I did not start this thread lightly without serious consideration.
The purchase was made in late May or early June. I discovered the missing tubes within about 3 minutes and realized at the same time that his worker who dropped the stuff forgot to leave me the EZL which was also part of the deal. I called him and he came back to drop the EZL. While he was here I pointed out the missing tubes. The "essay" above is an "essay" for a reason. In it I address and answer about 2/3rds of your questions including what happened next: Jeff originally was apologetic and indicated that he would find, procure, and deliver the missing metal tubes. He also told me that his "partner" admitted to taking the tubes and didn't tell him (Jeff). I guess the guy was entitled to do that at that time because of his status as "partner" but by not telling Jeff, Jeff wound up selling a "running" engine that wasn't. Now while Jeff can't be blamed or faulted entirely for what happened up to this point, he most certainly is at fault for what has transpired since. After waiting about 10 days and hearing nothing, I called Jeff to get an update. The story was still the same at that point, he even asked me how the tubes are removed, I told him I would send him a PM with a link to Jim F's article on his site and did so within 24 hours.
That was the last time we talked. I called a few days later to make sure he got the PM and link, and I've been calling about once every ten days ever since, remaining courteous all the while, all the time, every time, and leaving a voice mail every time. Only the last time I called did I ramp it up a bit and tell him that he needs to return my call immediately. After waiting entirely way too long for even the simple decency of a returned call I got fed up and wrote the "essay". There has been no communication because there has been no returned calls and that is the part that is the most irritating to me even more so than being ripped off. I, like you, am all about and am very into communication.
Yes, it was 2 engines, I mentioned it twice in the first post. The second engine is pure junk and that was/is understood between Jeff and I. The second engine has the God awful plastic tubes and has way more miles on it than the engine in my 95 that I want to swap the plastic tubes out of. They are a known problem area so no, using the tubes from the other engine is not an option especially when you consider that they are older, brittler, and have more miles on them than the ones that are already failing in my 95. Here is the link to Jim F's page that shows the problem with the plastic tubes:
http://www.k6jrf.com/MB_lifter.html
Oh and BTW, SHAME on Mercedes for engaging in this kind of cost cutting on cars that originally cost from $58,000 to $98,000! That's 1994 dollars BTW! If They had done the right thing and stayed with the metal tubes that were clearly already working just great we wouldn't be having this conversation! How greedy do you have to be to pinch pennies that hard on cars that you are getting such obscene amounts of money for? We expect, (and usually get), this kind of penny pinching from GM but Mercedes too? I swear it makes me want to switch brands! But I digress....
Sorry if my tone isn't as pleasant as it should be it's just that this has been brewing for three months not to mention the fact that my 95 project remains dead in the water because of this.
Regards, Eric