Just for the sake of causing some amusement here's some news;
Mechanic got all the parts in finally through the Mercedes Club owner, so nice and cheap.
Was putting everything back together, saw the big end bearings where different sizes, so had to get the crank welded to fit the new ones well, and the weld wouldn't hold blah blah.
All in all, he gave up, is sending everything back to Germany.
So he got his paws on a parts car for nothing with a 2.8L DOHC Single Carb with perfect compression, so that's going in now.
Which was apparently not sold here? South African import or something. What a strange mix now, a Cali import factory LHD with a South African engine..
Anyway, will ravage said parts car for goods, but in saying that I'm moving to Dunedin next month and he'll probably take another million years to even do something as simple as putting this engine in.
Yeap.