The bore is a touch bigger on the 300 than 260. Wonder if they had used a shorter crank and kept same bore will it gain a bit more torque?
I understand longer stroke may not be better top end.
One thing for sure, nowadays MB is building cars to make $$, not to last forever, a good time not long time!

My cousin had a 300E-2.6 he says is stoopid to pay 5 grand less, because it has a few less options.
In the real life a 300 maybe even more economical than 2.6, reason u no need to push as hard. Just like a guy drops a 327 V8 into his Toyo land cruiser after his toyo 6 died. He says better fuel, I thought impossible at first, as he explain he doesn't need to throttle as hard.

Then again a 300 in a baby benz 201 body, that'll give her much added juice.
So if I do, I need to look for a matched ECU , wonder if the wiring is the same.

When they drop the 2.6 into the 201, some say it has as much power as the 16V, mind you the 16V was done by Cosworth, and much more money went into research and production. Probably lesser wt and rev happy with the 16V.
The torque will be peaky though. More for racing than day to day driving.
Just like the early days of M3/ 2.0 16 valves, need to really wind her up to go anywhere.