That car needs 4 grand worth of work, and that's just the "knowns".

The market just isn't there for that car @ 4K as is.

If you can do the work yourself, and remember the compressor ain't cheap, it seems like a good risk at 2 grand.

Regards to the head, if it's still good now, unless you overheat, it should last for a while...... I pulled a good 14 head off my 87 wagon years ago when the headgasket blew (replaced with a 21 head), and had it (14 head) tested. It was good, ended up giving it to a friend for his SDL, and he's still got the head on the car. I bet that head has over 250K on it now.

Jim

__________________
14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles