W124 - Some bodywork and 'plastic surgery'

From the previous episode of repairs and parts replacement, I have not been able to drive it due to the lockdown. I too cant bring Rhino home at the moment unless I put it on a tow truck.

Taking advantage of the situation, Rhino was sent to a body repair shop for some rust repair, body panel adjustment, and refitting. This is a further repair from the first one that Rhino had which is detailed here.

To begin with, there was rust that was found not too long ago on the front left fender. The metal piece that covers the charcoal can have corroded away. This could have been contributed by a leak on the wet battery that flowed down from the battery to the tray, to the fender, and lastly to the skirting base before leaking away. So that is one of the work.

The trunk was replaced about 6 months ago but it was not properly aligned and after the replacement of the trunk weather seal, closing the trunk needed some force, which is not normal. Upon closer inspection, this is because the trunk does not line up to the body properly. Some adjustment was done and the trunk closes a whole lot better. There is a little more to be done and it will be straight.

The gas cap cover is not aligned and will be adjusted. The front doors will require some adjustments as well to have the body lines straight. Some rust was found on the right side B pillar, but it is mostly expected to be surface rust.

The skirting and door cladding pieces were removed, and first, there was rust that was observed on the front left side of the skirt backing panel. On the cladding, a few clips were found missing, a few more were damaged and needs replacement.

The rear bumper is not aligned to the body and there is a sagging gap. To sort this, the rear bumper will be removed and brackets adjusted to have a tighter fit.

On the front, there are 2 tears seen on the cross member, they are minor. The hood was seen to be shaking during the drive, according to the body guy, this may be caused by the cross member not being straight allowing the hood to have some free play. The headlamps were also found to not be aligned with the indicators. And they are seated a lower than they should. To have this addressed, the lamps, lower lamp cover will be removed, cross member welded and straightened, and finally all put back together.

There was a little change that was done, the front parking lights, T4W - 12v are suspected to be reaching the end of their service life, I have got the faulty bulb warning light coming off intermittently. Almost all bulbs have been replaced with the exception of the T4W. As an upgrade, I got the bulbs replaced with a pair of Osram LED T4W and they are bright. No faulty bulb warning was observed at the moment.

Update #2:

As we are still in lockdown, there was no rush to have the work done, so I reminded the body guy to take his time. He did update me on a few things:

Front end - he found traces that the car has been in a collision before, but it was not a bad one. The previous repair was not done to spec. What he told me was the middle of the grill, where the aux fan is seated needed to be pulled out by about an inch. This also causes the headlamp and the bonnet to have a gap. He adjusted after the crossbar (nose) was pulled out. He also said that the bonnet now closes properly. I reminded him that it also used to vibrate in the past and to have it checked once the work is done to confirm.

The front fenders were removed, on the left, he found traces of rust, he will check further if it is just surface or it has penetrated through. This rust was caused by the water flow from the sides of the windscreen which was not properly flowing in the tube in the fender to be channeled out completely.

Update #3:

The earlier reported rust on the fender was assessed, there were rotten pieces of metal surrounding the charcoal can. The rotten pieces were cut off and replaced with fresh metal welded in. The body glue seals were picked out completely, followed by thoroughly cleaning before priming it, rust proofing and body glue seal reapplied.

Upon lining up the bonnet, the right side fender frame was found to not be straight in alignment to the bonnet, suggesting that there could have been some repairs here as well but not corrected to spec. The body guy will have to adjust the frame to align it back to the bonnet. This will align the bonnet and fenders straight with uniform gaps on both sides.

A few clips on the cladding and side skirts were missing and in the past have been affixed with glue. Replacement clips ordered and will be attached once all rust repair is completed and body alignment is straightened.

We also took the opportunity to reattach the host from the spare tank to the reservoir at the right fender which was not attached prior to this.

The next section that he will be focusing on is the doors to ensure that the body lines are straight from the fender all the way to the back.

Update #4:

There were a few updates from the last entry, firstly, the front bonnet and fenders are aligned. The right-hand side fender was out of spec and has been corrected. The crossbar in front had some tears which have been welded back. The bonnet now shuts properly.

Under the front windscreen, there is a rubber flap that covers the wiper mechanism, this flap is clipped to place to a rubber strip that is located under the front windscreen. It was found that the rubber flap was glued to place rather than properly attaching it back. This was corrected as well.

The front bumper could not be properly aligned and needed a replacement to have the lines straight. There are no more original bumpers available and a replacement Taiwan-made bumper was ordered. Upon installation, the bumper looks straight. There is a chance that some parts of the bumper could sync over time and heat and as future mitigation, I will have it fibered up for reinforcement when the pain job is due.

There was surface rust seen on the right-hand side outer B pillar, this sanded down and primed. Further to that, the body guy discovered that the front floor pans on both sides had inward dents which would have caused by not jacking the car at the correct points. The dents were pulled downwards back. Now that explains why it was uncomfortable to rest my feet on the floor pan as it wasn't even.

The trunk was not shutting properly and upon inspection, it was found to not be original. It can only be adjusted to an extent and will not completely have the lines straight. To have this fixed, a replacement original trunk was sourced for installation. The main difference is the weight of both trunks where the original one is heavier.

The fuel tank lid was also not straight, a quick minor adjustment sorted that out.

The front left skirt has been reinstalled as the backing mounting plate has been fixed. Door cladding pieces are to be installed. The body guy also noticed that the door would have been dented before but was not corrected. There is probably a 1.5mm gap at the end. This too will be corrected when the car goes in for painting.

Most works are almost complete and they should be ready in the next couple of days. However, I can't bring Rhino back for the time being due to the lockdown imposed locally.

Final update:

The car is ready for collection and it has been brought home. The work has made the car more proper fitting-wise and closes the chapter of body repair.

Pictures: