6.9

I wish I had better things to report. Thanks Tyler and Ali for checking in on me.

To provide an update:

The shop where I'm doing all of the work is a very large drain on $ each month, plus it's a 20+ minute hike from my home. Here lately, the local gov't has decided to do some much-needed road repair on the main artery I use to get to the shop, so it's even worse - some days taking as long as 40 minutes to get from my home to the shop. Given that I leave work at 3p, arrive home at 3:30-ish, briefly walk my 4-legged housemates, change and rush to the shop, I'm lucky if I get there by 4p with good traffic. I have to quit for the day by 7p in order to return home with dinner for myself and my better half - a process that I fully understand and support - people need to eat regularly... Now with this roadwork, which looks to be a long-term effort, I'm losing an additional 20+ minutes each day, plus adding to the stress and aggravation of the whole shop-away-from-home situation.

I really want to have a place that's outside my back door, and that is going to take some planning and not a small amount of money.

When I had other things going that necessitated and justified the shop, it wasn't a big deal. All of those things have been finished and I just want to close the door on the chapter of my life where I give hard earned money to someone else who really doesn't give a hoot about me, my wants or desires. My shop is at the rear of a larger complex with physical access to the space down an alley of sorts. The other tenant which occupies the balance of the facility is an ongoing problem. They're an auto-body shop, and there are constantly cars in various states of disrepair deposited at random spots that prevent me from getting my vehicle anywhere near my front door. I try not to raise too much of a fuss - this is purely a hobby for me, and they're trying to make a living. However, when I show up after hours and can't physically open the man door to my space because some dumb a$$ has parked a car right in front of the door - my blood tends to run a bit hot. This is especially bad when I typically can see multiple alternate locations where the vehicle could have been placed.
I have put the owner of the shop on notice that while I understand they can't watch everything 100% of the time - the first time I can't get access to my shop when I need to, I'm going to remove the obstacle by whatever means necessary and leave it out in the middle of the street in front of the shop, then call the police to report an abandoned car. Their response is typical of their level of intelligence: "you can't do that." My response is "read your lease - you're required to provide me access to my space 24/7/365. The entire concrete pad extending 40' out from my front door and the width of my space Belongs To Me and if I so choose I can prohibit you from using it At All - to the point of calling for anything left in that space to be towed away at your expense." Their response is the same as before - "you can't do that..."

I frankly am too damn old to put up with this kind of stuff. It frankly boggles the mind that people can be as dense as the owner of that business and still remember to breathe.

Anyway - I'm fortunate in that my brother-in-law has a huge place south of town where he maintains a fleet of vehicles used in his business, and he's letting me use some of that space for storage until I can sort out the next place.

The hardest part is packing up the contents of a shop that have been decades in the process of accumulation. I built shelving at my brother-in-law's to hold 75+ 27-gallon plastic crates from Home Depot. I'm needing more shelves...

So - everything is in limbo - probably for at least a couple of years.

Once I get the shop completely vacated (probably by end of June), I will be working on some aspects of the restoration that don't require me to have access to a shop - like sorting, cataloging and plating all of the fasteners and brackets. Then there's the work on the motor (new gaskets, seals, etc) that can be done in my home garage.

So the project itself is not stalled - it's just in a very low gear.

Thanks for checking in. I'll post some more when I start going through all of the stuff for plating.

W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'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

Yep, I'm waiting for you to finish so that I can send you mind to start one when you're done :)

With best regards

Al

I'm still watching too! I google wbrian63 521 at least a few times a year hoping for some updates!



85 500SL Euro, 1993 300SE

It is said that Time and Tide wait for No Man.

I got an eMail notification that someone had posted to my 6.9 restoration thread so I checked.

Thank you Delibes for your kind words.

Shocked to see that it has been over a year since I posted anything to the thread.

Shocking - simply shocking.

Progress has been made, but there is still more progress required.

I promise to post some updates - soon...

Best Regards to all...



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 can't praise you enough for your patience and skill! Can't wait to see the end of the metalwork and the start of reassembly!

As soon as you turn that key and pull out in your driveway, all those years of effort will finally have paid off!

Paul is correct. I store the images on Photobucket.
The URL (universal resource locator) for the first image in my most recent posting is:
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp73/wbrian63/DXXI/Restoration/Subframe%20Work/DSCN0989_zpsvipa2x4e.jpg

If you click on the link above, a new browser window will open and the image will appear on the Photobucket website.

If I add [ img ] (with no interior spaces) to the front in front of http: and [ /img ] (again, no interior spaces) immediately following .jpg, you get this:


The combination of [] and [/] are HTML (hypertext markup language) tag indicators, and the M100 message board interprets that the IMG command is requesting that the image be fetched from Photobucket and shown inline as part of the text of the message.

This allows me to display far larger images than I could upload to the forum.

The risk here is that if I move the image inside of Photobucket (it's like a big filing cabinet of pictures and videos) or delete the image, or I don't make the small payment that Photobucket requires for storage, every image on all of my threads on every message board on the internet will be replaced with the dreaded red "X" in a box...

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 Art,

Instead of uploading pictures he uses elsewhere stored pictures and put the link between the next sintax ( with the button "Insert Image")

[ img ] link [ /img ]

It does not function with "httpS" and only with "http:"-links

Brian, what method do you use to post your pictures? Can you explain it to a computer/website illiterate?
Thanks,
Art

And just like that, another 2 months have gone by. 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.



Careful application of heat:



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):



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):


It is to be installed thusly:




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.



Properly installed, there’s a gap between the crutch and the subframe.



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:



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:



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.



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:



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:



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:



You can see the 3 spot welds at the back of the support cavity:



A lot of work later and the old part was out, revealing many areas where rust was taking hold.



The frame channels, once open to viewing for the first time in 4+ decades, reveal cavity wax and a lot of grime…



Before the new part could be installed, all of the holes drilled in the frame to release the original part needed to be filled:



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…



Before:


After:


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.



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:



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:



Surprise!!!





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:



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:



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…


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 a bunch, been keeping my eyes on this rebuild, I have one that I've been working on but had to stop for a while, my wife keep telling me to trash it but, I show her your progress and all is good, thanks again

My first day back into the shop since my hiatus began on Sept 25 was this Tuesday (11/10).

Didn't think the gap was going to be that long, but family obligations are a higher priority.

I must admit that it is good to be back at it again, but the time away was also welcome.

Work continues on pulling the dents out of the subframes. I'm about done with that work - massive improvements have been made, but it's never going to look factory.

My next challenge is a large dent in the subfloor adjacent to where the rear subframe assembly mounts on the driver's side. It doesn't affect how the main subframe bolt attaches, or the triangular brace, but it's a very large dent from someone's poor jacking technique. Why someone would attempt to lift the car from essentially the floor pan, when the mounting point for the subframe is as solid a place as you'd ever want and right next to where the dent is I'll never know.

I think I'll tackle this by cutting a hole in from the top and seeing how persuasive I can be with a variety of hammers, pry bars and other such tools. The other option is to cut the dented section away and see if I can straighten it, or fabricate a replacement.

I'll post up some pictures when the work on the front subframe is complete and the transverse pieces are reinstalled.

Thanks for checking in.

Regards

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

Brian hows the restoration coming? any new pictures, thanks

Very nice progress Brian, thanks for sharing.

---

116.036 - trusty rusty
116.036 - Rooikat
116.024 - the merc
116.028 - Penelope
116.032 - Esmeralda
126.037 - Scheckter
126.037
107.046

---

---

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


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


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.


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:


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:




Somewhat serendipitous that I'm fixing the subframe, as my floorpan repairs above this section left some really nasty-looking welds.


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.


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: "And 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.

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

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.


There was some rust, but nothing major.


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.



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.



Some parts of the support were "swissed" during removal (enough holes punched to render the part looking like swiss cheese).


Lots of spot welds were removed - this translates to lots of holes in the support that need to be filled.


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.


Here we can see how badly the part is dented:


After a trip to the parts washer and the media blaster:




The flanges are pretty badly mangled:






Some considerable time spent with an anvil, body hammers and ear protection return a more serviceable part:


Reconstructed the "swiss" corner:


Dish is more-or-less gone:




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:


Clamp it in place, then fill the void with the welder.


The welding wire won't stick to the copper.


The result - front:


and back - porosity is apparent, so I weld from the back as a second step.


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.


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:


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.


We're getting closer:


Closer still:


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.



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...

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 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.


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.


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:


It is dented to the point where the side wall bowed out creating the curve:


Where I'm holding the cold chisel, this section should be basically flat:


It will be a very good thing to be able to replace this piece:


Work continues...

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

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


Mounting points for parking brake cable supports




Mounting point for parking brake cable balance bar pivot


Mounting point for parking brake cable balance bar slide


One side of mounting point for driveshaft tunnel cross support.


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.


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.




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.


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.


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:


Worked perfectly




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:


After everything cooled, I removed the excess welding bead with a grinder:


Parking brake balance beam pivot bracket back in place:


Parking brake balance beam slide bracket back in place:


Comparison to original placement - my work isn't as tidy, but it will suffice.


Now - on to the front subframe...


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 - I'm getting better as I go along.

Frankly, if I'd been as good as I am now when I started, I would probably be driving the car right now...

I've definitely learned that it is not only the skill of being able to perform a given task, but knowing the right and the wrong way (or should I say efficient and less-efficient).

I think my capabilities in the second category (right vs. wrong) have improved more than the skills.

Regards

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

Impressive your atention to detail. I am learning a lot with your post. Good luck and please maintain us informed of your progress.

Regards,

Slfan

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....


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.



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.

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:












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.


The yellow lines show where I made my first cut to separate the bracket from the stitch welds:


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.


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.


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.


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.


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:


Right-front corner:


The rear corners were clean and free of rust:




Not surprisingly, the back (upper when installed) side of the support was very dirty, with little or no undercoat.


Cleaned up to see the extent of the rust - fortunately it was all surface level.


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:




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.


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...






Right-side mount:


Left-side removed - see, I told you there would be rust:


Right-side removed - as expected:


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.


From the back - not much prettier:


The body shows some rust, but nothing that merits replacing metal.


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.


And yet more welding:


The final item is the drive shaft center support bearing mount.




Removing it was a good decision - there was definitely rust underneath:




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.






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.


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.


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.

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