for the center of the bumper overrider:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-05BumperBrace800x600_zpsed49e853.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-06BumperBrace800x600_zpse2a3d3c8.jpg)
However, when placed in it's to-be-installed location, we have a bit of a problem:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-07MisalignmentofBrace800x600_zpsef0d11d6.jpg)
Here's how the brace is supposed to sit in the fenderwell:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-08MisalignmentofBrace800x600_zpse31905b0.jpg)
I could have compensated somewhat for this problem by attempting to re-form the bottom edge of the fender before installing the well bottom piece to lift the bottom of the well.I could also have pushed on the lateral brace forcing it towards the outside of the car which would have helped somewhat. However, neither of these would have provided 100% alignment, so we'll have to make some adjustments.
Start by making an extension for the brace. This little timid looking piece of metal was the result of about an hour's worth of bending and banging with a body hammer and some stationary dollies.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-09ExtenderPatchforBumperBrace800x600_zpsed9e58a3.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-10ExtenderPatchforBrace800x600_zpsb24a8e41.jpg)
It aligns very closely with the profile of the upper portion of the brace:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-11ExtenderPatchforBrace800x600_zps2c1d82d6.jpg)
And so it was tacked in place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-12ExtenderPatchforBrace800x600_zps2a75dc83.jpg)
And more welds were added and ground away to produce the finished product:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141118-13ExtenderPatchforBrace800x600_zps809cb6eb.jpg)
I'll have to shift the hole upwards, but the result is very satisfactory.
I've only got one brace. I thought I had one, and purchased another from eBay to make two, but now I can't find the first piece...
Installing the well floor on the passenger side is more difficult - I have to make sure the lateral brace is properly positioned to meet up with the rear tow hook frame which is attached to the bottom of the spare tire well. That assembly is supposed to be installed after the well floors and braces are in place - so some figuring and fiddling is in order.
More updates as updates are available.
Regards
The work you have carried out is amazing. The dedication to seeing it through is very inspirational. :)
Thanks - I appreciate the compliment.
Fortunately, as the project progresses, my skills are improving.
Unfortunately, the complexity of the problems encountered are also rising.
"All" I have to do before I can start prepping to prime the bottom of the car is:
1) Complete the reconstruction of the trunk
1a) Need additional angular brace or find the pesky one that I'm 'sure I've got somewhere'
2) Remove and reconstruct the edge of the inner rear fenderwells where they meet the outer fenders - these were butchered by the dolts that did the collision repair
2a) Priced these items from MB - still available if I have a spare $850 US for the set - which I don't...
Then it's "up on edge" for some spot media blasting, some steam cleaning to remove all traces of oil & grease and then "bring on the primer!"
Work continues as I strive towards being able to spray primer on the bottom of the car by early 2015...
The MB Chassis manual says that the spare tire carrier should be the last item installed when reworking the rear clip. Because I lack 'some of the tooling' that would have been available to competent MB chassis repairmen, I've had to deviate from that plan a bit.
I have installed the two vertical panels that connect the rear of the inner fenders to the back panel. Before I welded them into place, I took the time to fit the spare tire carrier into place and discovered some more misalignment (surprise, surprise).
To help the reader understand what I'm working with, here's an image of the participants in the process:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-19TrunkPartsImage800x600_zpsbedeb29d.jpg)
The spare tire carrier is part #90. The trunk floor is part #30. The left-side vertical brace is part #58 (there's a mirror image part for the right side, not pictured here). The rear support beam for the rear panel (not pictured) is part #66.
Part #90 sits on top of #58 (and its counterpart), slides up under #30 and sits on top of #66.
That is fairly easy - it's the other places where #90 is attached under the car that make proper alignment of all the players critical.
In my first fitment attempt, I noticed a problem where the carrier sits on the rear brace. The lip from the carrier met cleanly on the passenger side, but there was a big gap on the driver's side.
Further inspection revealed that on the left side the section where the back of the tire carrier is to be welded to the floor of the trunk aligned perfectly. The back of the spare tire well is formed to present a horizontal lip that faces rearward. That lip is to be welded to the trunk floor across the spare tire opening. On the right side, the alignment was so bad that it would be nearly impossible to attach the two pieces.
In trying to figure out where a problem is, one must be careful to use known accurate points of reference. It wouldn't do any good to measure from new parts to new parts, as we've already determined that the placement of these new parts wasn't done properly.
Fortunately, the trunk floor (#90) is original, and shows no signs of deformation due to the wreck. So, the back edge of that panel that forms the opening where the spare tire cover is attached is a known good reference point. Measuring back from that folded edge to the rear support beam revealed an out of whack difference of just over 3/8" (9mm) left side vs. right side
Now, to be fair, it is possible that I caused this problem by how I attempted to lift the rear of the car when first it was placed on the rotisserie. Remember that almost none of the replacement panels were installed properly, and where they were attached, especially at the inner fenders, was structurally unsound due to rust.
I will note for the record that when I started this part of the repair, that I had some trouble getting the trunk lid to open. The latch was working properly, but the pin section from the trunk lid was stuck in the latch pocket. Not bad stuck but enough that it took a wooden wedge to separate the two. This was never a problem before the car went on the rotisserie. So, obviously, the latch, and the framework on which it was installed, had moved forward in the car relative to the trunk lid.
Anyway - before I welded the right-hand vertical panel into place, I used a spreader to force the rear panel back where it belonged. The mating point where the front of the spare tire carrier meets the trunk floor is spot-on on the driver's side, and about 1/8" off on the passenger side, but the meeting point of the spare tire carrier and the rear beam is spot-on.
Here you can see one of the first fitment tests for the spare tire carrier.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-01SpareTireWellGoesIn800x600_zpsefc4304c.jpg)
When I took all this apart, I discovered that the rear tow hook wasn't properly attached to the car. The tow hook as an assembly is welded to the spare tire carrier and gains strength by being also welded to the vertical brace on the right side of the car. It was only welded at one point. When I was satisfied with the placement of the spare tire carrier, I used a couple of self-tapping screws to make sure that each time I reinstalled the part, it went back in the same place.
The only way to solve the problem of the rear tow hook was to modify the hook frame to allow it to align with the vertical brace.
I started by cutting the vertical flange away from the horizontal plate where the tow hook is welded. The gap you see in the picture below, parallel to the stem of the tow hook, is where the two were separated.
Then, I took a piece of 3/4x3/4x1/8" angle iron (19x19x3.1mm) to create a gusset to rejoin the two sections. I also drilled several welding holes in the severed flange that would be for plug welds to attach the gusset to the flange.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-03FixRearTowHookBracket800x600_zpsa28c795f.jpg)
Gusset set in place - as so:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-04FixRearTowHookBracket800x600_zps5f357cee.jpg)
I welded through the holes in the severed flange to attach it to the gusset. Then I reinstalled the spare tire carrier in the car and moved the flange until it properly aligned with the vertical brace and clamped the gusset to the horizontal plate before removing the spare tire carrier again.
A couple of tacking welds to hold it into place - then back into the car again to double-check the position.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-05FixRearTowHookBracket800x600_zps8286cfd1.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-06FixRearTowHookBracket800x600_zpse84e7bce.jpg)
Once satisfied that all was well, I welded it up.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-08FixRearTowHookBracket800x600_zps43649330.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-09FixRearTowHookBracket800x600_zpsb2b66857.jpg)
I also took the time to add some welds to the tow hook itself.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-11ImproveRearTowHookWelds800x600_zps719aee1f.jpg)
The only weld from the factory other than the spot welds that held the tow hook bracket to the spare tire carrier was the one on the left side of this picture. I added the rest:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-12ImproveRearTowHookWelds800x600_zps612e5565.jpg)
Before installing the spare tire carrier for the last time, I solved the problem of the leaking well. The bottom half of the spare tire well lips over the upper half. Why? I have no idea, but I'm sure MB had a good reason. Further, the edge of the lower piece curled out creating a lovely lip to catch water and funnel it right into the well under the tire. I took some time and with a body dolly and hammer I flattened out the lip and added some seam sealer to the assembly. This should get rid of the leaking problem - at least this one:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-13SeamSealSpareTireWell800x600_zps5e9e9571.jpg)
And so into the car goes the spare tire carrier, for the last time!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-14WeldingInSpareTireWell800x600_zpsede08d56.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-15WeldingInSpareTireWell800x600_zps6c1f6b9c.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-16WeldingInSpareTireWell800x600_zps6404349f.jpg)
I left the repairs to the corners of the trunk floor where it meets the spare tire carrier until after the carrier was back in the car. If these sections were in place, it would have made it impossible to slide the carrier into place.
I've still got some work to do on the right side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-16WeldingInSpareTireWell800x600_zps6404349f.jpg)
But the left side is done short of some finish grinding on the welds:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-18WeldingInSpareTireWell800x600_zps8f2e8a44.jpg)
Once this is cleaned up, there are a few more plug welds on the left side of the trunk where the spare tire carrier meets the trunk floor, then the bottom piece for the right side well that joins the vertical brace to the rear fender needs to go in. After that, it's fix the hole I cut in the rear panel trying to get the old vertical brace out on the right side, and on to the ratty inner fenders (left & right) where they meet the outer fenders.
Once that's done - it's - are you ready for this???? Clean and Prep for PRIMER!!!!
Oh happy day!
Your persistence is most admirable Brian, I'm sure the end result will be most gratifying.
Last night, I finished up welding the two corner patches for the spare tire carrier and now I have to install the floor of the side well on the passenger side to call this part of the project "almost complete" The almost comes from needing to fit the replacement trunk lid (which is from a US 300SD, so it's aluminum and requires different springs) to make sure the latch assembly aligns properly.
The rear panel is still not welded to the cross brace (part #66 in the previous post). If there's an alignment problem (which I expect there will be) I can push the rear panel out somewhat in the center before welding the bottom section securely to the cross brace.
That task will have to wait until this weekend. It's nearly impossible to fit new trunk hinge/spring assemblies to a W116 car. One bolt attaches horizontally inside the trunk and the other attaches vertically from inside the package shelf at the rear glass. Really takes two people to do it quickly/right. Then there's fitting the trunk lid to the hinges - another job best left for an extra set of hands.
I am more than ready to move on to other work. I've spent the last several working sessions sitting cross-legged in the spare tire well. Even with a cushion in place, it's not a comfortable space.
Maybe my girth has something to do with this discomfort? Nah - couldn't be.... ;D
Things are proceeding nicely with the trunk.
I finished up dressing the welds on the left front corner of the spare tire well:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-02SpareTireWellLeftfrontCorner800x600_zps818d171a.jpg)
And formed the piece to cover the hole on the right front corner of the spare tire well:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141208-17WeldingInSpareTireWell800x600_zpsfeb37e86.jpg)
Finished:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-01SpareTireWellRightfrontCorner800x600_zps244176da.jpg)
Where the edges of the trunk well flange abutted the fenderwell, a set of carefully placed welds reinforces the connection and seals the joint - I did this on the left side as well.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-03SpareTireWellatRightInnerFender800x600_zps9c29eff1.jpg)
In order to install the floor of the right hand side well, I needed to deal with some rust. The flakiness you see in this picture is the result of spraying liberally with rust-stop (phosphoric acid, if I remember correctly). The clarity of the picture isn't great either - this was pulled from a section of a much larger picture:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-04SpareTireWellRightfrontCorner800x600_zps51240055.jpg)
Here's what I removed as viewed from the outside. Thank Mr. Nikon for the lousy focus:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-05RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zps9de47b97.jpg)
And here's the excised piece:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-06RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zps905211c9.jpg)
You can see what I was facing with the rust through:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-07RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zpsbb0fb544.jpg)
And here's the replacement piece laying adjacent to the original:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-08RightRearFenderBottomReplacement800x600_zps50ceb526.jpg)
Much as I'd like to say that I formed the replacement piece from a single section of metal, my skills and tools are no where near what it would take to accomplish that feat. As the picture shows, the piece is formed from 3 separate segments.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-08aRightRearFenderBottomReplacement800x600_zps4cedadb6.jpg)
The picture as shown is not the final result. I spent some more time to finesse the result to more closely match the original.
Here it is tacked into place as viewed from inside the trunk:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-09RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zps58f4dec6.jpg)
And from the outside. Looks like one of the welds found some hidden rust - but that's nothing new...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20141214-10RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zps74d271ed.jpg)
What remains from this point is to do the final welding on the aforementioned patch, then install the well floor inside the trunk.
The bumper brace arrived from Tom Hanson the other day, and I'll have to adjust its size just like I did on the driver's side piece. Then I can install both of those items.
On Saturday, Tin helped me install the 300SD trunk (boot) lid I got as part of the purchase of #1164. For the uninformed, 300SD's came with aluminum hoods and aluminum trunk lids. Aluminum = no rust, and the existing trunk lid for #521 has some along the folded seam near the handle.
I wanted to see how the lid fit, especially in the latch area, where there was some binding from the original trunk lid. I wasn't sure if the binding was from latch alignment, or from unwelded sections of the car shifting around when it was on the rotisserie.
In order to swap a 300SD trunk lid for an original unit, you must have 300SD hinges with lower-tension springs. Without that, you risk knocking all your teeth out when the lid comes flying up the instance you press the release button.
I'm happy to report that the latch worked as I hoped.
Unfortunately, there is a fitment problem on the right hand corner at the back edge of the lid. The gap along the side of the fender starts out good at the hinge end and gradually swells to where there's a unacceptably large gap at the end.
Part of the instructions for reinstalling a quarter panel from the MB manuals say that nothing should be welded into place until the trunk lid is installed and gaps are checked. They even describe the necessary braces that should be attached from the ledge where the trunk lid gasket fits in an "X" fashion to properly position the fender upper edges before welding the back panel into place.
Before I call foul on the car, I need to compare the shape and size of the 300SD trunk lid vs. the original unit. If they're the same size, then I need to do some more work on the panel fitment in that area - not something I'm looking forward to.
If they're not the same size (the 300SD lid being smaller for some unknown reason), then I'll have to figure out whether I want to tackle fitting the car to the trunk lid better, or tackle fixing the rust on the original lid.
Progress in December was limited due to a 6-year-old niece that is all about "American Girl" dolls. The hand-crafted doll-sized armoire that was well received took a lot of time.
I did get a few things done after gift delivery, and here are the details.
First, I finished up the patch in the lower quadrant of the passenger rear fender.
As seen from the outside:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-01RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zpsd55fb572.jpg)
Interior shot - I am pleased with how the "shelf" turned out.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-04RightRearFenderBottom800x600_zps39b51479.jpg)
After that, I was able to install the floor of the side well. This took a bit of tweaking - the end of the panel, where it met the rear valance below the tail lamps was poorly aligned. There was a gap of nearly 1/4" on the inside, tapering to a nice snug fit at the outside corner.
Solution was to cut a small pie-shaped piece out of the panel and weld the remaining edges back together. Don't have any close-ups of that work, but the results were satisfactory.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-05PassengerTrunkWellInstalled800x600_zpsfdaa5a65.jpg)
Extending the end of the bumper brace the way I did on the driver's side solved the length problem, but we have a hole alignment issue here just like on the driver's side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-06BumperSupportDoesntLineUp800x600_zps3bbab3ea.jpg)
First step is to weld the original hole up:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-07HoleToFill800x600_zpsc8298a91.jpg)
Trace the outline of the hole onto a section of plate of a similar thickness, then cut the piece to size:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-08MakeAPatch800x600_zps05342ccf.jpg)
Test fit - looks good:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-09PatchFitsNicely800x600_zps2bd07522.jpg)
Tack weld the patches into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-10PatchesTackedIntoPlace800x600_zpsb2bb1395.jpg)
Then finish welding and grinding:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-11PatchesWeldedIn800x600_zpscb94964e.jpg)
Some primer and the repairs are all but invisible:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-12PrimedandReady800x600_zpse4ade760.jpg)
Set the braces into their proper location, trace a line from the hole through the fender to the back side of the brace, then cut the material away, leaving a nicely aligned bracket - passenger side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-13PassengerBraceInstalled800x600_zps69dd65fd.jpg)
and driver side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-14DriverBraceInstalled800x600_zps26d93f44.jpg)
Combination of spot and seam welds secure the braces into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150103-15WeldedPerInstructions800x600_zps64f22607.jpg)
All that remains is to patch the hole I torched in the rear panel when I was trying to remove the rusted braces from the trunk. Then it's on to fixing the inner fenders where they meet the outer fenders...
In the last post I spoke about a hole I needed to patch in the back panel. This hole comes from my vain attempt to remove the braces that run vertically from the inner fender to the rear panel and form the side of the wells on the sides of the trunk.
These items were installed as part of the repair to the car who knows how long ago, and they were brazed in place. Brass is a wonderful welding filler for Oxy/Acetylene torches - I've joined some very dissimilar metals in the past with this useful alloy. It goes on easy, but doesn't come apart that way.
The problem stems from the fact that there were numerous little patches of brass holding this part to the inner fender, to the spare tire carrier, to the rear panel and to the bottom pieces that enclose the side wells. Trying to heat the metal with an Oxy/Actylene torch at each weld point enough to soften the brass without burning through and be able to separate the parts long enough for the brass to cool ended up being more than I could manage on the passenger side. I ended up burning a hole through the rear panel before I finally gave up and cut the vertical brace into two pieces to make removal possible.
Anyway - this is the hole that must be patched. It's the last bit of work before I reattach the rotisserie to the rear of the car.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-01HoleToPatch800x600_zps2afcf545.jpg)
The best type of patch for this problem is a circular plug, but I don't have a punch to create one, so I'll improvise with a 1-1/8" (29mm) hole saw, with the pilot bit removed.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-02PlugCutter800x600_zpse48c7f82.jpg)
Installed in my drill press:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-03CutterinDrillPress800x600_zps4a2b0f95.jpg)
Clamp the sheet metal securely to the table, set the speed to a few hundred RPM and viola:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-04PlugProduced800x600_zps4d258652.jpg)
Next step is to trace the outline of the plug onto the car with my trusty carbide tipped scribe.
The same trusty carbide tipped scribe I used just last week to trace the outline of the bumper braces so I could sand away the primer where I needed to seam weld the braces to the well bottoms.
The same trusty carbide tipped scribe that has gone completely missing...
So - we'll punt and use a permanent marker and do the best we can. At this point, I noticed a crack to the left of the hole - we'll tend to that after we weld the plug into place.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-05TraceCutLine800x600_zps39be66d3.jpg)
A single-cut tree-shaped cutter in my die grinder is the tool for the job - made quick work of the hole.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-06Toolforthejob800x600_zpsaef7dfcb.jpg)
As I'm leaning down to do some fine tuning on the hole, what's that I see through the tail-lamp hole?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-07WhatsThatintheDistance800x600_zps15bc8228.jpg)
Yep - the scribe - late to the party - we've already served the cake, you slacker!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-08TheresTheScribe800x600_zpse0e8d0de.jpg)
Oh well - back to the task at hand - a magnetic block will hold the plug in place while I tack weld:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-09MagnetBlock800x600_zps404fa231.jpg)
Mounted from the back side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-10MagnetInPlace800x600_zps919dfe08.jpg)
Plug installed in the hole ready for the welder. Note the arrows - it's a pain to try to align an almost-round plug in an almost-round hole in the test fitment phase. Need to know that the plug is going into place in the same orientation every time, or you'll run yourself batty:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-11PlugInPlace800x600_zpsc6f7f72b.jpg)
First tack weld secures the plug:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-12PlugTackedInPlace800x600_zpsa3136cc2.jpg)
And a lot of grinding and tacking and dressing later - even welded up the crack...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-13FinishedWork800x600_zpsa8c871c9.jpg)
Next is to turn my attention to the really, really sloppy job where the rear fender joins the panel that forms the bottom of the rear window, inside the channel that houses the trunk seal:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-14MoreSloppyWork800x600_zpsd938119c.jpg)
A bit of work in the channel with a wire brush on a drill, and a brief detour up out of the channel reveals - and I'm sure you'll be as shocked as I was - BONDO HELL!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-15BondoHell800x600_zpsd05ef364.jpg)
Nice and thick...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-16BondoHell800x600_zps88bac34c.jpg)
After I get most of the bondo removed down to bear metal, I'm picking around with my trusty carbide scribe and oops!!!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-17BondoHell800x600_zps87ce7964.jpg)
Is it just me, or does the hole kinda look like a sitting dog?
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-18BondoHell800x600_zps5465098c.jpg)
Here's a guide to the depth of the bondo - truly tragic:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-20BondoHell800x600_zpse597d6fb.jpg)
And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse - here's the driver's side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-21BondoHell800x600_zpsc1473ef7.jpg)
After the reveal, I changed cutters on the die grinder to a double-cut radius-end unit and went to work on the brass blob on the passenger side - looks better now, but I've got some REAL work ahead of me to make this work:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-19GrindingAway800x600_zps2c98dd08.jpg)
In order to get a true feel for what will need to be done to correct this mess, I need to remove the rear window. It needs to come out anyway for paint and to have the hard-as-concrete seal replaced, so tonight I worked on taking out the interior trim panels - the panel above the visors, the A-pillar covers, the lateral panels that run above the doors and the rear panel - all came out without so much as a single broken clip. The vinyl is still pliable after all these years, so I'm hopeful that with some careful cleaning and maybe a respray with some SEM paints in the proper bamboo color, that these original parts will go back in and look stellar.
The car is reattached to the rotisserie in the rear, and I've cut away most of the gasket from the inside across the bottom and up the sides, staying well clear of the defroster wires. I've loosened the gasket where it was stuck to the car on the outside across the bottom, but the window is still stuck in place.
I've got a couple of large suction cups that I'll use to pull it from the outside as opposed to pushing from the inside, but first I've got some more cutting to do.
Thanks for reading!
A sharp safety knife was the ticket to removing the rear window. I sliced off the outer section of the window gasket and with the aid of the suction cups, the glass came free.
Then came the task of carefully disengaging the wires for the heated rear window from the gasket so the glass could be removed - which was a success.
Then I cleaned the window channel out with a mix of a brass brush, a small sharp chisel to clean the sealant and some mineral spirits to clean everything up.
I'm missing one of the clips that holds the upper passenger trim in place, and another clip is damaged, but otherwise things are OK in that category.
As I was removing the outer layer of the gasket, I feared that I would discover massive rust-through, but that proved not to be the case either. For sure there is some heavy pitting on the passenger side that will have to be removed and replaced, but nothing I haven't seen or solved before.
However, there were two holes discovered that are puzzling:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-01HoleInGlassFrame800x600_zps4533895e.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-02HoleInGlassFrame800x600_zps0184b476.jpg)
Obviously these will have to be filled.
With a coarse grit 3" paint scourer disk in my pneumatic grinder, I started chasing away the bondo. I removed paint, some very thick high-build primer, and bondo, working away from the areas revealed on Tuesday back until I didn't find any more bondo.
As much as some of the body repair was a hatchet job, whomever they had doing mud work had some real talent. I would have never guessed how extensive the repairs were and how much bondo was used.
Here's where the left rear fender meets the C-pillar:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-03DriverCPillarMeetsFender800x600_zps62d26404.jpg)
And the companion on the right side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-07PassengerCPillarMeetsFender800x600_zps41d13efd.jpg)
While a bit fuzzy (have I mentioned before I HATE my camera?), this picture shows how the fender is joined to the car around the back window. They just flanged what they could, and lapped the new part over on top of the old.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-04DriverLowerRearGlass800x600_zps9643b486.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-05DriverFenderSeamatTrunk800x600_zps8e347265.jpg)
Here's some not-so-good work on the driver's side at the corner of the trunk. I've got a lot of work ahead of me to fix this mess:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-06DriverTrunkSealLip800x600_zps4c494088.jpg)
Here you can see some of the worst pitting - this section will have to come out and be replaced. There is similar damage on the driver side. This is likely due to water being trapped under the window gasket against the paint and slowly working it's way through the paint and the bondo to come into contact with the bare metal underneath.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-10PassengerLowerRearGlass800x600_zpsb9a38cc0.jpg)
And where the fender laps over the original body parts - more pitting that will have to be cut away:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-09PassengerLowerRearGlass800x600_zpsd5d8a494.jpg)
Where the fender overlaps the original chassis parts in visible areas of the car, they flanged the body and tacked the new panel in place. Unfortunately, they didn't completely weld the part into place, and not closing up the seam completely leaves an opportunity for moisture to get underneath the flange and rot the assembly out from the rear.
I'm going to do some test welds to see if I can completely close up the seam on the C pillars. This may prove a problem because I'm not certain I can get all of the bondo out, and any remaining material will give me grief when trying to get a good penetrating weld.
Likely I'll have to remake a lot of the area at the seam between the trunk opening and the rear window.
Much as I'd like to separate the panels at their join points and do a proper butt weld, that isn't in the cards.
First, there's the structural aspect. The load to the rear fenders where they tie in to the body at the C-pillars is very high, and the car has been hanging on a rotisserie for months and months. I'm not confident that if I separated the panels that I'd be able to get everything back into alignment to weld. I'm not suggesting that the car has been tweaked, but even if I supported the car to take the vertical load off of the rear fenders, I'd not be surprised if when I broke the two panels apart that the rear fender would drop slightly and open the seam at the C-pillar even further.
There's nothing technically wrong with the way the panels are installed - it's just not the way I would have done it.
The seams are not in an area where water can get to the backside of the joint, so there's less risk of rust-through.
There was a fair amount of bondo used to cover the dips in the panel, but it wasn't excessive. The worst areas had maybe up to 1/8" (3mm) and I'll see what I can do to bump the panels out a bit to reduce that requirement, but the back side of both the C-pillar and the section between the trunk and the back window are double-layered assemblies and there's no way to get to the back side.
I'll post more when I have more to post.
Thanks for reading
OMG.
Amazing, well done!
It's amazing what can be hiding under the surface! Brilliant work there.
Tim
Simply amazing commitment to rust eradication here, nice work!
Thanks for your detailed commentary on this amazing process. I stand in awe of both your skill and dogged determination.
Thanks to all for the compliments. Looking back, it is a "good thing" that I started this process with "relatively simple" rust repair. Doing so has allowed me to improve my skills somewhat. If I'd started where I'm working now, I'm quite certain the results would not have been as good, possibly causing me to abandon the whole effort.
Then again - maybe I should have started where I'm working now... just kidding.
More updates:
Progress continues on the quest to eliminate the rust on #521. Sometimes I feel like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, without any aid from a trusty sidekick, even one riding a burro....
Working on the gasket channel for the passenger side of the trunk - which looked like at the start:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-14MoreSloppyWork800x600_zpsd938119c.jpg)
Then with all the extra brass and body filler removed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150106-19GrindingAway800x600_zps2c98dd08.jpg)
I don't have the tools or skills to form the replacement piece as one unit, so we work in sections. First the bottom of the channel. Formed it as an "L" flange that I put through the stretcher to form the curve:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-01%20Passenger%20Trunk%20Edge%20800x600_zpswelmigm5.jpg)
Then formed the top piece, also run through the stretcher to form the curve:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-03%20Passenger%20Trunk%20Edge%20800x600_zpss8va837m.jpg)
Carefully ground until the patch fits exactly:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-04%20Passenger%20Trunk%20Edge%20800x600_zpswfkmepbm.jpg)
Tacked into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-05%20Passenger%20Trunk%20Edge%20800x600_zps5wx7teqk.jpg)
Lots of welding and grinding yields a satisfactory result:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-06%20Passenger%20Trunk%20Edge%20800x600_zps048k9gg7.jpg)
Then form the next piece of the puzzle and tack it into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-07%20Passenger%20Trunk%20Edge%20800x600_zpsf8qqeib9.jpg)
The ledge where the window gasket meets the body and holds the rear window in place needs some help:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150108-08PassengerLowerRearGlass800x600_zps01eaea6b.jpg)
Cutting away the rusty metal reveals more rust underneath on the original metal:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-08%20Rear%20Window%20800x600_zps17j3g4f2.jpg)
Careful cutting with a body saw extracts the piece:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-09%20Rear%20Window%20800x600_zpsvhdtc7cc.jpg)
This tells me that the method practiced by the previous repairmen in just tacking the body pieces into place with a few welds and trusting the body filler and paint to keep what's beneath free of exposure to moisture was (not surprisingly) a bad idea.
I formed a single piece to mate back up with the flange and fixed that into place. That left a tiny sliver opening which was filled with this patch:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-10%20Rear%20Window%20800x600_zps0mpjxz0p.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-11%20Rear%20Window%20800x600_zpsklbad5nj.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-12%20Rear%20Window%20800x600_zpsh2uhgtfp.jpg)
Virtually disappears under a coating of weld-thru primer:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-13%20Rear%20Window%20800x600_zps0sro1rmh.jpg)
As noted previously, just a few tack welds with lots of body filler isn't a good idea. I won't be able to undo the overlap assembly that joins the rear fender to the C-pillar, but I can most certainly weld up the entire seam, beginning progress shown here:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150122-15%20Passenger%20C%20Pillar%20800x600_zpsgnuysig2.jpg)
Thanks for reading.
My how time flies when you're grinding rust...
I've been working steadily, or as steadily as I can on the final stages of the "find rust, cut rust, replace with new" on #521.
Had a small setback when I managed to get a sliver of metal into my left eye, even around the safety glasses I was wearing.
20+ years of wearing contacts (gave them up about 5 years ago for bi-focals) have permanently desensitized my eyes to the point where I didn't even have any discomfort when the metal hit the eye. I remember an "impact", but there was nothing after that. That was a Thursday. That night, both my eyes were "achy", but I attributed that to a combination of allergies, and possibly a couple of inadvertent weld flashes. Cold compresses and some Tylenol got me to sleep. By the end of my Friday work day (3pm), I was in considerable discomfort. That night I finally located the source of the problem. A dark spec in the eye that most definitely did not belong. All attempts to wash it free were unsuccessful. A trip to the eye doctor on Saturday AM had me "de-metaled" and back on my way in less than 20 minutes.
A note for anyone that encounters the same problem - when the eye doctor says "we need to use a little brush to remove the rust that's fused into the outer layer of the eye" - it's not a "brush" - it's a small burr, and they abrade away the rusted tissue... No big deal - local numbing drops take care of any pain, but it's a bit shocking when the doctor tells you - "hold on - I need to get you a non-magnifying contact 'bandage' to cover the hole I just drilled in your eye"...
I now use a new set of safety glasses that touch my forehead above my eyes, and my cheeks below. They're not goggles - those fog up almost instantly - but they're working just fine. I've even outfitted them with a set of cling-on 1.5 diopter lenses to help with my presbyopia...
Back to our previous story: earlier posts show the amount of damage that was done as part of the hack-job repairs to the car from the rear-end collision it suffered at some point in the past.
Here is the passenger side inner rear fender adjacent to where the rear sway bar mounts:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-01Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20fender%20at%20Sway%20Bar%20Mount%20800x600_zpsh4apgv1u.jpg)
Ended up expanding the hole to remove some dodgy metal:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-02Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20fender%20at%20Sway%20Bar%20Mount%20800x600_zpsiuviclaa.jpg)
And all nicely buttoned up:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-03Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20fender%20at%20Sway%20Bar%20Mount%20800x600_zpstfpc2wlk.jpg)
It's been so long since I cut out the original metal while replacing the side braces and bottoms adjacent to the spare tire carrier, that I don't remember how the inner fender metal met up with the side brace. I think that a lot of that original metal was gone and all that was left was undercoat. If I recall, the inner fender basically stopped about where the mounting plate is for the rotisserie - I chose to go farther.
Anyway - the next step is to remove the edge of the inner fender where it meets the outer fender. When the repair shop added the new rear quarter panels, they did a real hatchet job (I seem to be using that phrase a lot) while separating the outer fender from the inner. I addition, they never bothered to seal up the join point between the two sections (and probably would have just used chewing gum if they did make the attempt, so it's most likely a good thing they didn't try).
There's no way to get my big head with welding helmet up into the fender to work on welding replacement pieces, so having a rotisserie, I rolled the car around about 110 degrees so I can work on the project looking down at the inner fender instead of up.
Before I started disconnecting the outer fender from the inner, I added a brace to connect the outer fender to the chassis so that nothing would move.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-04Brace%20Driver%20Rear%20Outer%20Fender%20800x600_zpsxq8dxnu3.jpg)
What follows is a series of narrow angle shots of what I was replacing. Remembering that everything shown here is effectively upside down, the first image is just to the right (rearward) of where the wheel well opening ends. Each image moves to the right (forward) finally ending at where the wheel well opening starts.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-05Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Rust%20800x600_zpsvcnbndnw.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-06Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Rust%20800x600_zpsaztldhvr.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-07Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Rust%20800x600_zpsebhnp3fi.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-08Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Rust%20800x600_zpskp8w0fj9.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-09Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Rust%20800x600_zpslx54x7r6.jpg)
First I dealt with the half-dozen places where the inner fender was brazed to the outer. Then drawing a line parallel to the edge of the outer fender lip, I carefully ground through the inner fender along that line to cut the edge free. Here's a close-up view of what the inner fender looked like from the back side:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-11Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Rust%20800x600_zpsp401fqjt.jpg)
I did the replacement in small sections. Most of the pieces were simple L-shaped sections. Some needed to be curved to match the shape of the outer fender as it arches away from the car. Some needed to be curved to follow the outer fender as it arches from the forward edge around the tire to the back. Some needed curving in both directions. The shrinker/stretcher I showed in a previous post proved invaluable in this effort. Without it, I would have to resort to very small replacement sections. With it, I was able to do about 5 or 6 inches at a time.
The biggest challenge in the process was welding the pieces in at the very front and rear of the fender - I had to use a mirror to see where to weld. Same problem came when it was time to dress the tack welds down - grinder in one hand and mirror in the other, all the while trying to figure out where to place the lighting source so that I don't block it with my hand, the grinder, or the mirror itself. Quite a chore. I've pretty much ruined a good inspection mirror with weld splatter and flying sparks from the grinding effort - all for a good cause.
I also had problems with the edges of the fender creating shadows that blocked the sensors on my welding helmet, allowing me to get a few nice weld flashes.
All of the pieces are edge-matched to the original inner fender - there are no lapping sections. The meeting point between the inner fender lip and the outer fender lip was carefully shaped to eliminate gaps, and rosebud welds firmly fix the outer fender lip to the inner fender lip.
These next 6 images approximate the view of the previous 5 - I think things look quite a bit better, even if the first picture reveals a weld that I missed :(
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-12Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpswiqphjio.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-13Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpsazfhoext.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-14Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpsqowdcfbl.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-15Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpsjeawlzxr.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-16Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpsxhp8mbmb.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-17Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpsnhrejaoe.jpg)
And finally, here's the work done to cover the sway bar mount and join the inner fender to the horizontal brace that supports the spare tire carrier. The location of the beading on the horizontal brace on the driver's side is different than the passenger side, so I had to remove a section - but as I've had to remind myself on more than one occasion, none of this will be visible once the tires are installed - all that matters is that it should be structurally sound (and it is), and that no water may penetrate to the trunk or interior sections of the car (and hopefully it won't).
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150221-19Driver%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20Repairs%20800x600_zpslfbagdkm.jpg)
All tallied, I probably have about 35 hours in just the work on the driver's inner fender and covering up the holes cut around the sway bar mount. The passenger work shown at the start of this post was another 10-15 hours, as the angles involved in forming the replacement sections was a real test of my abilities.
What remains on this project is to deal with the rust-through to the left of the sway bar mount in the last picture. I'll be cutting that out and patching a new piece in place.
After that, the meeting of the passenger inner fender and outer fender are next. Then there's a couple of small areas in the front inner fenders that need attention.
Once that's done, it's time to clean the bottom of the car thoroughly in preparation for etching primer...
Oh my, did I say the "P" word (Paint)? Could it be so?
W. Brian Fogarty
'07 Lexus LS460L
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
Hi Brian
Way-to-go! Your rust removal job is sure coming along nicely, not long to go in the grand scheme of things and you'll be there. May I suggest that you get yourself a good quality LED headlight with a rechargeable battery pack that is not too yellow and not too white blue, say 4000K. You will find working with it an absolute pleasure, no more darkness or shadows, and the light will always be in the right place.
Onward and upward as they say,
Gavin
Thanks for the suggestion. Ages ago - when I first started on this journey, I did just that - here's what I purchased:
http://www.amazon.com/LED-Lenser-880044-Headlamp-Black/dp/B0053GV2T4/ref=sr_1_7?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1424783455&sr=1-7&keywords=led+lenser
I got some rechargeable li-ion AA batteries and a good charger.
The headlamp works a treat. I only wish someone offered a similar setup to attach to my welding helmet.
In my last installment, nearly a month ago I used the phrase "what remains on this project", and proceeded to list a series of items to be accomplished.
I had finished the inglorious task of reconstructing the edge of the inner wheelhouse on the driver's rear side.
I moved forward, looking for things that needed attention. You know what they say - "go looking for trouble and trouble is what you'll find."
Same thing can be said of rust on a 39-year old car...
It's been so long, I don't remember what attaches to this point in the left side engine compartment, but there's obviously a problem with rust:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-01-Rust%20800x600_zpszuwisri7.jpg)
Below there, there's a place for something that bolts through the inner wheelhouse - lots of pitting here - that needs to go:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-02-Rust%20800x600_zpsujldcwkc.jpg)
And so we begin the task of duplicating the removed section:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-03-First%20Patch%20800x600_zpsyz6lo0dv.jpg)
Gotta match the angle of the original piece:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-05-First%20Patch%20800x600_zps3tmphw3y.jpg)
I don't have the tools or skill necessary to form the second bend, so I'll have to section the part and weld it back together:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-07-First%20Patch%20800x600_zpsrbxecy46.jpg)
I formed this anvil out of a piece of 1/2" rod - works well for tweaking the metal in a tight space:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-09-Anvil%20800x600_zps23btdoii.jpg)
To create the dimples found in the original piece, I took a piece of hard maple and used the 3/8" carbide burr in my die grinder to form a divot.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-10-Dimple%20Die%20800x600_zpshve8iduf.jpg)
A piece of 3/8" aluminum rod with a nice radius on the end forms the dimple die.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-11-Dimple%20Die%20800x600_zpsz9rwyjme.jpg)
Jumped forward a bit to show the piece installed with the two divots.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-12-First%20Patch%20Goes%20In%20800x600_zpsmjfznusw.jpg)
The match is pretty good:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-13-First%20Patch%20Goes%20In%20800x600_zpsit0yua9c.jpg)
And all nicely welded and dressed into place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-01-First%20Patch%20Done%20800x600_zpssvmnz9hh.jpg)
The other patch was way easier:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-15-Second%20Patch%20Goes%20In%20800x600_zps19qgpnnp.jpg)
And finished:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150225-16-Second%20Patch%20Done%20800x600_zpsw9zqk2kv.jpg)
In the above picture, there's some pretty nasty rust in the lower right-hand corner of the image. This is what it looks like in full view. A small hole is visible near the center of the picture.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-02-Rust%20Behind%20Drivers%20Headlamp%20800x600_zpsvlfddham.jpg)
That rust is a result of a bad seal on the cover behind the headlamp. Water gets in and is held in place by the headlamp housing.
Out the rusty part comes - cut away section as viewed from the back:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-03-Cut%20Rust%20Out%20800x600_zps55ppjdbs.jpg)
And from the front. When the piece was removed, I discovered that the mating piece underneath needs help too, so it was removed along the red line:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-04-Cut%20Rust%20Out%20800x600_zps5w4zvomn.jpg)
Replacement pieces need to be formed in the reverse order of that they were taken out - what came out last goes back first.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-05-Forming%20an%20Inside%20Corner%20800x600_zpst2optwgl.jpg)
The piece needs to be formed as an inside corner - no way to do this except to section the metal and weld it back together:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-06-Forming%20an%20Inside%20Corner%20800x600_zpsz3ruaajz.jpg)
Getting close:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-07-Forming%20an%20Inside%20Corner%20800x600_zpszzc9efdl.jpg)
Weld it up:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-09-Forming%20an%20Inside%20Corner%20800x600_zpshwh5nafu.jpg)
A little work with a grinder:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-10-Forming%20an%20Inside%20Corner%20800x600_zpsuu6q1oao.jpg)
And through the magic of the internet - et viola!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-11-Driver%20Headlamp%20Repair%20Part%201%20800x600_zpsos21cthp.jpg)
This is the section of the headlamp bucket that needs to be replaced. The thinned section near where I'm holding it is where I ground away the metal to separate this piece from that inside corner made in the previous steps.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-12-Inside%20Headlamp%20Bucket%20800x600_zpsfyniipkr.jpg)
You can see that there's a dip in the piece at the right edge. Need to form that on the replacement part - more sectioning and re-welding:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-13-Forming%20Replacement%20Piece%20800x600_zpsizjnsap5.jpg)
And the final result:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-14-Comparing%20Old%20with%20New%20800x600_zpsttbbse1e.jpg)
And welded back into place. The square hole is really sloppy - I cleaned this up later after getting a nice sharp double-cut triangular file.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-15-Driver%20Headlamp%20Bucket%20Repair%20Installed%20800x600_zpssdwwurc5.jpg)
Waaaay back in reply 18 of this thread, we find this image from when I was stripping the undercoat:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Fenders%20and%20Fender%20Wells/3-DriversFenderProgress3800x600_zps476cf6b9.jpg)
And this statement:
"The rust below the fuse box looks worse than it is. The metal is still solid, although I expect the entirety of the metal behind the overlapping flange is rusty. I'll investigate from above how bad the problem is and may decide to drill the spot welds out, open the flange and do some abatement, then re-weld the assembly."
Hah!
I don't know if the rust got worse in the time since that picture was taken, but "do some abatement" wasn't going to cut it. A little poking around with my carbide scribe and I poked right through the "still solid" metal...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-16-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsup0ideft.jpg)
Drill the spot welds and cut the lower section out:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-17-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zps4ti4a3js.jpg)
"Some abatement"...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-18-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsrfwabbes.jpg)
Then cut out the body section. In order to find out how far back to cut, I had to drill the spot welds for the flange that forms part of the box rail that holds the front sway bar and fold it back. Didn't need to go up under the flange - the body section under there is just fine.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-19-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsvrp6raff.jpg)
Spend HOURS forming the patch - it has dips and curves in more than one dimension:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-20-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsyzkzbyue.jpg)
Start tacking:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-21-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsnvipmihg.jpg)
All dressed up:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-22-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpst3ltw3ql.jpg)
Part of the problem with this rust is caused by how the body is assembled. Here we see the box frame flange folded back into place and re-welded. The edge identified with the red arrows faces up and was covered with seam sealer. Water runs down under the fuse box, works its way past the seam sealer placed to seal the inner fender where it meets the body and slides inside and under this tab.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-23-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsmaqymcwt.jpg)
Solution? Weld the top edge of the flange to the body:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-24-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpshfgugwnz.jpg)
Reconstruct the inner fender section and install it
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150312-25-Below%20Fuse%20Box_zpsduq0pfji.jpg)
Thanks for reading
W. Brian Fogarty
'07 Lexus LS460L
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'92 300SE (W140) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted & gone
"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter VII
Thanks for the update Brian, I must say your latest welding and fabrication is reaching some impressive standards.
Thanks. I've gotten lucky (pure dumb luck is the best kind) in that the rust problems I've encountered have gotten more difficult to repair at more-or-less the same rate as my skills have improved.
I'm not putting things exactly back as I've found them - I'm trying to make them better so the car will have a long life long after it has gone on to some other caretaker.
On a similar note, I think I've found the LAST of the rust on the driver's side. I'll have pictures of that in my next installment....
(I've also made a similar statement many times in the past...)
One of the last sections of rust inside the driver's inner fender has been excised and replaced with nice good metal.
This is one of the areas after stripping the undercoating that I thought was solid. Since that time, I've improved my methods of checking, and indeed this section was soft.
The rust area right in the middle of the picture doesn't look like much, but the metal in that area is only about .035 thick, so any surface erosion results in a paper-thin cross-section.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150321-01-Below20Fuse20Box20800x600_zpsttlpvwwy.jpg)
Some (most) of this rust was caused because water worked its way in under the seam sealer starting at the gap in the flanges just to the left of the green arrow. I'm going to future-proof this area by cleaning out the remaining seam sealer, bead blasting it briefly and then closing up the upper edge of the vertical section of the flange with the welder.
Much of the metal to be removed is actually behind the box-section frame so a little detective work was required to figure out how much to remove. Once that was done, a sharp punch marked the center of the spot welds from inside the car, and careful surgery with a spot weld cutter was performed
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150321-02-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsalwjetag.jpg)
Some careful cutting with a right-angle grinder and a cutoff wheel removed the panel
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150321-03-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsgrwfsogg.jpg)
Here's the removed panel - rust was only really bad where the seam sealer and undercoat had allowed moisture to collect and stay. The rusty half-moon shaped section is what could be seen from inside the inner fender.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150321-04-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zps2kysgeki.jpg)
Some careful fitting and welding and the repair is complete.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150321-05-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsbrxyaiq9.jpg)
I did the initial tacking from inside the car, the exposed section was welded from inside the fender well. After the outside welding was complete, I came back to the inside and filled in the blank areas.
I'll wait to dress these welds until I can get the car upright and the dash out. It was hard enough cutting the panel out which is not critical work - grinding the welds down needs to be done carefully and that will have to wait.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Drivers%20Inner%20Fender%20and%20Headlamp/20150321-06-Below%20Fuse%20Box%20800x600_zpsvkdsgrvc.jpg)
"As far as I know", there's one small rust repair inside the rear inner fender that I missed - that will be done next week. Then - honestly and truly, all the rust that needs to be repaired on the driver's side of the car has been repaired - as far as I know...
Time has gotten in the way and I've made very little progress on #521.
I was contacted on another message board by a fellow wanting to purchase a 2.65:1 differential, and he knows that the 6.9's are the only 116 chassis cars so equipped.
So today, I pulled the differential I've been lugging around from the long-since-gone #1164 and went about comparing that unit vs the one I pulled out of #521.
What I surprise I got. Outwardly, they appear identical. I did a quickie check of backlash on the ring gear and found about .0035 play in both units.
Checking for unusual wear on the ring gears revealed nothing.
Checking for wear on the spider gears in the #521 unit revealed - uh-oh:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Differential/Chipped%20Spider%20Gear%20from%20521-2%20800x600_zpsrkkw53zz.jpg)
I was surprised that I was able to freely rotate the spider gears to confirm that most of the teeth on the gears have the chipping seen in the photo. Figured that the limited-slip was worn out.
Then I went to check the spider gears in the unit from #1164 - and I could not rotate them at all.
Then I figured out why:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Differential/Differential%20from%201164%20800x600_zpsyjv6qyz9.jpg)
Comparing this carrier with the one from #521 - there are NO clutch packs in the #521 unit. It's not a limited-slip differential!
Checking ratios,#1164 takes about 2-1/2 + a bit of turns on the pinion to get one revolution on the ring gear.
#521 takes nearly 3 revolutions on the pinion to get one revolution on the ring gear.
That explains why the car tended to do a one-wheel-peel if pressed hard off the line, and why it was "just a bit" quicker that other 6.9's I'd driven.
So - the sale is off, and I'll be using the differential from #1164 when I get back to work on #521.
Of the diffs I've seen, that wear on the spider gears seems to be quite commonplace. The unit in my 6.9 looks just like that, but also the carrier bearings appear to be worn meaning that the axle shafts are able to click up and down.
Tim
I guess that's good news regarding the wear on the spider gears.
I don't see any indications of that type of wear on the gears in the limited-slip differential, so maybe I'm even better off.
I never noticed any gear whine from the diff in #521 the few times I drove it, but noise from the spider gears would only occur when making a turn, and that's "typically" done at more reasonable speeds.
Of course, when this happens - the spiders get all sorts of work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7otPz_T_ONk
I have a fairly noticeable whine from the diff from about 60 km/h to about 80 km/h. Some folks tell me this is normal for a LSD. Thoughts?
I am running Castrol Syntec 75W-90. Been thinking of trying out different oils, as I am in the fortunate position of working for Castrol, so oil be free 8) Was thinking about using Castrol Syntrans 75W-85, it is fantastic stuff.
Doubtful a slightly different viscosity will make the whine disappear though :P
I can't see how LSD has anything to do with a whine issue. The clutches aren't supposed to be moving at all when you're driving in a straight line (unless you've got horribly mismatched tires on the rear).
Straight ahead, an LSD should act just like an "open" differential.
I've also read about folks that have diff noises at varying speeds.
So long as you're not finding metal flakes in the oil and the wear patterns on the gears don't show any problems, turn up the radio, or roll down the window.
Also - you do know that 60-80kph is WAY to slow for a 6.9? Maybe that's your problem? :)
One thing I might note - these cars were designed and built in an era way before there was anything "synthetic" with lubricants. Possibly just a straight forward "dino" oil might be the solution.
Also, if I recall, with an LSD you need a special "friction modifier" additive to keep the clutches from chattering on low-speed turns.
Hehe, no doubt, I am itching to push mine but here the cops are way hardcore, anything over 40 km/h of the posted speed limit and they take your car in what they call "roadside suspension", no bueno! Then you have to pay the tow truck fee, fine, and impound fee, big $$$, plus of course points on the licence, sad but true. Yes, we do live in a nanny state here :'(
Agreed, of the many sounds a 6.9 can make, the diff whine is the least of my worries. The PO had the catalytic converters removed, so I have a nice throaty sound on mine, quite raspy, very nice! I don't even listen to my Becker, just rev it every now and then ;D, much I am sure to the neighbours' chagrin ::) Oh well, I have to put up with their pot smoke smell, funny how that never gets ticketed here in beautiful BC...
My 280SE has chipped teeth like that, I've been aware of it for at least 200 000km, and never had any issues.
You must use special LSD compatible oil in the 6.9 diffs.
Quote from: s class on 24 April 2015, 02:25 PM
My 280SE has chipped teeth like that, I've been aware of it for at least 200 000km, and never had any issues.
Not surprising that the chips on the spider gears aren't problematic - they only get used when there's a difference in wheel speed between sides. Of course, when an aggressive driver is converting rubber to smoke and only one wheel is spinning, they get real workout.
Quote from: s class on 24 April 2015, 02:25 PM
You must use special LSD compatible oil in the 6.9 diffs.
Understood. Thanks.
And yet another month has gone by with almost no progress on the car.
However, I am happy to report that I'm back at it again as of yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, the work involves cutting out some work I'd done previously to re-do it again.
On the driver's side of the trunk floor, the panel that overlaps the spare tire carrier had some bodgy work done with the wreck, and I had to replace a 1-1/2" x 10" long piece on the overlapping edge.
This was done easily enough, but was during a time when I'd not completely polished my weld-dressing skills.
As I was buttoning up the work on the left-hand rear inner fender, I noticed that I'd not dressed the underneath of the area where I'd replaced this tab of metal.
Understand, that once the car is undercoated, with the exhaust system installed, this area will only be visible with the use of an inspection mirror, but an undressed weld is an undressed weld.
With much care, I began to work the area and some improvement was made. Not surprisingly, there were a few small pin-sized holes that were revealed.
No big deal - just a quick zap with the welder will seal the hole and on to better things.
Not so fast! Even set to a very low setting, some of these small holes were in a field of tin-foil-thick metal, thanks to over-aggressive finishing work on the trunk-side of things. "A quick zap" turned a tiny hole into a gaping maw... Trying to back-fill that mess led to an even larger mess, and the decision to excise the panel and start again.
And so I found myself yesterday afternoon removing a larger section of metal in search of clean edges to accept the replacement panel.
I've got the replacement formed and have to work the gaps out of the join line - it's a real bugger when you can't get your head directly in front of the cut line...
I've got the car rotated to about 80-degrees from horizontal with the left side down. I can sit in my mechanics roll-around chair and the work is at shoulder-height with this setup, it's just tucked a bit up under the trunk lid frame, so access isn't ideal.
Even more of a challenge is found in the need to do a bit of panel beating to deal with some of the kinks in the body panel that may have been caused by my ham-fisted attempt to close hole after blown-out hole. Can't get a body dolly on the underneath side because I'm working solo. Finally figured out I could slip a body hammer with a domed face through the hole and use that as a backup dolly for a little tweaking.
Anyway - progress is progress. I'll post some pictures of the carnage and resulting repair in the next installment.
Thanks for reading.
I feel like I'm going to confession, and I'm not even Catholic.
In my previous posting, I noted that my current effort involves fixing a problem I created on a section of the trunk floor that was removed and replaced with new metal, only to have me more-or-less destroy that work while trying to dress welds from the underside.
Well - here's the embarrassing evidence of my misdeeds.
I didn't take pictures before I removed the panel, but here it is in all its glory. This is the side visible from inside the trunk. The holes along the bottom edge are where I ground away the plug welds. The reason for the panel removal are the welds along the top.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150529-01-TrunkFloorRepair%20800x600_zpstsfvgyrd.jpg)
Same piece as viewed from the bottom.
I have no idea what I was thinking.
Note to self: if you blow through a panel trying to patch a pin-hole in a weld, and it takes 50 more welds to close up the holes you blow trying to close up the previous hole, you should probably give up and cut the panel out...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150529-02-TrunkFloorRepair%20800x600_zpssvanqht4.jpg)
And in profile, just to see how bad it is.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150529-03-TrunkFloorRepair%20800x600_zps3gwxov53.jpg)
And repaired properly. The orientation is how the part is actually presented with the car at about 80-degrees from horizontal on the rotisserie.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/20150529-04-TrunkFloorRepair%20800x600_zpsfrfguj2d.jpg)
This problem was caused by the way I was dressing welds when I did this repair. Grinding down the tiny welds used to edge-join panels must be done carefully to make sure you're not removing any of the panel material that surrounds the weld.
In these types of repairs, welds are typically harder than the metal they join, and using any sort of flexible grinding pad usually results in loss of panel thickness around the weld as the weld is ground away.
I switched to using a carbide burr in a die grinder, but this is a technique that is hard to master, in addition to the zillions of needle-sharp shards of metal it generates.
My current method involves a right-angle die grinder with a 3" diameter x 1/16" thick cutoff wheel. Used at a right-angle to the weld, the thin edge of the wheel is used to dress the weld down to just proud of the surface. The small diameter and narrow cross-section makes it easy to just grind the weld and nothing adjacent.
I purchase quality cutoff wheels from Lehigh Valley Abrasives. They're still cheap, at least when it comes to other purchases involved in restoring a Mercedes Benz - about 70cents each. The brand is Metabo, and they last a long time and don't produce the clouds of brown dust that cheaper wheels do.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Trunk%20Work/Metabo%203%20x%20065_zpslhtby7ni.jpg)
Somewhat slower than the "hog it all down" methods used before, but far better results are obtained.
Today, it's time to attack the rust and rot along the inside of the passenger inner rear fender... oh boy, I can't wait!
Started cutting out the rotten edge of the passenger rear inner fender.
This is the view before:
This right edge of this image shows a bit of the work I'd already done on the rear section where it meets the well at the edge of the trunk.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-01-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpssvuept6j.jpg)
And we work forwards around the arch towards the front of the car
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-03-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zps2vchifrk.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-04-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsa9tcc8jr.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-05-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsm32vghnv.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-06-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsh8nalumx.jpg)
The left side of this image shows some work already done where the inner fender intersects with the sill pocket behind the rear door. I ended up cutting this fix out to allow for a better overall result in this effort.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-07-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsqn0r4n9y.jpg)
A little work with the cutoff disk in the right-angle die grinder, and we have two strips of high-iron swiss cheese:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-08-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpshugy46ia.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-09-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsaqxjx0w7.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-10-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpscgb8xapy.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150601-11-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpszgbhuiu4.jpg)
I cleaned out all of the flaky rust left behind from the inner fender pieces - thankfully the outer fender seems unaffected. A quick shot of rust prep before I left last evening should make everything ready for some weld-thru primer and reinstallation of the replacement sections, just like on the driver's side.
Nice skills. Tried to reply on the M100 forum but can't seem to post on there at the moment for some reason.
I've noticed that. I try to post duplicates of each entry in both locations, but I'm being blocked on M100.
I've sent a note to the admins over there - one is in Australia, so it may be a while before the issue is resolved.
When I tries to post I got an error message but now my post is there?! Don't know what is going on.
While I don't have supporting pictures for proof, as of 7pm last night I have finished ALL of the rust cut-and-replace efforts on #521!!!!
Sadly, it's not all of the rust but it is all of the rust that I've found on the main chassis. I know there are some small areas on the rear doors where the quarter glass was leaking and a couple of places where the door lock actuators mount.
What remains before I can start looking to priming the bottom of the car?
I've got a replacement front subframe rail section from Dave (mirafioriman) that needs to be installed, plus a few dents in the remaining frame rails to pound out (somehow).
I'm also going to pull all of the attached subassemblies from the chassis - the transmission support crossmember and the two attachment points for the parking brake equalizer. I've found too much rust hiding behind things to assume that nothing lurks beneath these parts.
I'll have to do a bit of butchery to these parts to get them free of the car. From the restoration photos in the library I can see that the pivot mount for the parking brake equalizer is edge-welded to the chassis, so I'll have to cut through the flange to remove it, then grind away the weld that remains on the body. I've gotten pretty good at rebuilding things, so it shouldn't be too much of a job to add back to the flange where I've had to cut away.
Once those areas are dealt with, I'll have to figure out what to paint behind them so that the rust won't return after I reinstall the parts.
I've seen some restorers that use a 2-part epoxy primer that they just paint on with a brush. I've also seen the popular POR (paint over rust) products in use.
My main concern will be getting something in place on the body and on the back side of the pieces that will hold up against the heat of welding...
Then - it's time to tackle the front cross member that runs under the engine. It's dented from years of jack abuse, and I'd like to fix that and add some bracing to allow for future use of a center-located jack without denting it again, plus I've got a lot of body seams up there to clean the remaining goo of oil and god-only-knows-what before I can think about primer.
Still - even without pictures to prove it - I'm glad to be at the end (at least what I think is the end) of the cut-it-out-put-it-back phase...
Well done, you deserve a double Tennessee on the rocks...
Thanks for the kudos...
Actually, I stumbled upon a really nice 10-year bourbon this weekend. Old Rip Van Winkle. Nice hints of vanilla.
Sadly - it's about $350 - $400 per 750ml bottle, so I'll be relegated to drinking it one ounce at a time in a really nice bar, when I can find it.
And "neat" only - ice around here comes from Houston tap water, and as a native Houstonian, I only use tap water to brush my teeth, and I spit that out...
Regards
Back in the day we used a phosphate conversion on bare metal prior to priming. Tremendous corrosion resistance. Used something called Metal-Mate. You might look into it. Here's a Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphate_conversion_coating
I'm an active member over at garagejournal.com (same user ID) and members there are fond of the phrase "pics or it didn't happen."
This is used in context when members report accomplishments without photos to prove the event.
Drum roll, please....
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-01-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsxqanra8y.jpg)
Standard pattern of work:
- Cut a coupon of metal out of a sheet.
- Bend it into an "L".
- Add curves as required using the shrinker/bender.
- Sculpt the mating edge to match the shape of the inner fender.
- Mark and drill a few 1/4" (6mm) holes in the lip of the outer fender for plug welds.
- Clean the inside edge of the outer fender for drill shavings.
- Spray the inside of the outer fender with weld-through primer where any bare metal shows.
- Spray the back side of the replacement piece as well.
- Add a few welds to hold the piece in place.
I should note that the rust that appears in the previous photo was not there when I did the welding shown. I welded the piece in on a Friday, and the picture was taken on the following Monday. I'm guessing that it has something to do with the heat of welding combined with the shielding gas (Argon/CO2 blend) that causes this. There are acres of bare metal under the car that have nary a spot of rust, even after months of remaining bare after the under coat was removed. Touch one spot of that bare metal with a welder, and rust will form around the weld within 24 hours.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-02-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpseuerqhpf.jpg)
I don't attempt to match the edge that joins the outer fender at installation - it's left raw. Once I've got the opposing edge firmly attached to the inner fender, I clamp the replacement piece to the outer fender and add the plug welds at the holes I drilled in the earlier steps. Then I trim the edge of the patch to match the profile of the outer fender.
Continue with the pattern.
- Add a weld along the seam between the new and the old.
- Use a right-angle grinder with a thin cutoff wheel to dress the new welds down to almost flush.
- Add more welds to connect the dots until the new is fully bonded to the old.
- Clean everything up with another right-angle grinder equipped with an 80-grit 3" flexible sanding disc.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-03-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpswrobew9s.jpg)
With a lot more of what is noted previously, one can attain a finished product. The following series of pictures show the fully repaired fender starting at the rear of the car and moving forward towards the front:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-05-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsbekggtza.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-06-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsvewscwpr.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-07-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zps5jsxxdc9.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-08-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zps8km5gfpi.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-09-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsp43achgh.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Rear%20Inner%20Fenders/20150815-10-Passenger%20Rear%20Inner%20Fender%20800x600_zpsos3owgl4.jpg)
As noted in the previous update, I planned to remove all of the sub-assemblies inside the drive shaft tunnel to check for rust. I'm glad to report that work is fully underway, and the results have borne out that it was a good idea to make this effort. Rust was most definitely found - none of it critical, but time would have allowed the rust that was found to progress to where it would have eventually become critical, and that would have meant more work at a time and in a place where the process would be far less convenient.
The first stop on our journey was the flange where the parking brake equalizer bar pivots. You can see the stitch welds at the right and left-hand sides, plus the tell-tale bumps from spot welds at 4 places along the bottom edge.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-01-Parking%20Brake%20Pivot%20Slide-1%20800x600_zps6jkxdoyc.jpg)
The yellow lines show where I made my first cut to separate the bracket from the stitch welds:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-02-Parking20Brake20Pivot20Slide-220800x600_zps7pxvwwxa.jpg)
And this is what I found when the part was removed - not critical, but given that this part was fully sealed at the bottom and sides from undercoat, and more-or-less open along the top edge, water and moisture definitely can find their way into the gap between the flange and the body and rust will be the result.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-03-Parking%20Brake%20Pivot%20Slide-3%20800x600_zpsuomrynpz.jpg)
A word about removal/replacement of parts like this that need to go back where they came out. Simplest method is to drill a couple of small (3/32" - 2mm) locator holes before the part is removed. These are used to relocate the part at installation.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-04-Parking%20Brake%20Pivot%20Slide-5%20800x600_zpsqcv5zjkl.jpg)
And here we see the rebuilt part back where it belongs. It's not welded in yet, but the original shape of the part has been restored and once the necessary painting has occurred on the body and on the back side of the flange, it will be reinstalled.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-05-Parking%20Brake%20Pivot%20Slide-6%20800x600_zpsm6nt2ykq.jpg)
The next piece on the list is the transmission support. Before removing the part, I added a couple of cross braces to make sure that nothing would spread apart when the support was removed.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-32-Transmission%20Support-1%20800x600_zpsmvy6vzma.jpg)
Same plan as before - cut inside the stitch weld and deal with any spot welds to remove the part. Rust was found - left-front corner:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-35-Transmission%20Support-4%20800x600_zpsoubiunwp.jpg)
Right-front corner:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-37-Transmission%20Support-6%20800x600_zpsmfclxduk.jpg)
The rear corners were clean and free of rust:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-36-Transmission%20Support-5%20800x600_zpsrftoczmi.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-38-Transmission%20Support-7%20800x600_zpsr0qrmhxm.jpg)
Not surprisingly, the back (upper when installed) side of the support was very dirty, with little or no undercoat.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-33-Transmission%20Support-2%20800x600_zpsbfvr5nsl.jpg)
Cleaned up to see the extent of the rust - fortunately it was all surface level.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-34-Transmission%20Support-3%20800x600_zps5mfxaoy4.jpg)
I would love to form some patch panels and completely close up the sections of the mount that serve only to trap dirt, but bridging a gap the size of these would likely result in deforming the framework as the welds cool and shrink. I'll just make sure not to close up the drain holes when the undercoat goes on.
In a couple of places, I cut too deep and left a groove in the body. These welds fill the groove:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-39-Transmission%20Support-8%20800x600_zpsosackw6z.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-40-Transmission%20Support-9%20800x600_zpsbxzydkev.jpg)
The work begins to replace what was cut away to remove the part. This work was slow and fiddly, but far easier than patching the body - this metal is far thicker - about .100 (2.5mm), and since I can see both sides of the piece, I don't have to worry about lurking rust waiting to spoil my welding. Same pattern of attack as with a body patch panel - tack it in place, fill in the gaps, but do this work on the face and back side of the part.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-41-Transmission%20Support-10%20800x600_zpsdgqjbzqh.jpg)
Next stop - parking brake cable frames. These are where the front side of the parking brake bowden cables attach. Beefy frames heavily spot welded into place. No access from the back, so I used my trusty spot weld broach to cut around the welds from the front. Only problem encountered was the frames are about the same thickness as the maximum depth capacity of the cutter. The broach lasts best when I use the waxy lubricant, but that traps shavings inside the broach, which reduces cutting depth. Just have to take the time to periodically clean out the recess.
Left-side mount from a couple of different angles - there's rust lurking in there somewhere...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-22-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Mount%20Left-1%20800x600_zps9qv7uc4r.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-23-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Mount%20Left-2%20800x600_zpsd9smewlk.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-24-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Mount%20Left-3%20800x600_zps9hvwkehr.jpg)
Right-side mount:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-19-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Mount%20Right-1%20800x600_zps2j8oyigz.jpg)
Left-side removed - see, I told you there would be rust:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-25-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Mount%20Left-4%20800x600_zpshajtpmli.jpg)
Right-side removed - as expected:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-21-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Mount%20Right-3%20800x600_zpsdolet0xj.jpg)
For these parts, I don't have much rebuilding to do, but I am going to use a different method to reattach the parts.
In most cases, I grind away the nub of the spot weld before I reinstall the part, and I use the hole created by the broach as my plug weld point. However, this really only works well when the mating pieces are the same thickness. In this case, the mounts are nearly 1/8" (3mm) thick, and the substrate is less than half that amount. Trying to get a good bond can result in burning through the underlying metal.
For these pieces, I'm going to leave the original nubs that are still securely attached to the body. There will be a nice gap around each nub, and I'll weld that gap closed to reattach the mounts.
For your consideration, next we have the mounting point for the parking brake equalizer bar. This has heavy rust pitting on the face, and it was actually the appearance of this piece that led me to decide to remove all of the other items featured here.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-26-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Pivot-1%20800x600_zps5dkhhlze.jpg)
From the back - not much prettier:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-28-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Pivot-3%20800x600_zpswzofdk6y.jpg)
The body shows some rust, but nothing that merits replacing metal.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-27-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Pivot-2%20800x600_zps9moo8i3v.jpg)
This part had two stitch welds, plus 6 spot welds, but they were easy to find and remove.
Time to rebuild the part - a couple of pieces of 1/8" (3mm) flat bar should do the trick.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-30-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Pivot-5%20800x600_zpsweco3i81.jpg)
And yet more welding:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-31-Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Pivot-6%20800x600_zpsvawowwwh.jpg)
The final item is the drive shaft center support bearing mount.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-06-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-1%20800x600_zpsmsnydpxs.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-07-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-2%20800x600_zpsvqbjq5wc.jpg)
Removing it was a good decision - there was definitely rust underneath:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-09-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-4%20800x600_zpswqlazecy.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-08-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-3%20800x600_zpsursg8yyd.jpg)
Again, a combination of stitch welds and spot welds held the part in place. The spot welds proved particularly hard to find, so a couple of mistakes were made. The result is a mount that is going to need quite a bit of reconstructive surgery. Quite a few of the holes shown here were non-productive efforts. It looked like there was a spot weld, but when the cutter passed through the bracket, the puck fell away free - no weld there.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-11-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-6%20800x600_zpsegjnffme.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-14-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-9%20800x600_zpsyskrmlfx.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-16-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-11%20800x600_zpsmiag6mlv.jpg)
Weld a corner tab into place. I cut the piece longer than required and trim it back. It is very difficult to weld the end of a gap without burning away the two pieces. Having one longer than the other keeps that from happening.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-17-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-12%20800x600_zps1ytbmakp.jpg)
It's too much trouble to try to patch all of the small 3/8" (9mm) holes made by the broach, so I just cut the edges away to form a tab, then scribe the replacement piece to match the edges.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-18-Drive%20Shaft%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support-13%20800x600_zpsnwdbylcr.jpg)
All of the holes will be filled - 3/8" (9mm) is too big a hole to do a good plug weld - things get too hot and burn through. 1/4" (6mm) will be more than sufficient for the task, along with some good stitch welds along the edges where they were before.
Well - work on the driveshaft tunnel and related supporting bracket is complete. It feels So Good to put things back on the car.
On another semi-car-related site I follow the efforts of a fellow in Maryland that has an on-the-side restoration shop. I've learned and used many of the techniques employed on #521 from his postings there.
He's currently working on a full frame-off restoration of a 50's era Chevrolet Station Wagon (Estate for others). He's replacing lots of rusted out stuff, and correcting some design flaws as he goes along. Someone posted a question about how he protects new and/or repaired sections where new parts overlap old, or where he won't be able to gain access to the back side of the part once installed.
He indicated the best solution he'd found so far was to use 2-part epoxy primer on both parts. He doesn't even bother to spray it on - just a small batch with a paint brush.
One of the main reasons I took the time to pull all of the mounting brackets out of the transmission tunnel was because I feared what lurked beneath these items. In all cases, I found rust. I did not find any swiss-cheese, but rust is rust and it should be dealt with.
So, before reinstalling any of the bracketry (tunnel cross brace, drive shaft center-bearing support, parking brake cable balance beam pivot and slide and parking brake cable supports), I purchased a small (1qt) quantity of epoxy primer, and the companion hardener which is mixed at a 2:1 ratio (primer to hardener).
Cleaned the surface thoroughly with pre-prep (a solvent that removes waxes, oils and other things that could interfere with the bond), I used a simple chip brush (natural fiber extremely-low-quality brush) to paint the areas where the brackets would be reinstalled.
I had some problems with fisheye - areas where the paint didn't want to stick, but after waiting 30 second or a minute, a rebrushing with a little extra epoxy cured the problem. I did this in two batches - the body first, followed by the repaired brackets. On the brackets, I was careful to use a brand new paper towel with generous saturation of preprep and the fisheye was much less pronounced.
Some of the brackets
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-01%20Parts%20in%20Primer%20800x600_zpshxujlufe.jpg)
Mounting points for parking brake cable supports
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-07%20Primer%20on%20Body%20800x600_zpsx4e4igtu.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-12%20Primer%20on%20Body%20800x600_zps07gvaul9.jpg)
Mounting point for parking brake cable balance bar pivot
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-08%20Primer%20on%20Body%20800x600_zpsxv6r217g.jpg)
Mounting point for parking brake cable balance bar slide
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-11%20Primer%20on%20Body%20800x600_zps6rgmygay.jpg)
One side of mounting point for driveshaft tunnel cross support.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-09%20Primer%20on%20Body%20800x600_zps8ecodvmc.jpg)
Mounting point for driveshaft center bearing. Note the scratches in the primer. This is after numerous fitment tests for the bracket. Just a few scratches, and no bare metal showing.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-10%20Primer%20on%20Body%20800x600_zps6lp3fzue.jpg)
In the preceding images, there are several where surface flash rust is shown in close proximity to the primer. All surface areas where cleaned with paint thinner, then I used a 120g disk on a 3" angle grinder to remove all traces of rust, followed by preprep before painting. No epoxy-over-rust.
When it came time to reinstall the brackets, I put each one back in position temporarily to mark the points where I would need to stitch weld. Then I carefully ground away the primer on the body at that location. This stuff is definitely not weld-through material, plus it causes porosity in the welds as it boils away as the weld bead cools.
The pilot holes I drilled in the tunnel cross brace (previously misidentified as the transmission support) made it easy to put it back where it came from.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-14%20Welding%20-%20Tunnel%20Brace%20800x600_zpstuofqll2.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-15%20Welding%20-%20Tunnel%20Brace%20800x600_zpsggxtb520.jpg)
I was amazed at the heat-tolerance of the epoxy primer. In this picture, the shiny metal around the stitch weld is mostly the result of the earlier effort to create a clean welding surface. Before taking this picture, I used a stiff wire cup brush mounted in a small right-angle grinder to clean all the welding soot and loose debris. The brush had almost no effect on the primer. The boundary is about 1/4" maximum, so I expect a similar burn-back between the parts.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-16%20Welding%20-%20Tunnel%20Brace%20800x600_zpsy1eroxig.jpg)
When it came time to reinstall the carrier bearing support, there were some fitment issues. Much of this comes from how I had to pry the original part to free it from the car.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-18%20Welding%20-%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support%20800x600_zpsqa7dfilg.jpg)
Frequently to hold parts in place for welding, I use sheet metal screws to pin the part in place, then I weld up the holes created by the screws. Here, I tried something different - I made a jack. This is two 5/8" bolts and a coupling nut:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-19%20Welding%20-%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support%20800x600_zps3anx4fpr.jpg)
Worked perfectly
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-20%20Welding%20-%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support%20800x600_zpsggs3vfmh.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-21%20Welding%20-%20Carrier%20Bearing%20Support%20800x600_zpszzasyeit.jpg)
Welding the parking brake cable brackets was easy - I left the original spot welds in place. The parts were stitch welded along the edge, then I filled in the boundary around the original spot welds:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-22%20Welding%20-%20Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Support%20800x600_zpsxkf3v4ns.jpg)
After everything cooled, I removed the excess welding bead with a grinder:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-23%20Welding%20-%20Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Support%20800x600_zpsr1fbenra.jpg)
Parking brake balance beam pivot bracket back in place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-24%20Welding%20-%20Parking%20Brake%20Cable%20Pivot%20800x600_zpsgwoz9n3w.jpg)
Parking brake balance beam slide bracket back in place:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150906-25%20Welding%20-%20Parking%20Break%20Pivot%20Slide%20800x600_zpspaswz1zn.jpg)
Comparison to original placement - my work isn't as tidy, but it will suffice.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Driveshaft%20Tunnel%20Work/20150815-01-Parking%20Brake%20Pivot%20Slide-1%20800x600_zps6jkxdoyc.jpg)
Now - on to the front subframe...
I reported in an earlier posting that I'd sourced one of the front subframe pieces from member mirafioriman. The front subframes on #521 are dented from improper use of floor jacks, and being able to correct some of this damage by using an OEM part is a great "opportunity"
I originally thought that the part was for the right side, and was disappointed because the left side is more damaged. When I started work on removing the passenger piece, I compared the new part and found it's actually for the driver's side.
Still - I'm going to press on and pull the passenger piece off the car, fix the dents in the part and then craft some inner bracing to prevent this type of damage from occurring in the future.
Here, I've begun to drill out the spot welds and have pried the forward subframe away from the transverse piece. This isn't going to be an easy job - the transverse piece is welded beneath the section in front, and the released section prevents access to the spot welds that hold it in place.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150906-0420Passenger20Transverse20Support20800x600_zpsgrb6urdv.jpg)
I don't risk bending the tab sufficiently to provide access. I'll likely never get it back completely flat, plus the act of bending creates a work-hardened area along the bend that might cause cracking later.
The red dots indicate placed where there should have been spot welds. The deformation of the parts while bending has done my work for me - the parts are no longer attached there.
There are a lot of spot welds to remove. The problem is that I can't see many of them from the outside of the car. The subframe sections are far thicker than the chassis they're attached to, and as a result, the spot welds don't telegraph through the thicker metal. I don't want to remove the welds from the inside of the car - fewer penetrations of the floor pan are better, in my opinion.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150906-02%20Passenger%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsimqibrcj.jpg)
My technique is to use a cold chisel to pry between the body and the subframe. Where a spot weld is found, it causes the weld to telegraph to the surface and I can release it with the broaching drill. Not perfect, and it does create some dents in the floor pan which I'll have to deal with later.
Here are some pictures of the damage to the left side transverse subframe - the sides of this section should be parallel:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150906-10%20%20Passenger%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpstumetick.jpg)
It is dented to the point where the side wall bowed out creating the curve:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150906-11%20%20Passenger%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpswjympvml.jpg)
Where I'm holding the cold chisel, this section should be basically flat:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150906-09%20%20Passenger%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsi6mcyj6q.jpg)
It will be a very good thing to be able to replace this piece:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150906-08%20%20Passenger%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsojzea3kn.jpg)
Work continues...
Work did indeed continue. I finally got all of the spot welds released (or so I thought) and was able to get the transverse support out of the car. I did have to resort to using the pneumatic hack saw, as some of the retaining spot welds weren't accessible.
The yellow line at the top shows a section of the support that I had to cut away - it's spot welded behind 2 layers of frame. Also along the bottom, there were so many welds joined together it was easier just to cut away the entire corner.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-01%20Mating%20Point%20Callout%20800x600_zpsvan0wpxb.jpg)
There was some rust, but nothing major.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-02%20Underneath%20800x600_zps8uigq2nz.jpg)
As I noted earlier, I got "most" of the spot welds. I didn't find this one and the cold chisel cut cleanly through the floor pan - I thought the support was just stuck to the floor pan with some of the seam sealer.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-04%20Damage%20800x600_zpslr91li98.jpg)
I don't get this at all - there's a gap in the floor pan. I don't think this is something I did chasing away rust - I think it's like this by design. The hole is covered by the transverse support, but it's still strange.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-05%20Suprise%20Hole%20800x600_zpsvefpob7c.jpg)
Some parts of the support were "swissed" during removal (enough holes punched to render the part looking like swiss cheese).
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-06%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsylorpe04.jpg)
Lots of spot welds were removed - this translates to lots of holes in the support that need to be filled.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-07%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsh3hl1l9b.jpg)
The picture below shows the after effects of the sawing - the notch at the top right matches the piece that is still attached to the car in the first picture. The arrow points to a tab that I had to cut away that folds forward in the "crook" where the transverse support meets the main subframe section. That tab was spot welded from the inside and there was no way to get a cutter in there. I think the transverse piece and the main subframe "tail" were joined together in a frame and attached to the car as a single unit. There is now way some of these welds were done after the individual pieces were fitted to the car.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-08%20Transverse%20Support%20Callout%20800x600_zpsvkc374nw.jpg)
Here we can see how badly the part is dented:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-10%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zps4sgz7qmj.jpg)
After a trip to the parts washer and the media blaster:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-11%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsmtfeanes.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-12%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpssqxcmzci.jpg)
The flanges are pretty badly mangled:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-13%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zps0pfbud9o.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-14%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zps4taqigzl.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-15%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsoguy8sm8.jpg)
Some considerable time spent with an anvil, body hammers and ear protection return a more serviceable part:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-16%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zps3trn9gwi.jpg)
Reconstructed the "swiss" corner:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-17%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpsjx4enlik.jpg)
Dish is more-or-less gone:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-18%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpso3fksrso.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-19%20Transverse%20Support%20800x600_zpskhsahyte.jpg)
Rather than cutting away and welding tabs back to replace the spot weld holes, I'm using a welding backer "spoon". Unbelievable deal at $8.99US at Harbor Freight - the copper alone must be worth more than the price:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/Welding%20Spoon_zpsw4m3kk2l.jpg)
Clamp it in place, then fill the void with the welder.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-21%20Welding%20Holes%20800x600_zpskdw6mr7w.jpg)
The welding wire won't stick to the copper.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-22%20Welding%20Holes%20800x600_zpsgzgsrbgi.jpg)
The result - front:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-24%20Welding%20Holes%20800x600_zpshcdvttka.jpg)
and back - porosity is apparent, so I weld from the back as a second step.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150911-23%20Welding%20Holes%20800x600_zpsvu6yq0hb.jpg)
Spent a lot of time filling the holes, then grinding away the excess.
I read somewhere once a saying that if you can't be a good welder, you should at least be a good grinder...
Spent further time on the floor pan, filling in the holes punched and torn as the support was removed, grinding away the sections of the support that were left after the saw, and flattening out the dents in the floor with a dolly and body hammer.
Today it came time to see how the rebuilt support was going to fit.
The support needs to slide in behind the layer indicated by the arrow. The other line indicates where the frame section has a stamped recess that matches the shape of the support.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150918-01%20Refitting%20Transverse%20Support%20Callout%20800x600_zps6gxpii3s.jpg)
There's just one problem - now that the support is reshaped to it's proper dimensions, it won't fit in the hole. The existing subframe is dented and distorted:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150918-03%20Refitting%20Transverse%20Support%20%20800x600_zpssyvfbtiq.jpg)
Using some 2" tubing left over from the rotisserie construction, I cobbled together a brace that I could use as a pull point with a welding clamp. The brace clamps to the front support leg that attaches to the body at the rear transverse member and up at the front of the frame rail. This gives me a solid reference that isn't going to cause one part of the car to move out of position while trying to straighten out this section of the frame.
Fit the clamp, add some tension and with careful application of the blue point wrench (oxy/acetylene torch) the subframe is coaxed back into the right shape.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150918-04%20Refitting%20Transverse%20Support%20%20800x600_zpsljoivhgu.jpg)
We're getting closer:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150918-06%20Refitting%20Transverse%20Support%20%20800x600_zpshwdzoh3c.jpg)
Closer still:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150918-08%20Refitting%20Transverse%20Support%20%20800x600_zpscbnh17f9.jpg)
The part will fit, but there are a few small dents remaining in the subframe that need attention. They're not accessible with the clamp and brace, but a piece of square tube, a section of 5/16" all thread, a nut and washer (not pictured) should do the trick. I'll tack weld the all thread to the subframe and put some tension with the nut, then add a bit of heat. Should work nicely.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150918-09%20Refitting%20Transverse%20Support%20%20800x600_zpshn4jptui.jpg)
There are some problems with gaps on the inside edge where the support should be spot welded to the floor pan. Fortunately, I have a NOS piece for the left-hand side to see if the problem is with the repaired piece, or if the floor pan has an inward dent. Whatever the problem is, I'll resolve it before reinstalling the part. The support was so dented that as I worked the part back into shape, some twisting did occur. I tried to address this as I went along, but possibly more adjusting will be required.
Onward through the fog...
Crikey, you're really going nuclear on that rust. I truly admire your dedication to what's one of the most tedious jobs ever (my dad did this for 20+ years...).
I've formed the opinion that it is a true testament to MB design and build quality that any W116 cars still roam the roads, given the seemingly unlimited number of places that rust can lurk.
Based on what I've found, I'm also pretty certain that there is absolutely no such thing as a "rust free" W116...
I think Ptashek is about to set re-set that standard, haha!
Pretty set on following him there..eventually.
Quote from: wbrian63 on 21 September 2015, 07:12 AM
Based on what I've found, I'm also pretty certain that there is absolutely no such thing as a "rust free" W116...
Indeed. I keep wondering how much rust was left on my chassis after its 2+ weeks phosphoric acid bath. There are spots where even an endoscope camera can't get in, so it's hard to judge 100% "rust free" for practical purposes. I'd say, it's as rust free as is technically possible without building a new one from scratch. That's perfectly acceptable in my book :)
But the thing with rust is that if you do your best starving it of oxygen, it's going to take a long time for it to come back. Get the worst of it cut out, starve out the rest. A lot of it, judging by your pics, is surface rust - and that after 30+ years - so chances are, with a quality job, it should last another 30+ without issues. Modern paints and sealing waxes/greases are superior to what was used in the 1970s, and that should help too.
Quote from: wbrian63 on 21 September 2015, 07:12 AM
I've formed the opinion that it is a true testament to MB design and build quality that any W116 cars still roam the roads, given the seemingly unlimited number of places that rust can lurk.
Based on what I've found, I'm also pretty certain that there is absolutely no such thing as a "rust free" W116...
Indeed Brian. That is why it really irks me when sellers claim a "rust free" 116 or that somehow being a California car makes it rust free.
The proper classification for any "for sale" W116 car, no matter how visually perfect should be, in my opinion "no visible rust"
We know the rest of the story.
Methods employed to pull the subframe box straight (or should I say un-dented?) involved using a large welding clamp to pull most of the dent out. To coax some of the other smaller dents, I thought I could use a standard mechanics pry bar, but the angles weren't right.
The size and width of the foot of the pry bar are good
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-01%20Prying%20Subframe%20800x600_zpsp2zwprjs.jpg)
But there's not enough bend behind the foot where it meets the shaft to prevent the shaft interfering with the edge of the subframe
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-02%20Prying%20Subframe%20800x600_zps4vsxsina.jpg)
So I made one.
This is fashioned from a piece of 1/2" round bar. I heated the end of the rod to a reddish-orange tone, then beat the snot out of it on the anvil of my bench vice. Heat - beat - repeat.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-02%20Making%20Pry%20Bar%20800x600_zpsdfrdmka6.jpg)
In the previous image, I've already formed the "spoon" on the end, I've already put one bend in it, and and I'm preparing to create yet another elbow to provide better access.
The advantage of doing it this way is that I can adjust the angle of the foot and ankle of the tool to suit where I need to apply force.
In all cases, I made sure the pry against some part of the subframe assembly - wouldn't do to use the floor pan as a pry point...
I'm not certain if I'm "done" with this section, but it looks a far sight better than it did when I started:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-01%20Passenger%20Subframe%20Results%20800x600_zpswlirupzp.jpg)
Since I have a NOS transverse subframe for the left-hand side, thanks to Mirafioriman, I didn't have to be so careful in my removal efforts. I just used my small right-angle pneumatic grinder fitted with a thin cutoff wheel, and sliced the part off the car:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-01%20Dents%20in%20Drivers%20Subframe%20800x600_zpstbzmk9lq.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-01%20Drivers%20Transverse%20Support%20Out%20800x600_zpsnhlalhmb.jpg)
Somewhat serendipitous that I'm fixing the subframe, as my floorpan repairs above this section left some really nasty-looking welds.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-02%20Drivers%20Transverse%20Support%20Out%20800x600_zpsoas3oits.jpg)
The challenge with pulling the dents out of the main subframe channel is that there's a shallow dent that stretches for a good distance too far away from the opening, so I'm having to use the threaded rod as a pulling tool.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/20150924-01%20Dent%20in%20Drivers%20Primary%20Subframe%20800x600_zpshcgfxtl0.jpg)
It's coming along nicely, and I've developed some technique to the process, but it is slow.
First thing I did was to get one of my support stands for my dry-cut saw and use that as a place to set the torch while I'm not using it. Before, I had to extinguish and relight the torch for each pull.
Second was to learn how to heat and pull the dents. My first attempt was to heat around the attachment point for the rod. Pulling from there just left an outward dimple in the middle of an inward dent.
Subsequent efforts involved heating around the pull point, but avoiding the pull point entirely. Since the dent is fairly shallow and mostly flat, that allowed me to pull the section closer to flat without pulling the middle up too far.
The threaded rod works good, but it is slow. I have to cut it free, move the pulling bar, then weld the rod back in place for the next pull. Periodically, I have to stop and grind away all the welding nubs that are left when I cut away the threaded rod. It's hard to see how flat (or not flat, in my case) the substrate metal is when the plane is pockmarked with a bunch of welding stubble.
I have yet to reinstall the passenger transverse subframe for a couple of reasons.
1) I wanted to see if the gap in the floor pan was the same on the left-hand side of the car - answer: it is.
2) I'm not certain if I'm satisfied with the dent-removal process used thus far. As noted previously, it's a lot better than it was when I started, but it could be better still. Some of the techniques required to improve on the work done thus far will require easy access to the inside of the subframe channels, and that won't be possible once the transverse piece is reinstalled. Jury is still out here.
I'm away from the shop for the next couple of weeks. My better half had reconstructive ACL surgery on the right knee this morning. Providing moral/physical support will be my primary focus for a number of days.
Things you never want to hear an orthopedic surgeon say as he's browsing through the MRI images of your knee: "An here - right here, is where your ACL Should Be..."
Modern surgery is a wonderful thing, and a cadaver provided the replacement ligament which will act as a lattice for the body to replace it with native ligament tissue over the next year or so.
This is perhaps the most amazing thread I've ever seen. What an impressive load of work! Good luck with the knee...
Thanks, Casey. I'll try to keep up the good fight - it's been 2+ years already, and I'm not sure if I can see the end yet...
And just like that, another 2 months have gone by since my last substantive post. What has been accomplished? Sadly (or should I say "typically"?) not much. However, I do have some pictures...
As noted previously, the process of pulling the dents from the front sub-frame involved using a torch – here's an example where I'm pulling multiple layers – the all-thread in this case is inserted through a hole drilled through all the layers, and a nut and large washer hold it in place from behind.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0989_zpsvipa2x4e.jpg)
Careful application of heat:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0990_zpsikaqwggy.jpg)
And the subframe is flatter than when I started. (The pulling rod has been moved – it was previously in the hole indicated by the red rectangle):
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0992_zpsdde6x4og.jpg)
The intent of all this work is to pull the dents out of the subframe to make it more presentable. There was no indication that this work "needed" to be done – I just never liked how badly dented the pieces were. After all of this, it would be a shame if it happened again – so how to prevent it?
I had thoughts of inserting some heavy plate inside the subframe channels while the diagonal braces were out, but vetoed that idea – there are way too many holes in the subframe – water will get in, and having two pieces of metal closely positioned will just give a place for water and grit to form mud, and rust is the result, no matter how good the cavity wax job is. Also – unless I could get the plate nestled tightly against the subframe bottom, the first application of a jack would put a dent in the subframe again.
More analysis of how the dents occur indicates that the issue is that the horizontal sections of the subframe which bear against the jacking pad aren't strong enough to support the full load of the front of the car with the massive iron block V8. Looking at the dents, especially in the likely jacking area where the transverse subframe meets the main subframe channel, the sides of the subframes are largely unaffected – so let's take advantage of that strength.
Enter the "crutch" – fashioned from 3/8" x 2" flat bar (8.5mm x 51mm):
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0995_zps4hbttvhi.jpg)
It is to be installed thusly:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0997_zpsztweuzlc.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0998_zpss2jap1ev.jpg)
It bears across the side of the main subframe, and rests on top of the part of the framework that forms the pocked for the cross member that supports the rear control arms.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN1040_zpsvoiwzbsl.jpg)
Properly installed, there's a gap between the crutch and the subframe.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN1042_zps32ttmfqz.jpg)
And here's the passenger side all put back together again – this is the one where I had the NOS transverse piece – looks pretty good once all is said and done:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN1041_zpsflimj49x.jpg)
I was "lucky" enough to run across an auction on eBay for both pieces of the front bumper support. If I recall, the inner piece is still available from MB, but the outer section is NLA. A few (more than a few, but still a "steal") dollars later and the part arrived:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN0999_zpsgufhp1ts.jpg)
In place beneath the still-installed bumper support – you can see the distortion in the original part just to the left of the rotisserie vertical support.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1000_zps4kep8txq.jpg)
The part arrived in a box, but it was wrapped in some newspaper dating back to 1977 – I got a real chuckle when I saw this:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1001_zps5pcr75eu.jpg)
Further investigation reveals that originally the part was sent loose in the US Mails – the left hand side of this image is a mail meter label:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1026_zpsbb5tygq4.jpg)
Part of the challenge in getting the original part out of the car is that there are a number of places where it was spot welded to the frame where the placement of additional parts (like the radiator/headlight support frame) now block access to the welds. Since the original part is destined for the recycling bin, I can go in from the front:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1006_zpsq2vloywm.jpg)
You can see the 3 spot welds at the back of the support cavity:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1008_zps22hitglw.jpg)
A lot of work later and the old part was out, revealing many areas where rust was taking hold.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1013_zpsnkd1j3fn.jpg)
The frame channels, once open to viewing for the first time in 4+ decades, reveal cavity wax and a lot of grime...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1017_zpsoprlq3hx.jpg)
Before the new part could be installed, all of the holes drilled in the frame to release the original part needed to be filled:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1027_zpsyld2cuap.jpg)
Where I can, I want to remove as much grime from inside the frame – I've got a consumer-grade steam cleaner that helped some. The best result came from chemistry – good old brake cleaner...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1030_zpslggwh0yy.jpg)
Before:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1031_zpszervkrxi.jpg)
After:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1032_zps2e7nefri.jpg)
Oddly, I don't have any full pictures of the bumper support fully installed – just sectional views. All bare metal surfaces were prepped with 2-part epoxy primer prior to welding. This photo is very recent (1st week of January, 2016)– the actual work was done in November 2015. The flash rust will be cleaned before the part is re-primed.
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1060_zpsdrhi9dlt.jpg)
You can see lots of plug welds, plus I stitch welded the primary frame supports where they join to the bumper support, in addition to plug welding. Should be strong enough:
After the bumper was done, I started the long process of checking what else remains before I start prepping for paint. I found (not surprisingly) more things that needed to come off. This is the support for the 5th sphere under the left-hand fender:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1033_zpsmw02bdsk.jpg)
Based on how much rust I found in other areas, I decided to remove it. The technician at MB must have been paid by the weld, because they went overboard on this bracket – there are 11 spot welds:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1036_zpsiuqhyv47.jpg)
Surprise!!!
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1037_zpswx34q5m3.jpg)
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1038_zpsvvcydf1m.jpg)
Process was the same as elsewhere on the car – media blast to remove rust, weld up holes, coat with epoxy primer and reattach. You can see the alignment hole I drilled near the top left of the bracket. Makes
it possible to put the part back exactly where it was removed:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Front%20Bumper%20and%20Related%20Rust/DSCN1039_zpsxd48fopq.jpg)
The big dent in the floor pan I discussed in the previous posting was easily accessible from a hole inside the car and has been "mostly" dealt with using a ½" round bar and a medium size hammer. I'll need the help of an additional person to hold a body dolly to take a few small dents out, but that problem was really a non-issue.
The last step before I start cleaning for underside primer is to make sure that all floor pan work is done. I don't want to discover after the primer is on that I've got to cut something out and weld it back.
The right side rear floor pan still had the sound dampener pad in place – what a complete pain to remove:
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Floor%20Pans/DSCN1044_zpsxrbqhhfs.jpg)
The actual process of chipping the material out wasn't a big deal. Getting rid of the contact adhesive was another matter – that took a Long Time...
All I can say is man that is intense. You must love working on that car. I would question weather it will ever be as good as it was from the factory. How will you get all of the under coating and panels back the way they were. To deep into it in my opinion but I will enjoy reading your progress.
Quote from: Wrighttbenz on 09 February 2016, 12:51 AMI would question weather it will ever be as good as it was from the factory.
Why wouldn't it be?
I'm pretty sure it'll be much better, given the dedication and attention to detail.
Some aspects of the car will be better than before, some not so much. Once it's all primered and covered in schutz (undercoating spray), I doubt any of the "less than perfect" sections will be visible.
Wrighttbenz - I did take notice of your purchase of an euro 6.9. I wish you the best. I you want to come to my thread and read on the progress there, I welcome you. If you have suggestions to offer - feel free. I have a thick skin. If you have criticisms to offer - feel free - I can always learn from someone else's experience. If you have comments that are of no use - feel free to visit another thread.
I've worked Very Hard on bringing this car back from where it was to where it is. Whether I would have done this if I had known how bad the condition truly is is a moot point - I've done it and here I stand. Whether others could have done a better job is also not up for debate, as the answer is "of course" and "of course not", depending the ability of the person. I've done what I could with the skills and tools that I have.
Your journey has just begun. Anyone that has purchased a car that has been sitting for 15 years is in for a real challenge. My 6.9 was running when I purchased it - yours wasn't - and still isn't.
A suggestion - before you pour one ounce of fuel into the tank - pull the tank sender (it's accessible once you remove the tray that houses the first aid kit on the rear package shelf) and have a look see in the tank. Unless the basic laws of metalurgy were somehow abandoned in your situation, unless the tank was completely dry when the car was stored - what you've got now is a big tank full of rust.
Regards
Brian I see you had a dent in the floor board. Was this easy to knock back out? Did you notice any effect on the B pillar because of the dent?
My recent accident caused a dent through the rocker panel and into the floor board. Now seems like the door gap is not uniform and the door closing has been compromised and it looks like the B pillar is the culprit.
Would like to get your take on this.
Cheers.
Brian,
Your progress continues to astound me!! Those pictures are incredible! Keep up the great work and thanks for the regular posts that continue to motivate the rest of us.
Jed (in Detroit)
Quote from: wbrian63 on 09 February 2016, 10:51 AM
Some aspects of the car will be better than before, some not so much. Once it's all primered and covered in schutz (undercoating spray), I doubt any of the "less than perfect" sections will be visible.
Wrighttbenz - I did take notice of your purchase of an euro 6.9. I wish you the best. I you want to come to my thread and read on the progress there, I welcome you. If you have suggestions to offer - feel free. I have a thick skin. If you have criticisms to offer - feel free - I can always learn from someone else's experience. If you have comments that are of no use - feel free to visit another thread.
I've worked Very Hard on bringing this car back from where it was to where it is. Whether I would have done this if I had known how bad the condition truly is is a moot point - I've done it and here I stand. Whether others could have done a better job is also not up for debate, as the answer is "of course" and "of course not", depending the ability of the person. I've done what I could with the skills and tools that I have.
Your journey has just begun. Anyone that has purchased a car that has been sitting for 15 years is in for a real challenge. My 6.9 was running when I purchased it - yours wasn't - and still isn't.
A suggestion - before you pour one ounce of fuel into the tank - pull the tank sender (it's accessible once you remove the tray that houses the first aid kit on the rear package shelf) and have a look see in the tank. Unless the basic laws of metalurgy were somehow abandoned in your situation, unless the tank was completely dry when the car was stored - what you've got now is a big tank full of rust.
Regards
I didn't mean at all to offend anyone. The amount of work you have taken on is amazing and well beyond what I could ever undertake. I have brought cars back that have sat for many years in the past and I appreciate the advice on the fuel tank. I have already drained the tank and ordered new hoses and fuel pump bits. I have had pretty good luck in the past and have only had to remove one tank for cleaning and that actually probably wasn't necessary. It isn't rust that I generally find especially in a high quality car like this. More so it is plugged lines from the varnish that gunk's up.
I will have her started soon. It started when it was parked and I am sure it will run again.
this has been my inspiration on my car, I had plans scrap, but after seeing and following this thread I decided to keep her, my skill level is not up to this standard, but I have learned a lot , many bad welds , I plan to take apart and try again, thanks Brian, keep at it.
Quote from: daantjie on 09 February 2016, 04:18 PM
Brian I see you had a dent in the floor board. Was this easy to knock back out? Did you notice any effect on the B pillar because of the dent?
My recent accident caused a dent through the rocker panel and into the floor board. Now seems like the door gap is not uniform and the door closing has been compromised and it looks like the B pillar is the culprit.
Would like to get your take on this.
Cheers.
If we're talking about the same dent (sad that there were several), the biggest one was under the rear seat where the rear subframe "Y" shaped frame that provides alignment and torsional structure to the rear subframe mounts. Likely from someone attempting to jack the car up from the wrong spot. It came out very easily with some persuasion from inside the car via some access holes under the rear seat platform. That was the biggest dent in the floor pan. Location for that dent would have had zero effect on the B-pillar.
There were a few other small dents that were easily pounded out with a dolly and a body hammer - all too small to have any structural effect.
If you're now seeing alignment problems where the front door latches to the B pillar, you've either got movement in that pillar, or in the A pillar where the door hinges attach. I would think that any movement in the B pillar sufficient to cause alignment problems would possibly telegraph to the roof - but I could be wrong.
There was someone selling (if I recall correctly) a B pillar on eBay recently. Same fellow I bought my new front bumper support from. The vendor name is rcv225, but I don't see any active auctions. Of course, it may not be the right B pillar, as they are handed parts.
Sorry I'm not more help. Good luck in your quest.
Regards
Quote from: Wrighttbenz on 09 February 2016, 05:16 PM
Quote from: wbrian63 on 09 February 2016, 10:51 AM
Some aspects of the car will be better than before, some not so much. Once it's all primered and covered in schutz (undercoating spray), I doubt any of the "less than perfect" sections will be visible.
Wrighttbenz - I did take notice of your purchase of an euro 6.9. I wish you the best. I you want to come to my thread and read on the progress there, I welcome you. If you have suggestions to offer - feel free. I have a thick skin. If you have criticisms to offer - feel free - I can always learn from someone else's experience. If you have comments that are of no use - feel free to visit another thread.
I've worked Very Hard on bringing this car back from where it was to where it is. Whether I would have done this if I had known how bad the condition truly is is a moot point - I've done it and here I stand. Whether others could have done a better job is also not up for debate, as the answer is "of course" and "of course not", depending the ability of the person. I've done what I could with the skills and tools that I have.
Your journey has just begun. Anyone that has purchased a car that has been sitting for 15 years is in for a real challenge. My 6.9 was running when I purchased it - yours wasn't - and still isn't.
A suggestion - before you pour one ounce of fuel into the tank - pull the tank sender (it's accessible once you remove the tray that houses the first aid kit on the rear package shelf) and have a look see in the tank. Unless the basic laws of metalurgy were somehow abandoned in your situation, unless the tank was completely dry when the car was stored - what you've got now is a big tank full of rust.
Regards
I didn't mean at all to offend anyone. The amount of work you have taken on is amazing and well beyond what I could ever undertake. I have brought cars back that have sat for many years in the past and I appreciate the advice on the fuel tank. I have already drained the tank and ordered new hoses and fuel pump bits. I have had pretty good luck in the past and have only had to remove one tank for cleaning and that actually probably wasn't necessary. It isn't rust that I generally find especially in a high quality car like this. More so it is plugged lines from the varnish that gunk's up.
I will have her started soon. It started when it was parked and I am sure it will run again.
I will admit to being a bit sensitive when someone questions why I would attempt what I have. There are far too many people in this world that think that anything they wouldn't personally attempt is "wrong" and I bristle easily at those type of comments.
I welcome your clarification and wish you the best in your efforts to re-road your recent purchase. Hopefully, your fuel system proves a quick and easy fix.
#521 had a Completely Pristine fuel tank before I let it sit with fuel in it for 3 years and rust set in. Then I had another fuel tank from my first 6.9 (#1164) that I parted out which was equally clean, but had a couple of poorly patched holes in the side that faces the trunk. Likely from someone mounting something to the modesty panel and screwing clean through into the tank. I figured I'd weld the holes up - the patches were nothing more than rubber washers with sheet metal screws. No worries on explosion in a tank that has sat empty for 3 years. However, what I didn't realize is that there's some sort of plastic baffle in the top of the tank that doesn't take kindly to the heat from a mig welder. I set that to smoldering, and it melted and dripped into the tank. Not a total loss, but I've not been able to figure out what to do about it. Since I've got two basically useless tanks, I think I'm going to cut the rusty one apart, remove the intact baffle assembly and try to weld the tank back together. If I'm sucessful, then I'll cut the good tank apart and replace the baffle and hopefully be able to re-weld it...
Best wishes and best of luck to you.
Quote from: wbrian63 on 10 February 2016, 08:58 AM
Quote from: daantjie on 09 February 2016, 04:18 PM
Brian I see you had a dent in the floor board. Was this easy to knock back out? Did you notice any effect on the B pillar because of the dent?
My recent accident caused a dent through the rocker panel and into the floor board. Now seems like the door gap is not uniform and the door closing has been compromised and it looks like the B pillar is the culprit.
Would like to get your take on this.
Cheers.
If we're talking about the same dent (sad that there were several), the biggest one was under the rear seat where the rear subframe "Y" shaped frame that provides alignment and torsional structure to the rear subframe mounts. Likely from someone attempting to jack the car up from the wrong spot. It came out very easily with some persuasion from inside the car via some access holes under the rear seat platform. That was the biggest dent in the floor pan. Location for that dent would have had zero effect on the B-pillar.
There were a few other small dents that were easily pounded out with a dolly and a body hammer - all too small to have any structural effect.
If you're now seeing alignment problems where the front door latches to the B pillar, you've either got movement in that pillar, or in the A pillar where the door hinges attach. I would think that any movement in the B pillar sufficient to cause alignment problems would possibly telegraph to the roof - but I could be wrong.
There was someone selling (if I recall correctly) a B pillar on eBay recently. Same fellow I bought my new front bumper support from. The vendor name is rcv225, but I don't see any active auctions. Of course, it may not be the right B pillar, as they are handed parts.
Sorry I'm not more help. Good luck in your quest.
Regards
Thanks Brian!