Well not really, in fact it took about 15min for this procedure, and I have the engine semi smooth as stated. Seems when you go places with mercedes parts and ask for fabrication of those parts people see the emblem cast into or printed upon said parts and lose all focus on the job or request. In fact they wont even touch the parts. Taking a flex plate to a machine shop and asking them to match your flywheel to it is ok if its a ford or chevy, then your a "good ole boy", but when you explain to them what your doing uhhhh....uhhhh...."those are mercedes parts your going to need to go to the dealer and get the correct flywheel" WTF metal is metal, benz, beamer, jag, lexus, yugo, its all metal!!!! If I could go to the dealer I think I would have already done that instead of bothering the "good ole boys" for some fab work.
I'm trying to add to this post with the issue of not balancing the flywheel, and the results or damage from not doing so. Some here have stated that they have some vibration at idle after the swap, is this due to unbalanced flywheel, or nature of the beast? I'm not trying to thread jack, but I think its important to iron all the bugs out...THNX

Wouldn't that approach involve multiple pulling and installations of the engine?

No, you can run the engine without the tranny while it's in the car. BTW, It's easier to remove/install the engine w/o the tranny.

I didn't have the time to balance mine, so I just installed it to match the lightest point of the flexplate. Just look where all the balancing drill holes are.

i would not recommend this. i would check for neutral balance of each fw and proceed accordingly. if they are not neutral and you dont balance accordingly, i believe you will be sorry.

in fact i believe most are neutrally balanced. but not all. my euro 280e is not neutral though i would have bet $100 that it was. my 240d fw is neutral. and the na 300 i put in my 83 240 was neutral.

but i would not guess on this issue.

i think if you put the fw on wrong and it is not neutral it will shake things apart.

tom w

As you can see, my flexplate was far from a neutral balance. You can see the drill holes on the two upper sections.

Well no, the engine is in the car without tranny...Then start engine and feel vibrations, stop engine, move flywheel, restart engine repeat until you find the sweet spot. Easy and not time consuming, helps with two people but can be done with one...I'm just wondering what the effects would be from not having it matched...

I just replaced a f/w which had a lose ring gear. It had no witnes marks, nor did the damaged one. This was on a 616 and I have no viberation, I just bolted it up. I have done the same bolting up a manual tranny and f/w to an X automatic 240D, no viberation.

Engine swap
 

Where does one pick up the mercedes factory manual?

this method only will work if you have a flywheel that is matched to the crank and your only problem is finding the correct placement of it.

this will not work for a mismatched flywheel and crank.

tom w

again, this will work fine for a neutrally balanced fw. most are neutral, i believe. they are most definately not all neutral.

tom w

form your favorite mb parts supplier of from a dealer.

you can also find it in "skinnerbox" online

tom w

I think you will probably find less than blinding acceleration. Turbo engines develop boost, and power, from the load presented. With a high numerical ratio, you will not develop boost as quickly, which negates the benefit of the ratio.

I suspect you will find your acceleration will not be any different, you will just have to shift faster.

I mis-understood. I didn't realize you didn't have to replace the tranny every time you move the flywheel. Makes a big difference in time I'm sure.

Thats true. I put an "80" engine in my "79" and the f/w was marked as was the crank, dont know the rhyme or reason:o

dont reply if you havent done it
 

Well I have spent all day running around town to different machine shops, and they all say there is no way to match the two. I would love to know where and how you guys have got the two matched. We can sit here all day and bounce the principle idea around, but I want to hear from people who took both pieces and had it done. Some of these shop have been around longer than most of us have been alive, and the all say the same thing " There is no way to get it right, there is no way to spin these without the crank and other components, this is for a mercedes oh sorry i cant help you" again the three pointed star has blocked all brain activity from these highly brite individuals. Everyone is preaching balance balance balance, ok WHERE, WHO, HOW?????? Seems more difficult than its supposed to be, typing the idea is one thing, doing it seems impossible!!!!!