Mike,

With respectful disagreement regarding the slots in the harmonic balancer, although they appear to have been created for access to the bottom water pump bolt, please refer to the following URL.

Having read this thread from the MBCoupes newsgroup, I didn't even attempt to proceed without removing the pulley and balancer. And anyway, their removal and re-installation is a fairly quick and simple process.

http://db.mercedes.cx/sec/200206/27/0003.html