Hitman, no unrealistic expectations here, and like I said on my lead in, this ain't exactly my 1st trip around the block in old MB's, having restored a 300TD and D, and yes I do most everything myself, including welding/basic metal fab.

In fact over the last 40 some years, I've had at least 60 - 70 some cars of almost every make. Heck, I drove old Fiats for years, the MB has the reliability of a Datsun compared to those.

What I don't know is the gas powered Benz, that why I seek out those who do. The mechanic is an old E. European who only works on these cars, he def. knows more about the Benz than probably most here. I figure all he see's is broken cars, so that's all he knows, not exactly a controlled sample size.