Flex Plate Installation

[Marc]

Hi,
I have an 83' 500sl euro
While unbolting the torque converter from the ring gear I mistakenly also removed the bolts that hold the flex plates to the ring gear. I've found some posts where people mention the symptoms of cracked or broken flex plates but no one mentions installing/replacing them. The flex plates don't fit right back inside the ring gear. It appears that the flex plates need to be bowed for the bolt holes to align. I'm assuming this is to allow the flex plates to "flex" or provide the springy effect so that the torque converter can float back and forth as needed. Is there a trick to installing these back into the ring gear? I can't tell a front or back of the ring gear, does it matter. Just trying to go based on markings left from when it was installed.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Marc