M-103 Head Gasket Mods

[long-gone]

Greetings to all, I'm newly registered but have been reading threads here for quite a while.

I'm doing the head on a 91 300E 2.6. I've come to learn there are a few variations of the gasket. The gasket I had was a Victor-Reinz which apparently had been redesigned with an extra line of rubber seal between the oil feed ports and the water jacket where it notoriously fails. It also appeared to have a darker, perhaps also modified gasket material. Long story short, I damaged the rubber seal line on the last (back) oil drain hole (also a notorious spot for leakage) so I ordered a new gasket from a local indie who gets me parts at a good price and can usually get them "next day". It was an exact match to the one I had, however, in shipping, it broke through the package and mangled the front corner tab where the OTHER notorious leak occurs on these cars. So I returned it and got another. This time it was the former style Victor-Reinz with no modification and of the lighter grey gasket material. It was the last individual gasket the warehouse had and apparently can't get individual gaskets anymore, only head sets (same as the MB dealer). So in desperation to get it worked on this weekend, I got the more expensive head set. This time it was an Erlinger. It too has no modification where the oil/water holes are and appears to have a different gasket material. I also thought the Erlinger's were supposed to have metal tabs added to the front extensions that meet the timing cover to help avoid gasket shrinkage. But this one has none. I think I've read something about some previous problems with Erlinger head gaskets on this model.

So, I guess my big question is, should I go ahead and use one of the last two gaskets, without the modification of added separation to the oil/water holes or should I hold out for one with that mod? And if there is no problem with the non-mod gaskets, which one would be recommended, the Victor, or the Erlinger?

Thanks for any comments or suggestions. I'll check back in later tonight