I think the moral of the story is, if you have any doubts about your timing chain, take your car to a reputable MERCEDES mechanic and have him/her look at it. I can tell you from experience that all cars operate with the same principles, but they all have their special points that MUST be understood by someone who lives, sleeps and breathes MERCEDES.
I have about 10 years experience on SCCA racecars, but that still does not qualify me to know Merecedes like the back of my hand.
After reading this borad I think we all know which people are seeing the big picture.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed factual information to this subject.
ARI