My sad 123 story... plus ?Adsit rebuilds

[nothernubie]

My tragedy involves a 1983 300D turbodiesel that I bought a couple years ago from a friend for 800 bucks. Odo busted at 317k and the friend figured he'd driven it 200k from when he purchased it (odo busted when he purchased it). Body rock solid and interior pretty good and I was just going to run it til it died. Then I found this forum and started falling in love with the beast. I figured I'd get some suspension work done as I began to believe she might just run another 100k and she certainly rocked, rattled, and rolled in terms of the suspension. Somehow I got sucked into the Vogtland springs group purchase thread on this site and ultimately started collecting more and more front end parts for an increasingly significant suspension rebuild. By the time I was done I had collected everything from guide rod mounts, vogtland springs, bilstein shocks, tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, steering damper, idler arms - everything - even 16" rims off a late model MB (required small spacers in front and bought those too). New sport rubber all around and got it all installed last year right around this time...... drum roll, please...

one week later had some vacuum pump issue (ignition wouldn't shut off with key; lost power to the brakes) and the next day driving to get it looked at by the guy who did all the suspension work and the timing chain broke (think large Bulgarian man stuffing pepsi cans into a garbage disposal for the sound effect). Valves bent, etc. Then I made a huge mistake taking it to a local backyard guy (absolutely no choices in Roswell New mexico) who claimed to be a "certified Mercedes mechanic" earlier in his life who was going to pull the engine and help me look for a rebuildable one... two month interval later it ends up being clear that he's an incompetent crook and ultimately I had to retrieve Helga amidst rabid dogs after being charged 1500 bucks - JUST TO PULL THE ENGINE - and the poor girl was half way up her wheel wells in mud (she had been waxed when I got the new rims on about a week before I towed he to this guy - I even took pictures to post here), a rear taillight lens was cracked and broken -still had loose pieces of plastic dangling ("how do I know it happened here?" he said). I was forced to buy another beater to drive and Helga has sat idly collected dust with entirely new suspension from the rubber to guide rod mounts. Hard to tell what may or may not have been salvagable but all parts have sat outside uncovered for nearly a year.

Here's the question part: my boss said he'd pay 5k for a new engine as a bonus - but not give me the cash or let me try to take Helga to someone competent (long tow from Roswell NM to anywhere - pretty good indy in Santa Fe) to rebuild anything. He's tired of hearing my latest tow story (the beater Pathfinder has left me on road dead a couple times, too). The only crated/shipped rebuilt I can find for 5k or less is Adsit which has a long block with most everything I think she needs - oil pump, injection pump, vacuum pump, water pump, et al. I've read and heard some bad stuff about Adsit esp. with customer service/return issues on parts - does anyone have any knowledge about their diesel engine rebuilds? I hate to throw good money after bad but also hate to look a gift horse in the mouth and I want to strike while the iron's hot so to speak in terms of a "free" (trust me I worked for it) new heart for Helga to go with her brand new legs. Anybody with an knowledge or opinion on adsit engine rebuilds?