You don't need to remove the oil pump, but you need to remove the oil pump drive chain. It goes down from the crank.

If you are doing this to a 380SL then the pan is one piece and has to come down. If you have a sedan the pan has a subpan and is simple.

On SLs we support the motor off a frame setting on the inner fender and drop the subframe rather than pull the motor.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician