To be honest with you, I have a useful combination of being nuts, fairly patient, and mechanically inclined...

I don't have a manual, but I got some great pointers from this forum just by searching for some similar jobs that other members had done. It was really a joy to see how robustly MB built the valvetrain of the m103.

Years ago I lent the car to my brother who managed to smash the sump of the oil pan and bend the torsion bar on the cement lip of a garage. I had the engine jacked up about 1.5" so I could squeak out the damaged pan and install the new one along with new motor mounts...I wish I had pics of that job! The bottom end of that engine was so clean and well-designed.

I feel like this car could go another 300k with no problem...just hope the body can hold up. No major VISIBLE rust on it now, but the front driver side jack point crunched a bit when I lifted it to make the head work less backbreaking, so there might be some rust under the lower frame rail trim pieces.