I finally got my car all back togehter and running reasonably well when I noticed that my mileage really sucks -- I mean, 12 MPG city driving and only about 18 on the highway. Obvioulsy, something is wrong.

In addition to overhauling the engine in the spring (head job, new injectors and plugss, new vaccum hoses, the works), I recently had the fule pump, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator and the fuel accumulator replaced. About the only thing in the fuel delivery system that I have yet to replace is the fuel distributor -- yet the smell of gasoline lingers when I fill the tank, and the (new) fuel pump sounds like it's pumping a waterfall. Also, I've noticed a lot of white smoke from the tailpipe when the car is cold, and what looks like water accumulates underneath the exhaust pipe from the tailpipe vapor. (It's winter here in the Southern Hemisphere, so maybe that's normal.)

The car is a little sluggish going uphill, and I'm wondering if the computer has quit computin', putting the car into manual mode. This car is US stock, but the catalytic converter was removed some time in the distant past, and if the engine computer takes that into account, that might account for the lousy mileage and sluggish performance. Or maybe the oxygen sensor is bad. How does one test to see if the computer and the sensor are operating properly?

One other thing -- I run 97 octane fuel. Is this overkill?

Anybody got any ideas?

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1985 190E 2.3 8v
Rebuilt engine May 2002 (at 137,000 miles)
Lowered with Eibach springs and Bilstein performance shocks
An embarassing number of new parts
Pioneer DEH-200 head
Infinity Kapa Perfect 6.5" speakers in front doors
2 Sony Explod 8" subs in sealed trunk box vented through first aid kit
3 MTX amps, Callisto electronic crossover