Greetings,

The drip method didn't work in the first test simply because you were off too much from the timing mark. In the second case, had you primed the pump with the manual pump you would have gotten a stream that would have come to pretty much of an abrupt halt with only a drop or two following with about 5-6 seconds a part. This would of been your timed position. I have tried the Baylor method in the past and have gotten good results as well. If it run fines and the smoke has gone South and you haven't suffered performance or increased fuel useage, I'd leave it be and call it good. Mercedes manual shows how to do all the pump timing but neglect to tell you it is much harder to set if the system isn't pressurized as most garages will do, so they don't have to count on gravity fed fuel that may never arrive.

Charles

Glad to hear you got the classic running smoothly. Gotta Love the smell of burning diesel!