Engine swap how-to 88' 300E

[425_300e]

Hi all,

I have a 1988 300E Automatic, with the 2.6L I believe.

It was passed down to me, with existing oil and transmission leaks and 200k on the odo. Amazingly the car ran fine, for a few months with regular topping off of the fluids.

That lasted for a short time.

The car has developed a number of symptoms...Rough start, rough idle, loss of power at all RPMS but mainly lower. It runs really bad. The economy gauge is always in red even at the lightest of gas taps.

I bought a replacement engine with 120k on in for $150, in which the seller told me it ran perfectly fine when it came out of his 89 300e.

My question is how difficult is this swap? is it a direct plug and play type set up?

I've dropped engines out of honda, and acuras. Did my own maintanence on my e36 bmw. but I've never touched MB's.

Any write ups, or how-to's would be appreciated. I want to tackle this myself since i dont have the $800 to replace it at a shop.