do the valve adjustment. it's not that difficult and you *could* see a nice payoff in get up and go.

i drove the snot out of my 300sd that had blowby so bad a constant stream of black smoke would spew out the oil filler cap if you just unsealed it. almost zero smoke would come out the tailpipe. the oil in the blowby was so bad i had to make a custom air/oil separator that was more effective than stock. i drove that car like i stole it every day for 8 years, using the go pedal as an on/off switch.

edit: oh yeah...in freezing weather she would start in about one full second of crank after letting the glow plugs do their thing.

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1982 300sd from craigslist $800 greased on one tank with NO CONVERSION in the Hot Texas Sun. (currently dead & awaiting engine damage investigation and/or longblock swap)
new daily: '03 vw 5speed jetta tdi wagon. bagged&chipped