Flywheel balance

[Raymond]

Were the crankshaft and flywheel balanced together as a unit at the factory?  I have been told that putting a different flywheel on an engine will cause minute vibrations that will eventually destroy the engine.  This is supposedly particularly the case with manual flywheels in place of the lighter ones for an automatic.  Was there possibly a difference between the models?

[Benz Dr.]

230SL flywheels are ballanced with the crank shaft. 250 and 280 are done seperatly. If you have any doubts about this you can always have the whole assembly ballanced. I always do 190SL's and 230SL's.

[stickandrudderman]

I was recently presented with a 230SL that was vibrating so much that the engine was trying to escape from the engine bay.
It transpired that an incompetent person had assembled the engine from incorrect parts and the flywheel had a 2.25kg, yes. 2.25kg imbalance!
I have a video of the crank assembly on the test rig but I don't know how to post it here.