That looks much like my 300sd when the timing chain broke.

Beware being too creative in some situations. I do the same thing time after time, aka thinking too much aka thinking myself into having to deal with more issues down the road. That has never worked out smoothly for me.

You don't know the state of that 616 overall, so if you go to Plan B you in effect start a whole new project on the fly. If it had been your car, and you knew its history, I would be all for saying 'repair it'.

You had a Plan A, which was pretty straightforward. You have limited time before winter. You know your 300d.

I would suggest you think seriously about sticking to Plan A. In doing so you get to keep the best part of your 300d, the motor, while keeping the best part of the 240d: the manual climate control system and of course the less rotten bodyshell.

Just another $0.02.

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22