We had a cold morning here (mid 30s) so I did a test start to see how the car starts in the cold (block heater not plugged in). I timed the salt shaker and it actually only took about 20 seconds for it to glow orange. The car started up after cranking for around 5 seconds. I think I was overestimating the time for the glow plugs to get hot in my earlier posts.

So in summary this is a 1967 W110 200D and I have the pencil plugs wired in parallel with the original resistor at the fire wall, salt shaker connected at the dash, and gorilla starter knob.

Should I leave this set up alone, or see if it will start faster by bypassing the salt shaker, or possibly the salt shaker and the resistor on the firewall. Unless it will greatly reduce the start time I am probably going to leave it alone, in case I decide to take up smoking and need a place to light up.

Thanks for all the help.