I've got 1987 300D parts car with a blown bottom end. #2 rod exited drivers side of block, nowhere to be found. #2 piston is rotated 180 degrees, valves on "wrong side". All pistons move up and down smoothly except #2. The head is a revised "20 01" head and looks Okay. Since my daily driver has an original head, I'd like to keep this one for a spare.

I'm wondering if its worthwhile to pull the valves, valve seals, or guides and inspect/replace parts? When do valve guides and seals wear on these engines and should I take the time to replace these parts on this head since there's probably a reason the bottom end blew (i.e. maybe run low on oil, etc).

I'm wondering if I can do this type of work myself if I bought a few tools and/or was able to borrow some from a MB mech buddy?

The camshaft looks Okay, the turbocharger works (tried it in my daily driver). Head and valves "look" okay. A few of the head bolts had damaged heads from sloppy work. A few other places in the engine had hex head screws where I normally see allens (comparing directly to the two other 603 engines I have).

Thanks,

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Brian Toscano