so i'm about set to replace all the water hoses/thermostat on my 71 300sel 3.5, and if i pull all of that stuff off i might as well put a chain tensioner on it (when the oil is old it makes noise on a hot restart), and if i do that maybe i should just pull the heads, as they are 33years and 165,000miles old, and if i do that maybe fresh rings would be nice, and well, with a mazda rotary, i'm used to just pulling the engine and building it like this. the benz runs ok, but its a 33 year old motor i'm beating on.

as for tools/experience i can and have rebuilt my rx7's from the ground up, engines/tansmissions etc, is there anything wrong with my train of thought here? or am i crazy to pull apart a decent running motor?

mike