A blue Chevy S10 and the big ol' Benz - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

psfred · #1 09-24-2003, 07:18 PM

Had me a little fun on the way home from work today. I make a turn at the base of a long hill, out in the country, where there seems to be an inexhaustible supply of teenagers with testosterone poisoning and "modded" cars who can never resist the impulse to pass me going up the hill.

Annoys the crap out of me sometimes, it's not like I'm driving slow or anything (60 or so once I get up to speed), but I don't floor it on takeoff. The old beast eats WAY to much gas to get frisky very often, to say nothing of the exhaust noise. Normally I just let the race around, it's not worth the effort.

I guess the kids think Big Blue is an old piece of junk. Today the kid was tailgating terribly and had his stereo up so loud I could hear him coming (must have been pretty far behind me on the way to the stopsign, I didn't see him first, just the noise), so I ran the Benz up a bit more aggressively than normal -- say 1/4 throttle or so.

Idiot kid is nibbliing on the centerline and way too close, so I just keep easing the pedal down. Being a bit slow (in the head), he keeps trying to catch up and pull out, so I finally goose it a bit -- maybe 3/4 throttle and I run away from him. Was going WAY to fast, but what the hell, there's a big hill and a car coming up.

I think he lost steam around 90 or so......

Anyway, Big Blue was a smooth as glass, not a hicup. Was in 3rd around 30, never kicked it down.

Stupid kids.

Peter

M_Anker · #2 09-24-2003, 08:40 PM

psfred,

I know the feeling since I had the same experience today. I'm only 17 years old (stupid kid, yeah

) and I own a nice old mittelblau 1970 280SEL. I was on interstate 70 this afternoon heading over to the college where I attend classes in the afternoon and I ended up with some of those teenagers (perhaps "stoners" would be more appropriate in this case) trying to pass me on the right with a '95 Ford Thunderbird. I ended up flooring the old Benz and sticking then behind a semi. All in good fun of course. Then they started tailgaiting me, so I again kicked the speed up a little bit. I ended up at 90 mph before they decided to give up. Looking at my 140 mph speedometer, it is so nice to know that the car will actually go that fast and a rev-limiter won't kick in.

In all seriousness, the ones that really piss me off are the middle aged adults driving SUV's with a cell phone stuck up their ears. Those are the kind that I much prefer to blow away. Someone with a classic car or an MB in general will get a little respect.

Really, I love driving a huge old Benz that weighs 2 tons rather than a plastic "egg-car." I love the VW commercial "pods unite." It is so comforting not to be driving something that could be described as a pod, even with the price of the fuel I burn (94 octane Sonoco mixed 20% with 100LL AvGas).

nachi11744 · #3 09-25-2003, 09:38 PM

Hello,
This has to be a universal annoyance. Here, there are 120-125bhp turbodiesel double cab pick-up trucks sold by Ford and Mitsubishi, the drivers of these things almost always *race* my W115 200, just to see how fast they can go, I guess. I never bother on straight roads, but on sineous roads, they press on to keep up, but fall back after scaring themselves once or twice trying to keep up with an old car in the corners.
I have a 450SEL(225bhp euro spec) that does not have the model designation on the back, it is great fun to let new 3 series BMWs and these PUs catch up and then slam the throttle open, they recede into the distance very quickly. Only downside is the 12-14mpg fuel consumption.
Last weekend, I got it up to 225kmh for about 15 minutes, scaring a new BMW 5 series driver that thought he was the fastest car on the road at 200kmh. Oh, he refused to let me by, I had to pass him in a hill climb lane.

psfred · #4 09-25-2003, 11:50 PM

M-Anker:

Skip the av gas, you are adding unneeded and undesirable lead to your fuel. This will put lead oxide particles in the oil that will "polish" the engine to death. 94 octane is more than sufficient, mine runs fine on 92.

Peter

M_Anker · #5 09-26-2003, 09:42 AM

A 1970 was designed for leaded fuel, was it not? The Avgas makes it run considerably smoother than premium unleaded. Actually, AVGAS 100LL is a reduced lead variant, and the octane rating is really 110 octane. A little bit every now and then couldn't hurt, right?

I don't know if I'm imagining things or not, running an AVGAS mix seems to make the engine run cooler, too.

I read the owner's manual for my car, and the recommend minimum octane rating was 96, and about the only place to get that is at a general avaition airport. In fact, I have run both 92 octane and 94 octane fuels in the car, and it certainly runs smoother at 94 octane, but it runs best with a 20 % AVGAS mix. I certainly would not run 100% AVGAS becasue I wouldn't be able to get the spark plugs out without using an anti-seize compound like on an airplane engine.

Also, you have the 280SE with the V-8, don't you? I have the straight-six. That might make a difference in which octane rating to use?

ckbenz · #6 09-26-2003, 10:33 AM

nice work guys,

i once had a similar experience when these punk really think that old mercedes means old junk! it certainly not and i am still very much impressed on how the car runs after 30 odd years of use.
i was at one of the traffic light stops and this jerk behind me( local tune up proton wira with all the funny bodykits) was buzzing the honk all the time and laughing..
once the light turn green, i just step on the pedal and my 220 drives like a champ on the uphill, the guy never even turn up within my vicinity once i get on top of the hill. and ther is once i cruise down the city with 70 odds mph and many driver on the road my be shocked becuse they just passed by by a 70s merc even they have a much newer japanese car....
i would like to try beating a bmw on the freeway but my car does not have the enormous power of the v8 engine of 450sel.

it has been a great time with my baby, w115 220, but i have to sell her off before i came to uk. now the car has gone and i miss her terribly.

i have to work my way through to get one of my dream car next time, either a 450sel6.9 or a w109 300sel6.3.

nachi, watch out next time on the road when a w109 pass by ur 450sel. hehehe...

psfred · #7 09-26-2003, 08:02 PM

All MBs since the late 50's, I think (when they started using aluminum heads anyway) have hardened valve seats, the only real requirement for unleaded gas. Besides, the notion that lead oxide prevents valve seat wear is pretty much bunk anyway as far as I can tell.

What you WILL get is excess engine wear and crap on the plugs that can cause them to short out under hard acceleration.

I'd use some non-lead containg octane booster if 94 isn't enough, but I would TEST it by recording the milage and some sort of objective performance data -- the human brain is fairly easy to deceive, after all, and being "convinced" of something means very little without real measurement.

I only say the because lead containing fuel is really truely nasty stuff -- you can easily be poisoned by it, etc etc.

By the way, top end is probably around 115 for your car -- 6600 rpm is all she's gonna give you no matter what you do, and it probably has 3.72 rear end gears.

Nice though that they put a 140 mph speedo in it -- mine goes to 160 although the top end is specified as 125 mph. I DO have a rev limiter, to -- spring loaded thingy in the rotor that grounds the spark.

Peter

Tomguy · #8 09-26-2003, 08:57 PM

I have a straight rotor. I can also say w/100% certianty that 130 is easy to do in this behemoth, with (seemingly) plenty of room left!

psfred · #9 09-26-2003, 11:28 PM

Tom:

I HAD one until I left it part way up and ruined both it and the cap when they collided. I'm spoiled by my diesels...

Don't know how fast it will go with the rev limiter rotor, I'm afraid to find out!

Peter

Tomguy · #10 09-27-2003, 06:08 PM

Peter: Once I get to about 110 or so the need for new subframe mounts becomes BLATANTLY apparent. 130 it screams around corners! I don't know, maybe that's just the way a 2.5-ton car feels

psfred · #11 09-28-2003, 11:26 AM

Tom:

Get the subframe mount kit and a sway bar bushing kit if they are at all iffy or old (especially if someone has cranked the nut on the swaybar mount all the way down!). You will be amazed at the difference.

These big old tanks corner almost flat. Something to do with that 1" plus swaybar up front, I guess. In fact, on the W115 chassis you can actually force a tire off the rim if you push things too much!

I still need a steering coupler, I have some slop in the steering yet. But even now I dont' mind driving it fast -- none of that "swoop" in the corners from the front axle moving around. New subframe mounts will raise the front of the car about an inch, too......

The only other thing I need to do soon is get rid of the Monroe gas shocks on the back -- they ride like rocks and I think are pushing the rear up too much.

Peter

Tomguy · #12 09-28-2003, 10:28 PM

Subframes are more than iffy - I think the one actually is badly torn (to the point where daylight can be seen if the frame is jacked up). I'm sure that new ones would provide one hell of an improvement, but I gotta save the cash up first, as I need to spring for an injector first. Me = poor college student, barely with enough alcohol money!

psfred · #13 09-28-2003, 11:08 PM

Tom:

Well, if you put it that way.....

Seriously, the subframe kit is about $90. Not too bad to get in either, unless you have recently coated the bottom of the car with tranny fluid like I did...

Subframe should stand at least 1/2" from the frame. Mine old mounts were at least an inch shorter than the new ones out of the car!

Peter