|
For what its worth, I don't think that's coolant/blown head gasket on your plugs. Most likely its corrosive salts formed during combustion that have reacted to moisture in the air/intake/engine to form those crystals you see. I have worked on and changed a lot of blown head gaskets and cracked heads having worked on cars for a living most my life. And on almost all of them, the spark plugs are clean and the ceramic around the electrode is white because the water in the coolant flashes to steam and blasts the carbon off. The cylinder burning coolant is usually very clean. Your plugs are nice and black with carbon. I think you are safe as far as that goes. You can do a variety of checks to make sure without tearing into it. Close the cooling system and pressurize with air. Perform a leakdown check. Not only can you possibly see if air is getting into the cooling system but it will give you a cylinder health check. Also, drain the oil off and check for water. Wouldn't hurt to verify the cam timing is correct too. Looks like fun though. It would be neat to do a twin turbo build on one and drop it into an unassuming lookin Benz! Twin turbo V-12 Ponton sleeper? W123-W124? W201? Lots of possibilities!
|