Inside rust on the Mercedes 300D including the battery tray
Posted By RichC on July 13, 2013
I’m getting creative while addressing a few more rust spots while still keeping the dollar investment to acceptable levels in my 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel. In most areas I’m a proponent of grinding and replacing metal with metal (TIG welding new material) … but I noticed some rust on the inside of the doors (creases at the bottom) when replacing a couple faulty lock vacuum servos — these areas are not easily accessible.
So, I’m going to go the chemical treatment route and since the usual spraying, brushing and sponging technique won’t work in these tight confines, I’m trying an inkjet cartridge filler (syringe “thingy” – technical term) so my hand can squeeze the liquid into these difficult to access spaces. I’m using Skyco’s Ospho as the rust treating chemical since I have the sample from the Cleveland Ohio company (I call on them as a customer). So far, the results look better than ignoring the problem, but I still haven’t figure out how to get a tiny spray head in the door panel in order add some Miracle Paint.
On other rust areas, I have opted to buy aftermarket parts … ie. the “disappearing” battery tray. (photo on the left above, is prior to removal; the photo on the right is what was pulled out, with the new black tray in the background) Since there were no battery hold-downs, I fabricated a couple, painted them black and fastened them down with a couple stainless steel nuts coated with A&D Ointment (Vaseline). Should be good for another 30+ years?
Comments