Mercedes W123 welding and rust. Its not good

[Music] [Music] uh [Music] hello welcome back to furious driving and the sun is still out the sky is still blue it's still unbearably warm frankly but i've got a new grinder and we're going to go and see how much metal is left in these sills hopefully it's just around the jacking points and i'm not going to put too much new metal into this part of the car fingers firmly crossed [Music] another of the handy bits trays keeping my car parts safe so i don't lose them for later on which will be weeks and weeks away probably the dhl man has just turned up rather exciting new toys have just appeared in the post first of all a pipe flaring kit because this car as we now know needs all new brakes so in the next week or two i'm going to be doing not learning how to make breaks because i've never made brakes before looks slightly scary all good isn't it exciting when new toys turn up i'll have a proper look at this thing later on this looks fairly simple man how literally how hard can it be famous last words [Music] so [Music] i need more height [Music] right well it's actually not too bad a thing of of a hole i think it must have been wax oil at some point in the past because it's kind of sticky in there and there's quite a lot of smoke coming out and this metal is so thick it is properly tank grade steel it's a good millimeter or so thick so well quite impressive really so i'm going to go too big with this repair panel the only thing is i've got to make a hole in the middle for that um jacking point to exist through which is a bit of an irritation to try and make and also i need to quickly grind up all of this stuff as well make sure it's all firm up there as well i think it is pretty good actually to be honest but which makes sure one thing i have found already is that the locking mechanism on this mcallister grinder is absolutely rubbish it sometimes locks on and they won't come off again but most of the time it doesn't lock on at all so you've got to keep your finger on the button the entire time which is really irritating and it's really hard to undo it as well because the button for locking the blocking the head is really annoying in fact i dislike this tool already it won't be a long term keeper i don't think [Music] ah i've just found a drain hole there was actually a proper proper drain hole in there i need to get a new grommet for this that's not a drain or sorry there's a drain hole that was was plugged with a grommet so i'm going to get a new one of these rubber bungs in that case then because that's handy for filling that entire sill with wax when we're done very useful now looking into this um this sill it looks like really nice clean metal this car has survived incredibly well i mean it's a testament how well the thing was built in the first place because this is like on a rover 2000 you put a post type lift into there and it just winds up and lifts the car up also it's solid on the bottom of the sill there so uh you can jack underneath it be good to get that sorted out oh gosh it's warm right let's flip this wheel off into this little area as well now picking up from where i left off yesterday and trying to cut the tops off these bolts that's where the grinder broke before um and then i can drill out the remains or use a of mold grips on them to get the old ones out this is very much in the way there's been collateral damage and a smaller cutting disc damn it ah i love success okay a lot of dirt falling out from behind there oh there that's actually just full of mud access to that big hole there now as well these bolts are basically just crust [Music] i have access to the wing excellent right so now i can see how big the hole is and it goes into the um the footwell but i can feel there's no plastic behind there don't step by to that obviously ah lots more under seal to come off my bit is the footwell i have to invest together in a minute something rubbery on the back of it i need to not set fire to sound deadening i guess that must be the back of the footwell just that i'm looking at and that must be the uh the trim on the inside have a look yep that's daylight so this is the back of this piece of trim just here so i just need to pop out this lower panel this knee bin cover a knee cover i should say under the steering wheel again slide this thing out and get access to that i've already taken most of the sound deadening out so it's just this layer of rubberized stuff that's on the metal i need to peel that back so it's not going to cause us a problem one of that sensor on the accelerator is never noticed that before all right let's have a look at this first [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] right well that's not really any worse than i thought it would be just a little flat bit across the top with a end and a corner just to make it sit on there this one though is actually a hole which i wasn't expecting i cannot believe how thick this underseal stuff is it's horrible gooey stuff though where it's stuck to the car it's protected it really well but where it hasn't it has caused problems there's more obviously there's more that the end is missing obviously as well on this cell oh that's not good so yeah i've cut that back as well thought i've found it all never mind i think i probably need to go and re-bush the suspension as well at some point still with everything else first a poor jack [Music] it's got a wire brush on that it actually seems to be rotted into quite a a clean edge weirdly but the underseal on this car is so thick it's crazy [Music] right this is actually holding or hiding even more nasties hmm that's all very crusty on the toe board there ah damn [Music] oh no i'm done through the metal and into the underseal the sound deadening rubber on the other side there's no metal there at all damn oh man alive i was literally tearing rubber off rubber that's not good at all [Music] this area here isn't metal it looks like metal but it's not that is the rubber backing or the rubber inside sound deadening sheet that's behind the the accelerator and brake pedal so it means i've got a lot more holes in the floor than i thought i had i thought it'd be a nice quick and easy job done in like under a morning but this is actually going to be quite a significant amount of cutting and grinding and exploring i know i had a fair bit more welding in the volvo last year than i thought i would so i think it might be turning into a bit over that situation unfortunately [Music] [Music] bother this is kind of weird under here and that is i could i was struggling to see where the metal begins and oh yes that's not metal struggling to see where the metal begins and the rubber stuff inside ends or vice versa and it's ah i real it's an absolute mess that's all rubbery stuff and then metal kind of goes to about there i just got oh this horrible stuff don't pick so you have to unpick all the stuff from inside the car that's going to be a horrible job we're going to find it inside the car first [Music] found it so i really don't need to strip all this interior stuff out now now i can start attacking this stuff down here man alive all right so don't forget quentin rover furious driving and broken rovers shattered dreams and many other designs are available on mugs stickers t-shirts and more in the redbubble store don't forget that let's take out ah some interior trim that variable resistor just there does remain a mystery i've never chased the wires back to anything so i don't know what it does there's power and earth going to it or if it must be some kind of speaker thing for the radio it's all i can assume splitting the audio to the front and the back maybe this side kick panel mostly just unclips but there's one screw down there which is very keen not to come undone the multi-function release tool did the trick whacking the end of a screwdriver with the hammer and it's all free and now i can see the beauty that is the holes in the floor and the bulkhead with clarity and ease ah yuck this is a weird stuff it's all one huge rubbery sheet of i don't know what but if it's painted in here or it's poured in afterwards or what this is kind of i don't really call this stuff it's like a tacky rubbery tarpaulin um sandpapery sheet that's in the back over here as well this is gonna be horrible clearing the stuff off it's a bit like the uh the sound deadening that was in the bottom of the volvo as well which i had to remove with a knife in the end okay so we've got access to the back of that hole that's all clear that one is not gonna take any extra clearing that one okay that's actually not too bad okay the accelerator is screwed to the back of the rust at least uh oh no that's not accelerator that's the return spring the accelerator is screwed to the back of the rust there's a random fuse lying over okay so that is now clear even if it's horrible oh man so it's just that area down there i can just have to cut this area here out with a knife just to get access to figure out where the rust reaches to okay right i've decided to start the ball rolling by doing this area down here because um at least if i've got this bit done i've got a solid checking point to work to so it's the old i'm sure this is copyright somewhere else a bit of cad cardboard aided design and i'll tell you what i'd really like right now is to have someone here doing this for me because i'm not a huge fan of doing welding and that hole the hole what do you call it well there's gonna be a hole in the end that is gonna be an issue making this more tricky than it needs to be [Music] not quite sure i'm gonna manage this particular whole situation it's very elongated the hole goes through a curve yeah i think that's kind of it what a weird shape to cut okay let's go find some thick steel all right this stuff is pretty thick so i'm going to use this as a starting point [Applause] i hope i can actually cut through it with my ancient old sheers some gloves at this point as well right not the best for this do some kind of nibblers i think get on and order some of those at some point [Music] right how does that look pretty close he's gonna get that curve and the uh and the hole and we're laughing well it's quite a nice cool breeze down here nice not being in the roasting sun oh near enough so snip the edges out with the clippers [Music] right so you've got a file on that we're actually going to get a file on that and make it vaguely not horrible not a bad fit but i just need to smooth it all down a bit this is the point where i regret buying the cheapest set of files that station had on offer i need more hands and i have free right now without holding a camera so i'm gonna put the camera down and finish this off right so actually i kind of wound up getting a little bit carried away yesterday evening after a long time filing this to about the right shape i then moved over to try and get this into the right shape for the sill which it turns out is not just a simple flat piece of metal with a curve underneath it goes all over the place and i was here for about an hour or so as i was getting the curve right at the front it would push the curve out at the back and i was just dropping absolutely mad so in the end i just want to grab the welder tack welded it in places so i could then start tapping it with a hammer and eventually i got it all completely right give one extra tap here and dented it just there but we're virtually there so i completely forgot to go and get the camera i was just kind of involved in doing this but it does feel i've need to do the bottom edge still because i'm putting welds on the bottom edge yet and it also needs a little bit more adjustment but yeah we're kind of there on this one particular very small element of this large amount of welding the battery is disconnected on the car i've tweaked this up to smidge more power to get a bit more penetration into the metal than last night when i was tack rolling in let's even get a complete finish on this now that's better oh i've actually followed the line of the metal for a change normally i'd do that and go off sideways around the side of the car out one player well astonishingly that does actually look reasonably solid-ish so now move on to the next one more cardboard-80 design and make a little plate plate over here i'm not going full-on soup motoring with mega accurate super detailed you can't tell it's been welded kind of i'm more going for it it's inside in a wing no one will ever know and so it's making it tidy and strong and hopefully not on fire as there is a surprisingly large amount even though ground this there is a surprisingly large amount of noise deadening sound deadening glowy stuff which is i'm guessing very flammable all over this place didn't want to drop that now now that i've finished welding there was stuff smoldering inside there which i couldn't do anything about there is this stuff which is yellow i don't know how good it would be i'm guessing it's either rust proofing or sound deadening which is now melted a bit in the heat so i've managed to pull i'd chunk that corner out and then lift up a bit more of it but it's really well glued down oh dear me does not want to come up at all it feels actually really damp underneath it oh god that's horrible it feels really damp underneath it and it's all got this horrible goopy tar paper stuff which is holding moisture in it as well so i'm amazed there's not more oh actually ringing water out of the stuff oh let's pull all this up that's horrible oh my hands are actually soaking wet from this and it's been boiling for about three days now it still needs to come up this is probably massively flammable as well oh god i'm amazed metal is not even more rusty than it already is oh god it's going right back it also appears to be like a a rubbery gooey layer of i don't know what has bonded into the car as well the whole thing is waiting to catch fire some kind of seam sealer i think anything that's not flammable or gooey on this vehicle ah this is actually stopping wet it's been 28 degrees for three or four days and this is still trapping nothing but gallons of water in it disgusting oh man alive i'm really lucky this hasn't rotted even more loads and loads of this horrible sticky insulation the underlay stuff that's what i'm feeling it's massively flammable so that's one to try it with a match yes oh no oh it is yes it is it wasn't so wet it would be on fire so i need to not be getting the stuff sparking red hot next to the world make sure it's all cleaned out right i've just scraped all the seam sealery stuff and loads of it out of this cavity just here the trouble is there's more up inside here you can see it from inside the car um but it's just so well bonded on you cannot scratch off all right so i'm ignoring that one for now because it's going to catch fire so i've done a cardboard 80 design put a cad there to make this shape which i'm now transferring to a bit of metal which i can then bend in the vise to make an intricate piece of soup level mercedes and fresh steel insertion disclaimer this won't be soup level uh so once again got the old recording interrupted and i managed to miss the entire welding process of this little patch panel here um so one panel here one panel here which means two out of the five massive holes are done which is quite warm and like a bit of scratched out while it's still hot now if i was a lot more practiced this i could probably cut this exactly square and exactly to size and have this grafted inside and let this in so you couldn't tell but i'm not that good at the cutting and shaping of the metal stuff so this is going to sit on top but it's going to be inside in a wing so it's going to be hidden anyway the main thing is it's solid and it's waterproof so no more water goes into the footwell [Music] so um what's up so in terms of quantity of holes that's three-fifths that's 60 percent of the holes taken care of i mean in actual terms this is the easy bit this one was quite a big hole but relatively straightforward-ish that wasn't too hard that was very basic all done now so now i've just got this massive great hole in the toe board down here to deal with and this big hole up here which is a little awkward because it's got that bolt just there which the little bracket is hanging onto inside there above the accelerator pedal so ah i'm gonna douse this all with or is this uh rust inhibiting primer so hopefully the car won't rust massively in the next couple of days it's a little late in the evening to be getting the grinder out and smoothing this all off so i'll do that in the morning great morning soon and i'll cover this area in filler as well because this is visible underneath the external the cosmetic wing not really cosmetic it's the wing i sprayed this little rust converter yesterday so hopefully this area will be relatively rust free going forward i will have to get in here with the wire brush a lot more and take this whole area back to metal just to make sure there's no other lurking nastiness waiting to creep out and scare me which i'm sure there will be right so it is a couple of days later now and uh as you can see i've managed to complete three of the five holes in this corner here this one by checking points glowing endorsement is the fact that cora's actually jacked up on it and not going through so that's a big win this corner area here is actually quite a neat repair and this little panel up here is possible certainly it's possible by my standards since i paid for it i might be a bit disappointed but as it's me figuring out what i'm doing as i go along it's fine um so right now just fill in this hole in the bottom which is quite a big hole and this area up here where i need to unbolt the accelerator pedal because that is actually uh that's kind of drifting into where i need to be welding it's pretty crusty on the back oh by the way i'll just point this cap to remind me to say i've got two or three of these caps left from last year i haven't ordered these summer caps for the summer yet i must go and do that very soon we reckon trucker caps five panel caps um there's a lot of different choices i'm looking at at the moment so we have some more caps for summertime very soon but the meantime there's a couple of these snap backs left if you're interested shop at furiousdriving.com so yeah after i did all of this the other day i didn't want to be doing i almost like a deadly blog of the weldings that would be really quite tedious and not really go anywhere um it's a 10 mil socket by the way well this is usefully inaccessible and there is a hope is a captive boat on the other side it won't be captive uh-huh the entire um floor area is flexing with this bolt so as i forgot to say on the outside after i did the welding on those little three panels in those gloriously painfully hot days it then turned to three or four days of thunder and torrential rain and drowning while he's standing up basically which is typical of a summer in britain and um yeah so i just coated it all in rush preventative undercoat to try and keep it from going rusty you then give it a quick grind off so it looks relatively smart and there we are now oh remember to cut around this oh one of them is releasing at least it looks like maybe pivot this thing away a bit because it made a plastic i don't want it to melt that feels like the captive nut isn't anymore [Music] [Applause] oh crap [Music] oh this is actually very bad for two reasons first of all i've managed to fill my fresh cup of tea with loads of bits of grit which is pretty awful to start with secondly i've got the big under bonnet lamp thing out here to try and throw some more light on this this rust is much worse than i thought it was the hole here isn't just a little hole it extends all the way out here to where the inner wing meets the bulkhead where there isn't any bulkhead yeah what i'm looking at here this is the bulkhead of the car back here where my finger is now this is what the um pedals are attached to there's the toe board or continuing down underneath it it's all perforated complete there and this is the inner wing structure and this is where it has rotted out on the bottom and side edges of this curve just here so it's a flat piece and a curve so in simple terms it's a very you know small simple basic piece of welding to do but in practical terms this is the crash structure of the car if this is in a frontal impact this is what actually matters this is what will be taking the brunt and transferring or not the impact onto the occupants so this is quite a significant thing and obviously well i've not been able to get my wire brush thingy any further in here but it does look like it goes a long way if you can obviously anything can be repaired i mean you've seen terrible basket cases that have been done and i don't know if this can be safely repaired or not i honestly think it's beyond my capabilities of safe welding i'm going to have to make some enquiries and talk to mark kosovich maybe and any other restoration people in the w123 world i can come across and get some opinions on whether this is actually a safe repair or not is a massively expensive repair is that practical repair or is rust in this corner a safety issue that we shouldn't carry on with this is actually quite a lot worse than i was expecting this isn't where i wanted this video to end but unfortunately it is where it's going to end because i'm not going to do any more just here until i know or really what the situation is with this whether this is a terminal bit of rust on this car i mean everything is repairable that's one thing which i know people will say in the comments everything can be repaired but the thing is it's at a price and i don't know what that price is if the price is safety obviously it's a no-go if it's going to run into thousands of pounds again it's gonna be a no-go um so yeah i mean if it's salvageable but at a price maybe i'll continue with the mechanical work fix the brakes on it the engine runs well get the thing to a running position and then sell it as a repairable car that needs welding um who knows and it'd be nice if the brakes did work on it because then at least you could shuffle it around the place and make it a lot easier and safer to move on and off trucks and get it to places to be repaired i don't know right okay so i'm going to say goodbye at this point i thought this would be a more positive video with this entire front corner completely fixed but uh clearly that's not the case today so uh yeah thanks for watching i hope you've enjoyed this if you want to support the channel and help future builders continue then do please consider joining as a channel member or as a patreon or hit the links below all the tools i use the the draper kit is on the amazon affiliate links below and of course there's all the stuff like the furious driving mug stickers t-shirts and all the other cars they've got their own merch lines as well so please do have a look at the links down below and maybe maybe we'll find a way of getting this car fixed in the future we shall see thank you for watching and join me again next time when or maybe i'll have a solution for this

Channel: furiousdriving

Views: 17,465

Rating: 4.9263353 out of 5

Keywords: car, cars, blog, vlog, retro, classic, classic car, retro car, motoring, mercedes, W123, rust, corrosion, car restoration, car restore, welding, old car, DIY

Id: d5S6bCaKeLA

Length: 35min 4sec (2104 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 24 2021