W114 / W115 rust repair (journey with pictures) -PART XI
by Patryk Rebisz

1. Removing the front fender revealed a nasty surprise — lots of rust on the top of the inner fender:

2. By now, I’m used to this sort of thing, so without much ado, off we go to work. I cut out the rusted sections, looking for healthy metal to attach patches to. As you can see, this is a complex shape, so I work with small sections at a time to prevent the car’s shape from “walking away” on me.

3. This looks like some kind of domino puzzle…

4. First patch in:

5. I also welded in a small patch where the rust had gone through into the passenger cabin. Notice that I never grind the welds completely flat. I do this for a few reasons: first, these parts will never be seen by anyone; second, more metal means more strength.

6. Moving on — the patches are painted (though not seam-sealed yet):

7. Installing the rail that holds the fender. That rail has openings for bolts, so I needed to make sure everything lined up correctly:

Part XII in the next post.