I wrote this and it is kinda long because of the story and me being ticked off, The question is at the end of my post so you can skip the middle garbage if you want.

OK, I am so close to choking a relative but thank god only by marriage.... This person had offered to help put the 300TE (1989 with the M103) together and I was trying to keep him from touching it because even though he claims he used to work at a shop he manages to break everything and messing stuff up, Well I put the head on and torqued it down the other day and I had the crank set at top dead center and I had the cam set up in the correct position that was shown in WIS..... I did not the timing chain on yet and my brother in law decided he was going to turn the crank, I am sure he did this to screw with me (yes, he would do this).

So now I have a crank that I am not sure were it is set, can I use the old school method of a small diameter wood dowel through the spark plug hole and turn the crank until it is as TDC (or the whistle deal to find it).
These methods do not bother me if I am working on a my Mustang or my Air Cooled Volkswagen (1965 Sunroof beetle, just saying) but working on the Mercedes is a bit of a different experience, The WIS program shows a method were you have to bolt on a unit to the head with a meter and long needle like extension that you can confirm TDC.

Can I find TDC with the whistle tool or the old school dowel down the spark plug hole? would the results be close enough or do I really need the meter goofy looking thing so I can get it right to within a width of a hair correct?