good engine mechanic - amsterdam area?

[supergrobi]

Cees, i reckon this one's for you :-)

anybody knows a reliable, good to very good mercedes-specialised engine mechanic in the amsterdam area? i have had this annoying rattling sound coming from my valves that i want a pro have a look/ ear at...

any help appreciated,

jens!

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"if all else fails, read the f***ing manual"

280SL 1969, steelblue metallic, Euro 4sp shifter, hard/ softtop,
Becker Grand Prix Cassette Full Stereo, rear jump seat, light grey leather, luckily no headrests...

[ja17]

Hello Jens,
Maybe you can get Cees to look at it with you. Cees is a pretty good wrench!

Take the valve cover off, look for a loose timing chain, worn camshaft or rockers, also sometimes the valve cover hold down straps get bent inward and rub against the cam causing a tapping sound.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[Cees Klumper]

Hello Jens - I thought you were in Germany?!

Until I started to dig in myself, I had my car attended to by three different Amsterdam area garages, all specialized in older Mercedes. Unfortunately, none really worked for me, either in the way of expertise, service, cost etc.  That was the main reason I finally decided to try and figure it out by myself (well ... actually by having all of the members on this list, but most of all Joe Alexander, show me - you might have missed the thread on engine rebuild Joe and I did last summer in Ohio, and that engine has now motorvated my car for 2,500 miles in the last 3 months).
We video-taped that engine rebuild start to finish, and I am currently working on converting those tapes, plus about 60 pages worth of tribal knowledge off this site and Yahoo!, plus information from 4 different books I studied on engine rebuilding (etc etc etc) into a comprehensive engine diagnosing and rebuilding manual, as part of the Group's comprehensive Tech Manual. Also to help me in rebuilding the now 13 different M 129 and M 130 engines I have been collecting over the past year and a half, in my spare time in the future. A typical case of a hobby out of control.

Anyway, I would be happy to have a look at your engine any time you're in the area, together we might be able to sort it out. Joe's tips are, as always, of course the best places to start. I'm off for a week's vacation in France next week, and until then pretty busy at work etc.

If only there was a way we could simply download Joe's and Dan Caron's (and some other guys') knowledge into our own heads !

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic