Quicker Ratio Steering?

[Thomas Webb]

Thanks everyone for the replys. I got the front and rear sway bars from a 6.3 and will eventually put those on. Like everything else in life, I'm sure it's a question of upgrading a bunch of little things - rather than one big thing...

I'm going to leave the steering alone - it's probably not worth it. And honestly, I'm amazed at the turning circle of the big coupe. I do think that a combination of sway bars, progressive springs, good shocks and better tires will rule the day. Can I assume we're ALL having fun trying to find performance tires in anything close to the original size?

I had the opportunity to take the old girl out today (37 degrees and sunny today - whahooo.....!) and found a large, dry, empty parking lot where I could get up to speed and do some fairly violent manuevering. The car really does corner relatively flat, doesn't clunk or bang or wander, and recenters very nicely. What I did discover was....THE SEATS! I feel like an idiot - it's been right there in front of me (well, under me) all the time. There is absolutely zero lateral support from the driver's or passenger sofa - er, I mean seats, and any uhm, well, "spirited" cornering results in sloshing around all over the place. These are really too nice of a car to be swapping performance seats into - but......any suggestions?

As a sidebar, check that timing with a stroboscopic light. I did a complete tune up on my car a few months back, and set everything to spec. I even bought a dwell meter. Ran OK - but today it was warm enough to go outside again. I ran the engine until warm and went for a nice drive. The car would stumble slightly on accelerating from a stop - then even out nicely. I replaced a really brittle distributor vaccum connection, and that helped somewhat. Then I checked the timing with a strobe light and had to actually advance the ignition quite a bit to be on the correct advance mark. WOW! Transformed the car. No more stumble, much smoother idle - and accelerates like a scaulded german sheppard....

[t walgamuth]

velcro.

or super glue.

sounds like you are having fun!

benzes handle pretty well. in stock form they usually lean some but in all kinds of conditions they offer a great compromise.

tom w

[Thomas Webb]

Tony,

Offset, bolt pattern and clearance - no problems with your tire/wheel combo?

Thanks!

Tom

[Tony H]

Tom,
it took mos of research and trial & error since no one I'm aware of had installed these wheels on a 111. Offset is crucial when approaching the limit of what will fit on the car. If you want more info drop me a PM.
Here's a link to some tire/wheel info-it's more geared to 108/109 but applies tp 111's also.

http://members.tripod.com/~breastroker/MB_M100Wheels.html

[Blue 72 250]

"These are really too nice of a car to be swapping performance seats into - but......any suggestions?"

Try http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W123SeatRepair