Its been about 3 months since the head gasket and all is well. I have taken the car to LA from San Fran three times and all is well.. cruise control at 95 and sailing with the temp at 80+/-. Just ordered a new resivior for the coolant today. I should have done that from the start. It is almost impossible to get that old one clean. It is baffled and tiny bits of gunk are still stuck to the side.

Changed the tensioner about two weeks ago and it also went well. All I need to do now is fix the rear windows (non-op) and top off the freon r-12 (got my 609 last week) in the summer and i am good to go.

Fastlane parts was great for the head gasket. Not so good on the tenisoner (some mix up in shipping and the package was delivered too late, I could not wait for another day off so I bit the bullet and went to the dealer).

Still the best place to buy parts IMO.

Thanks again for the help.

Make sure you remove all the oil from the cooling system using a 3% solution of MB's alkaline cooling system cleaner (MB p/n 001 986 21 71). Run the engine for 10 minutes and then completely flush the cleaner out of the system with clear water. It may take more than one try to get it cleaned out.

You might also want to replace the hose between the head and the water pump while you have the head off and it's also a good opportunity to change the serpentine belt, if it needs it.