Oh boy. I was going to say I had one done at Sun Valley recently. I looked back at this old thread about my experience from start to finish there. 2016. Time flies.
Sun Valley Rebuilt Transmissions thoughts?
I daily drive this car and it shifts perfectly. I would say it is better than OEM but I never drove one of these cars when they were new. Wait I was only 13 when they were new. Anyhow, the trans is a dream. It transformed the car.
My other diesel, a 300d has a rebuilt from another shop in Pasadena. About the same age. It doesn’t shift as well as the sun valley. It feels good and fresh but it just isn’t as well balanced - that is the 1-2 bang is too hard and the 3-4 is too soft so you can never tune it out with vacuum or Bowden cable adjustments. Marc told me he has played with the orifices and springs on his rebuild to improve that Mercedes “Feature” which he says was intended to add extra plate pressure so the transmission could be used for truck applications. The Sun Valley trans is re engineered and I can feel it.
It has held up well. It did lose a neutral safety switch in the first year. When I swapped it I noticed it was a no name part. Looked and felt good but didn’t carry enough current to kick my starter solenoid. I replaced it with an MB OEM.
If you really plan on keeping and using the car it is probably worth shipping it out to California for rebuilding or exchange.