http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2077338&id=17602059&l=60f3905e76

Took me about 20 hours spread over 3 weeks(I think). I enjoyed every minute of it...call me crazy! I was experiencing some rough idle problems and hard starting prior to the job, all of which have been alleviated. This improvement is probably partly attributable to the replacement of vacuum lines and breather hoses on the intake manifold assembly.

I crudely fabricated a tool from some steel bar stock to remove the crank bolt for lower timing cover access (photo forthcoming) that looking back was probably ill-conceived and risky to use...but it worked regardless (not that I'd recommend it to anyone else!).

Anyway, we're all put back together now and happily motoring at high speeds with 298,153mi on the odometer.

Great post and pictures. Where did you gain the expertise to do this job and what documentation did you use?

To be honest with you, I have a useful combination of being nuts, fairly patient, and mechanically inclined...

I don't have a manual, but I got some great pointers from this forum just by searching for some similar jobs that other members had done. It was really a joy to see how robustly MB built the valvetrain of the m103.

Years ago I lent the car to my brother who managed to smash the sump of the oil pan and bend the torsion bar on the cement lip of a garage. I had the engine jacked up about 1.5" so I could squeak out the damaged pan and install the new one along with new motor mounts...I wish I had pics of that job! The bottom end of that engine was so clean and well-designed.

I feel like this car could go another 300k with no problem...just hope the body can hold up. No major VISIBLE rust on it now, but the front driver side jack point crunched a bit when I lifted it to make the head work less backbreaking, so there might be some rust under the lower frame rail trim pieces.

Nice photo shoot! I like the zip tie job on the timing chain assembly.

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1993 190E 2.6 135k
1989 Ford Thunderbird SC 5 Spd 79K