Let the fun begin!

I have a complete head which I got on ebay. I'm starting by degreasing the valve cover as pictured. I will be stripping it and repainting. A question to start ...

I assume because the head is not on the car, I can rotate the cam at will?

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Yes you can.

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Im curious...was the head rebuilt? Or just a used head on ebay? What was the price?

Too late now but I have a 2.6L m103 in my garage with a blown head gasket lol.

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82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

It was $200 + 60 ups shipping. Ad read: " For sale is an engine cylinder head pulled from a 1992 190E. Head is in excellent condition and free from any cracks or deformities. Head will need to be planed prior to installation. Complete with valves,rockers and camshaft. "

It came with the valve cover and sensors in it. Looks in good shape. If I can do the valve guides myself, I'm going to strip it down and take it to a machine shop to be planed, checked for cracks, and cleaned. Curious what prices I get back for that.

Valve cover is getting closer to being stripped. I'm spending 10-20 min per evening. Should be able to do my first coat of paint tomorrow.

I used the typical "aircraft" paint stripper along with a wire wheel in my hand drill. I'll finish by wet sanding with 1200 grit..

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Stripped and ready for the first coat. I wanted to take it back to bear metal, but I ran into the law of diminishing returns. I settled at 95% stripped and couldn't feel any rough spots.

I used a block sander and 600 grit wet/dry paper to polish the ribs to mirror smooth. I used a rotary tool at about 500 rpm and wire wheel to get into the nooks and crannies.

The inside of the cover got so much debris in it I degreased, brushed out, and rinsed. I took off the inside cover to give it a clean and the plastic gasket cracked while removing. Based on what function it seems to serve, I'll probably just put it back in. I used a 1/4 drill bit by hand to clean out the bolt holes.

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nice. I was going to do mine a while back but for lazy andr just resprayed it black

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1990 190E 3.0L

I'm starting to look back at this project. Would it be unwise to use a 3/8 air impact wrench to get the head bolts off? I was thinking to get them started that way. It seems like a huge breaker bar would be more likely to snap the bolt heads off.