Mercedes 190e

[owas]

A 30 year old Mercedes was always going to become a project

1991 1.8 190e basic spec bought completly blind.

The plan is to get it ready for its Mot, then drive it for a year, it'll come off the road for a underbody rebuild after that.

Ive had it up and while it's abit dirty, the majority of the body is still in very good condition,

Actually only a few jobs to do for the MOT,
Spring perch is starting to rust away on one side, I'll chop the rusty bit out and weld in a new bit.

Middle silencer is completly shot, I might just do away with this and put a straight pipe temporarily for MOT, it'll get a full stainless system in the rebuild.

Inner arch joint rotten out, looks like I have plenty of access to this so should be fairly easy.

 

[a111r]

Probably got an 8 link rear suspension kit for that going spare...

 

[roblane65]

Will you have the pictures of the repairs posted up by monday ?

 

[owas]

Probably should've been clearer lol I'm starting the welding tomorrow

Will be doing bits of the rebuild as I'm driving it (rusty wings/arches ect)

Still mot'd till feb

 

[roblane65]

Ahh thats no good ! we need pictures of the welding sharpish.

 

[owas]

Well I'm currently doing plently of welding takes some motivation to get the welder out at home after this

 

[premmington]

A 30 year old Mercedes was always going to become a project

1991 1.8 190e basic spec bought completly blind.

The plan is to get it ready for its Mot, then drive it for a year, it'll come off the road for a underbody rebuild after that.

Ive had it up and while it's abit dirty, the majority of the body is still in very good condition,

Actually only a few jobs to do for the MOT,
Spring perch is starting to rust away on one side, I'll chop the rusty bit out and weld in a new bit.

Middle silencer is completly shot, I might just do away with this and put a straight pipe temporarily for MOT, it'll get a full stainless system in the rebuild.

Inner arch joint rotten out, looks like I have plenty of access to this so should be fairly easy.

"Spring perch" you can buy these ready to weld on - did a pair on a W210 last year - not a bad job at all.

I got the internal thread spring compressor kit here - shame you was not closer - you could have borrowed it for the job - doubt I will ever use it again (but you never know?)

 

[johnakay]

merc are known as rot box's for the price of them they shouldn't rot that bad.

 

[a111r]

This one pre-dates the bad period: 1996 to 2006.

 

[johnakay]

I dont know much about them but been told to keep well away from them besides rot its expensive on parts to.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

merc are known as rot box's for the price of them they shouldn't rot that bad.

I believe that was before the bean counters took control and their slashing of production and materials costs resulted in poor/reduced quality.

 

[roblane65]

If thats the worst of rot hes got on 30 year old car hes got a good un . Looking forward to some pics of the repairs.

 

[a111r]

https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/the-poison-legacy-of-jürgen-schrempp.17987/

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-mercedes-benz-22445.html

TLDR: Mercs used to be really expensive (3 times a Ford, in the 80's), now they're not.

 

[owas]

After grinding away the rusty part, it was very localised, the rest is still like new under the coating,I decided to repair it in situ

Cut out the rust, and ground away the spot welded flange leaving me with nice shiny clean steel, made a patch and seam welded the lot.

Seems like a pretty weak design from the factory?

 

[w124tony]

Nice work, looks like a nice weld. The lower plastic panels and bumpers are the wrong color No?
should be a contrasting grey?

 

[owas]

Probably been painted at some point it, I do prefer it though , need to get them off to check the condition of the sill.

The bottom of the inner arch has gone on both sides, did try and start on cutting it out yesterday but couldn't quite get in, I'll have to remove the headlights and front bumper.

Should be simple enough then.

 

[owas]

Well this is a boring project, everything works and it looks like someone's already been through all the suspension

Other than the small localised bits where the undercoating has failed, it's all still like new under the muck I'll give it a clean and paint anyway

 

[owas]

Got the one side welded, was abit of a pain making the patch but it's all butt welded in, couldn't clean it up with my neighbours car close so I'll leave the grinding and painting till tomorow.

My new wings and back arches turned up yesterday too, panels for these are very cheap.

 

[owas]

Moving house put a hold on this,
More of the same the other side with the welding, and I replaced the front portion of the exhaust from the manifold to midpipe.

Flew through the MOT, quite surprised tbh, might daily drive it for a little while now.. I'm not sure I can live with the huge steering wheel though.

 

[daleyd]

Funnily enough seen a dark blue one of these today - being driven by an old chap with a smashing looking pipe (kind of like a Sherlock Holmes pipe but a bit straighter) puffing away as he went!