For anyone that finds this thread in the future.
The problem was that my pistons were worn- all of them 1-5.
Obviously I had to spend the money to open them up to find that out, hoping it was only going to be a head gasket replacement.
At that point I made the decision to stop all work on the current engine.
And made a call to
https://www.sprinterpitstop.com/ in San Diego - I am in the bay area.
I asked the owner Tim if he would take on the task of replacing the engine on my T1N he said "sure no problem we do these all day."
I informed him that the engine was already half open and disassembled - to me picking up someone else's work halfway seems like an absolute nightmare - Tim said " Yes as long as all the parts are there this is no problem"
I wrapped the parts up especially the injectors, tied everything down, placed them in foam and then had to wait for some quotes on shipping. I had never shipped a vehicle before and I learned that having a car over 9ft makes it 'heavy machinery' and will cost A LOT more. A regular car from the SF Bay Area to San Diego about $600-$800. I was quoted at $2k+ for my sprinter, of course the shady shipping brokers would list my van as a regular car, a towing company would call with a quote at $800 and I'd tell them its a high roof sprinter and they would say never mind. A special low boy trailer with a strong winch on it is needed. I was already way in the red, another $2k to ship this was crazy.
I got a call in the morning about 8am the day I was going to commit to just spending the $2k to get it done because I needed my van and most places said it would be 2-3 days before they would pick up my van so I figured lets get the ball rolling. The call was a broker he said he found someone who could ship my van for $1,200 and that they could pick it up today - a miracle. The company was David K Towing - Mike handled my van. I told him it was my baby and my home he understood completely and gave me updates on his drive. We talked for about 30 minutes even after he had my van loaded; very personable and professional. Highly recommended. My van arrived in LA that night and stayed in their locked yard. Mike asked me when I needed the dropped off, I called Tim and scheduled for 10am. Tim and Mike met at 10am at Sprinter Pit Stop.
Tim who runs the Sprinter Pit Stop is very helpful. He answered the phone every time I called and believe me I called a lot, I'm sure I annoyed him, but I am also sure he is use to dealing with annoying customers who dote over their home on wheels so he was very at ease the whole time. This was very reassuring after dealing with other mechanics who were hard to get a hold of and dis-organized.
He inspected the van for any damage when it arrived like I asked and let me know it was all good.
They rebuild engines and everything would be done in shop. I needed the van done quick the summer was passing me by and they said they could do it in a week from the time it arrives. I think it took 10 days. They had the injectors sent out to a Bosch center and tested - they came back good. Thank God because they are about $400 each if I remember correctly. The job was professional and Tim treated me fairly the whole time understanding my situation, I had just replaced all the coolant lines after things started blowing up and I was trying to save money where I could. Tim said he would throw in all new MB coolant lines for free because he wanted it done right, really awesome.
I got a call about 10 days after the van got dropped off letting me know it was ready.
I grabbed a flight to San Diego and arrived the following morning. I ubered in about 30 minutes from the Airport.
Met Tim, he started the van and it purred like I had never heard before.
Tim answered my questions on the work and let me be for a bit as I looked over the van. Everything looked good. I paid for his services, thank him for everything and hoped in for my 8 hour 500 mile drive back - a nice shake down trip.
I had some PTSD for the first 2-3 hours expecting a hose to explode, coolant to leak, dash lights to come on.
Nothing.
I finally settled in, no music just listening to my new engine.
I changed the oil as soon as I got home as instructed.
Then again on a little longer interval I think he said 1,000.
After that just regular oil changes.
I have driven probably 5,000 miles no problems. No leaking oil - before I was replacing 1qrt every 1-2k miles. Now nothing.
All in all from the time my van went into the first shop till it came out the second, with shipping, labor, parts etc I was all in for right around $11,000. That hurt. The van is fully converted so I couldn't just sell it and move on. But the peace of mind that came with having it done and getting out onto the road was amazing. I squeezed in a 2 week trip at the beginning of October. I was supposed to leave in June. I spent about 2 weeks trying to diagnose and treat this myself. First mechanic kept pushing me a long. Tim handled it in the time promised. I wish I just shipped it to him from the beginning, I would have saved time and money.
So thats my long update. I hope it helps anyone in the future who comes across this thread. All the different threads here definitely helped me out so I just wanted to give back to the community.
Thanks everyone.