Crazy body issues

[kiheimatt]

So... it seems fairly clear to me that my SL has never had any body damage up front. I can find no evidence of any prior damage or body work on fenders and the original hood looks new. Further everything still has the factory spot welds... yet my drivers front fender is forward 5/16" further than my passengers fender and is creating a LARGE gap to the door. Frame is spot on... a laser across rear swing arm bolts... and a laser across both front suspension mounts... all equidistant on right and left. Further, fenders have identical length, the doors have identical length. and the rear quarters are close. All other chassis measures and cross measures support the idea that it is square. (although the rear drivers door jamb seems to have steeper angle than on the passengers side. There may have been work here.)

Would someone experienced look at these pics and confirm that these fenders have factory spot welds?
Is it likely it would leave the factory that far off?

I am getting ready to drill out all 8750 spot welds and slide the L fender back 5/16. Has anyone broken trail on that project? Any thoughts?
Anyone else find themself slipping into the abyss of obsession and insanity working on these things?

Thank you!

[hkollan]

Hi,

There might be a fairly simple explanation.
Based on my experience with own cars and others, I would suggest they are not factory spotwelds. The fender has probably been replaced.
Also as I see it, the car would never leave the factory with a gap issue like that.

Hans

[mrfatboy]

It looks  like  your engine bay is painted black.  It should be body color. Red in your case.  Somebody has been in there and changed it.

[kiheimatt]

Ahhh... interesting.

Also... kind of amazing that a body shop would ever be able to get to those spots... and I wonder why any sane person would use that many spot welds.

Anyone have pics of some stock spot welds?

Matt

[Pawel66]

Also... kind of amazing that a body shop would ever be able to get to those spots... and I wonder why any sane person would use that many spot welds.

Why? I thought it was a fairly regular practice on restored Pagodas - attempt to re-create the way factory welded in this place. Of course it is rare that you really re-create it so that a good eye will not catch it - that is a different story.

[BlackJack]

I used the following link as a guide when hunting for mine. http://motoringinvestments.com/mercedes-280sl-w113-buyers-guide/
I believe this is based on an "untouched" example so assume factory welds shown in the pics are as they should be. These seem a little further apart than on yours.

[cabrioletturbo]

It is great news that your car's frame squares off when measured. Moving the fender that was obviously already removed in the past should be the good approach.
Do you have that much tolerance to move back? A picture would help.

So... it seems fairly clear to me that my SL has never had any body damage up front. I can find no evidence of any prior damage or body work on fenders and the original hood looks new. Further everything still has the factory spot welds... yet my drivers front fender is forward 5/16" further than my passengers fender and is creating a LARGE gap to the door. Frame is spot on... a laser across rear swing arm bolts... and a laser across both front suspension mounts... all equidistant on right and left. Further, fenders have identical length, the doors have identical length. and the rear quarters are close. All other chassis measures and cross measures support the idea that it is square. (although the rear drivers door jamb seems to have steeper angle than on the passengers side. There may have been work here.)

[kiheimatt]

Wow...

Thank you!

In all the pics showing factory welds the seem much more evenly spaced and much more evenly placed. Mine look sporadic.
I think you are right... I now think that fender was installed by a mediocre body shop.

I will be removing it..

Matt

[dirkbalter]

Reading through the spot weld discussion above, I went and looked at some of the pictures I took after strip cleaning my body.
I wouldn't bet the farm but believe my fenders were original. My fenders in the area discussed, have no spot welds. They were oxy welded as shown is the pictures.

[Shvegel]

I bet you have a replacement used door.  Doors, hoods and decklids(boot lids) are edge filed to fit the opening.  Since the doors are painted on the car I believe they are not stamped with the chassis number.  Measure your doors end to end and maybe get a couple of people to chime in and I bet they are all different lengths.

[Kevkeller]

Dirk,
That looks like a braze to me.  I didn’t think they’d braze it but maybe.

[dirkbalter]

Dirk,
That looks like a braze to me.  I didn’t think they’d braze it but maybe.

Kevin,
You are right on the brazing. I was looking around and haven’t seen an original factory spot weld picture of that area yet. May be someone has one?
In my case:
The brazing is on both fenders the same.
It had, what I would consider factory spot welds along the fenders in the motor compartment and all other areas.
All the fender transition points or areas were perfectly leaded.
The fenders itself were old and rusted, multiple patch panels and rust-holes that would indicate that they never came off and were only “repaired”.
Nothing indicates that the car had an accident that required both fenders being replaced.
The panels to which the fenders were brazed did not show any signs of previous spot welding (Drilling and grinding...).   

I don’t know, prove me wrong.
Dirk