What caught my eye was that shiny paint on the head!!

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AJ

1985 300D (SOLD)

Its all over the block too . Not going to let it turn into a slobbering greasy whore like the old engine.

I've "ground up" restored 6 vehicles in my life, doing EVERYTHING except the machine work, so I know what an accomplishment you have. Congrats, it really looks good. Money well spent. I understand about the monthly "car payment", a lot of folks don't. Adding what you have learned in the process, you have the best possible value that you could have made for yourself. It always amazes me that people at work will buy a brand new piece of junk, and think that is the best value, only to throw it away 5 years later and buy a new one. If you do your own work, and in some respects even if you don't, it's always better to keep a proven valueable, reliable, automotive "platform" going, rather than ever buying new. I'd NEVER buy a new car. That is what is cool about these cars. We have all the data needed to determine that they are worthy cars to keep going.I kept my daughter's Toyota 22R motor going until the body rusted off at 300K. The per mile cost was very low over time. There are several vehicles other than ours that are worthy of rebuilds, but I read somewhere that the OM617 is the most reliable automotive powerplant ever built.

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85 300TD FED-Daily
84 300SD-Wife's
86 XJS-Sunday
66 GMC-Work- Given to my stepson
83 BMW Airhead- Given to my stepson

Just an update. Spent the day degreasing my engine bay, replacing those PITA monovalve hoses and have the engine resting in place on its mounts. With any luck everything will be hooked back up and ready to go by tomorrow afternoon.