Yes, my part of Texas is definitely lacking. Afterall they are stuck with me.

Regardless of the fact that I don't trust much of anyone except myself to do work on my cars, there really are people in Texas that are capable, intelligent, have indoor plumbing and are not inbred.

Have a great day,

Handling a head with half the valves sticking out is more risk than I'm willing to take. I'm more comfortable working alone without a hoist. <-- that's an opinion, not advice.

FWIW the OM603 addresses this issue - the cam towers cover head bolts so the cam has to go on last. <-- that's a fact however irrelevant

Might be worth asking the machinist what torque he/she used on the cam tower bolts. Should be reasonably fresh in his/her mind.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

Interesting use of the boogie board!

__________________
George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg

It was a remarkably versatile tool. I may have to add one to my tool collection at home. Maybe the next time I am Hidalgo's he won't notice that his is missing

but, it worked for me. May be... it is a Florida thing.
Wow! I did not know this was a controvertial issue. I better don't mention that I use the "sucking" method to change my oil...
Seriously, I do not have any ASE certifications under my belt but, I was NOT comfortable taking the head apart by myself. The boogie board is soft enough to give enough clearance to the valve and bolts sticking out of the head.
On the other hand, too bad this "exchange of views" did not come when I was asking for advice in my original posting BEFORE the job.
Head gasket/valve job 103 engine
The job is done now. Just enjoy the pictures and if you have pictures of YOUR head/valve job...post them for the benefit of all the forum members.
I am having a great day...Are you?

__________________
J.H.
'86 300E

I can see where Larry is coming from. I'm sure there are any number of machine shops out there that will dismantle and reassemble the head completely for you. But will they observe minor but important points such as keeping rockers in the same position such that they remain with the same cam lobe, and as Larry says, will they gradually torque down the cam bearings?

I did not have any difficulty dismantling everything except the valves myself and it was not time consuming. I admit to doing it after the head was off and next time I will consider doing it before the head comes off. I took the head to a shop that I used many years ago that did very nice work boring a block (not MB) for me. I had lost track of them when they relocated but was pleased to find them again, especially now that they specialise in European work, specifically MB and BMW. They were very competant and also willing to take the time to discuss any issues of the job with me. Most impressive of all was the price, which for removing the valves and springs, crack testing the head, skimming it flat, machining the valves and seats, fitting new stem seals, refitting the valves and springs and then giving it back to me spotlessly clean including the VRS gasket set all for about $300 AUD (would have been about $150 USD at the time).

__________________
107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.

Here's some before pics....errr, after pics will come once it's been to the machine shop

Tell us more about your car. Miles? Reason for the head job? Oil leaking/usage?
Nice vehicle!

__________________
J.H.
'86 300E

260,000K's. Water started leaking in the oil
Unfortunetly there was no crack in the head gasket, so we are going to see what the machine shop saids once they have a look at it.

Definitely a nice specimen. Aussie original, or later import?

Do you have milky oil, or oily coolant?

lovely milky oil
I'm pretty sure this one was assembled in Australia.

I must tell you all, I got a rebuilt head on eBay for $400 (along with the necessary gaskets) and paid a dealer technician $300 to put it in - in his garage. There are always $30 an hour workers looking for weekend work, and they earn every penny of it. Hang around the dealer long enough and you'll meet a few of them.

Good luck!

ok, got word from the machine shop. There were 12 small cracks and many pits from corrosion.
I had a few M129 heads easily avalible but I thought i'd just have them recondition it. That way the number of 250SE engine heads don't diminish
Should be ready by the end of the week

A thoughtful decision...you would want a used head checked, reconditioned and pressure tested anyway.