300E Idling Problems

I've had 280CE lust for some time and got to drive a gorgeous example earlier today. I was wondering if anyone can shed a bit of light on a few things for me...

1) The auto shift lever moved up and down through the gears without any "clicks" or detents...it kind-of slid up and down and you put it about where Drive should be and the car slipped into drive. Is this normal? It felt like the gear selector was not actually connected to the transmission and that it was maybe electrically connected to motors elsewhere that did the actual shifting of the car into gear...

2) Lots of top-end clatter in this car, even after it was warm. I've done overhead cam valve adjustments on other cars - what's it like on this car?

3) Car needs ball joints up front. Any known gotchas? I've done a few ball joint changes on my Saab and they were no biggee (mind you, I've helped build my share of SCCA race cars, so mechanic work is no problem, typically)

Thanks!!

--Erik Houston, TX