underbody rust repair

[ahdanna]

Hi all - new to the group, but have had a 67 230SL for 5 years or so. I discovered at the end of last year some significant rust in the undercarriage, although it does not appear to have made it anywhere else just yet.

It was suggested to me by a mechanic that the person i purchased from may have done some quick surface repairs on it - hopefully that's not true, but it doesn't change too much right now.

I'm in central NJ and looking for someone trustworthy to take a look and repair it without raking me over the coals on $$.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Anthony

[Richard Madison]

Tony:

Situation may not be the same but when I had a car with some floor pan rust, the mecahnic ageed that I should buy new floor pan parts and he would install them.

KK Manufacturing and others sell floor pan pieces so you only buy the pieces you need. Also avoids having the mechanic fabricate and install "homemade" parts.

Richard M

[ahdanna]

Thanks Richard. Maybe i'm using the wrong term...the floor pans are OK. When i look underneath the car, say under where the doors are, that's where i see the rust. I'm not mechanical unfortunately, so finding a good mechanic will be very helpful as well.


Thanks for the reply!

quote:Originally posted by 280SL71

Tony:

Situation may not be the same but when I had a car with some floor pan rust, the mecahnic ageed that I should buy new floor pan parts and he would install them.

KK Manufacturing and others sell floor pan pieces so you only buy the pieces you need. Also avoids having the mechanic fabricate and install "homemade" parts.

Richard M

[cth350]

Two recommendations for you.

Gustafson's in Willow Grove, PA did the restoration work on my 230SL.  I needed 250 hours of repair and paint. That's a lot of rust.  

Precision Imports in Rockaway, NJ. Filippe won't fix your rust, but he's a factory trained mercedes mechanic and knows the MFI cars well.

-CTH

[ahdanna]

Thanks all. Has anyone used Foreign Specialties in Manville, NJ or Berkeley Collision in Berkely Heights, NJ? One was receommended to me by a mechanic and the other I saw on a Corvette site, but the owner had a 113.

Thanks!

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by ahdanna

I'm not mechanical unfortunately,

quote:Originally posted by cth350

... he's a factory trained mercedes mechanic and knows the MFI cars well.

For the non-mechanical types, MFI is Mechanical Fuel Injection.  It is the (somewhat complicated) type of fuel injection used in various models across the Mercedes-Benz product line from the late 1950's to the early 1970's.

Rodd
Pagoda Technical Manual
please contibute: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php
1966 230SL
2006 C230 Sport Sedan

[cth350]

MFI isn't that complicated. But it does require somebody to know what they are doing and how the system actually works.  Since all of the Pagodas have it (well "had it", right Walter?), it's kinda important to know something about it, even if it's only a matter of knowing which mechanic to go to.

Any body shop where the owner has a mercedes of his own gets 2 extra points. If he owns a Pagoda, give him more points.  Gustafson has down several award winning mercedes (at least one 280SL for a member here other than me) and Mr Gustafson has a low milage 450SL.

-CTH

[dseretakis]

Anthony, if the rust is localized to a small area, you might want to replace that small area rather than an entire panel.  This keeps more original sheetmetal on the car.  Also, the process of removing an entire panel, much of which might be intact requires undoing factory applied rust protection, and drilling out original spotwelds.  For localized areas, I would cut out the rusted area, and either hand fabricate or use a section of a rust repair panel to repair the area.  Also keep in mind that body shops don't usually do this kind of work properly or at all.  It will look fine for 6 months until the rust appears again. Their welding, rust prevention and sheetmetal fabrication techniques are usually not adequate.  You must hire a very well qualified restoration shop or do the work yourself (if you know how)in order to get good results.
Dimitri