Wally,
I think everyone should do with their Pagoda what they want to do as long as they are forthright and honest about it. If you want to make yours more reliable, and easier to maintain, whilst maintaining the original looks you are not alone.
http://www.mechatronik.de do the same as well, but with a 3.2 liter Mercedes-Benz engine.
If everything is reversible... good for you. I'd love to see details of your car and it's modifications.
I decided, 2 years ago, that I'd prefer my car to be good, but not perfect... otherwise I would not dare to take my car out on classic car rallies... which is what I really enjoy. If it was perfect, I wouldn't. I still invest money to make it look better, but it's reliability and driving performance are the main factors.
So do not be hesitant... there's enough people that want to learn from your experiences.
Peter
Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual (
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php). Check out
http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280SL.