Mercedes Gelande GD240 W460 1986 Danish Army

[joeblack5]

evening folks,

Last year we bought a 1986 Mercedes GD240 W460 chassis through fleab . It was original from the Danish Army. We have several mercedes diesels w123/ w124 and this GD240 has the 4 cylinder na OM616 engine and a 4 speed manual.
It is a fun machine to drive, slow especially on road uphill.
This vehicle was by no means perfect, other wise I probably would have been to expensive for me to have as a toy) and after a year the rear access door lower hinge came loose from its mounting.
After some investigation it showed some good amount of rot.

Later J

 

[SETOYOTA]

 

[joeblack5]

how do you mean...Just kidding . This is when we bought it last year.

This is the problem area :

Not sure I am doing this image stuff right.

Later J

 

[SETOYOTA]

Now I know what your talking about. I like it

 

[joeblack5]

Thank you, fun to drive around in. Rust is horrible. So I drilled the spot welds and removed the skin. This was already a replacement panel. Assume the Danish put it on. The other side is good, They sprayed a lot of anti rust wax in the hollow sections of the car but for the passenger side that was not enough.

Some more cutting, there seems no end. always a compromise.

The replacement panels were a little spicy $$. The rear quarter had some problems as well but I did not want to get this out of hand and decided to make my own construction.

Later J

 

[Karl kostman]

Joe that is a pretty unique looking Benz, I have not seen one like that before, its cool! I am into Unimogs, I owned a 404 for a couple years then got a beautiful U1300L and I DO know what you mean by parts can be pricey, but then lets just think about this for a second, Mercedes Benz parts are pricey, OK thats to be expected NOW lets add the work MILITARY to those parts! Its understood and I like the vehicle!
Karl

 

[joeblack5]

Thanks Karl,
You are right about the $$, just got a flu419, still not over the price I paid for that but I still have beer in the fridge so what is there to complain..

I hate rust so decided to use Stainless steel as replacement parts.

First attempt.

Changed design, so had to add some.

The hard part.. Since the original seam metal from the rear quarter panel was poor I bend the SS steel but it had to conform to the contour.

Probably should have done it different. Then by hand I hammered a little Z in the folded lip so that the quarter panel overlaps the Stainless but is till inline.
Of course later I found that there is a tool for that.

Later J

 

[joeblack5]

I was lucky that my friends at a welding shop had time to help me out so we bend up a section of 1/8" Stainless for the floor profile.

Made a small mistake end it would not but up nice to the original so had to cut a section out and refit.

I have never had any real good experience with rust stopping paint on sheet metal so if possible i like to grind clean and then tine coat it . Just use a 200 watt soldering iron. Amazingly it does not damage the paint right next to it. Also did the edges of the cut I took out of the quarter panel.

Later J

 

[joeblack5]

Test fitted the door and did some rust repairs to the bottom section.

The contour in the quarter panel was a problem. The philips screws need to be countersunk . The stainless steel is locally tinned and will be soldered to the quarter panel in the hope that I do not get cracks or corrosion on that joint.

Did not get any further at this point.

later J

 

[joeblack5]

Has been a while, Suddenly got the bug even though it is cold outside but I really wanted to drive the 240GD and so needed at least the rear light fixed.
I am no welder but it is good to try and gain some experience. Decided to save the fuel filler panel and repair / reinforce. Also wanted to be able to take it of again for future improvements.

Then I started welding SS nuts to the fuel panel and SS washers to the other side of the panel so that I have enough meat to countersink a flathead M4 in the material without ripping thru the sheet metal.

Tonight and inside I will paint the rusty parts with Loctite Extend rust neutralizer.

Tomorrow I will mount the whole thing back together and then wait for better weather ( next year) to improve with more Stainless Steel sheet material.

Later J