What have you done for your W116 today?

[adamb]

First, drove the old girl the long way from Salt Lake to lovely Essex CT, about 2600 miles.  We went through Wyoming (see pic) and on to Deadwood South Dakota.  Then to Sturgis a couple days before the crazy biker rally to get a taste for it.   Pic is Deadwood, totally taken over by bikers. Insane doesn't come close to describing.   We played blackjack with Hells Angels, which was fun.   Great trip, car ran beautifully.  All this was last week, not today, but close enough.

Then today I advanvced the timing a little.  It had been at 3 or 4 deg ATDC @ idle.  This is the spec if I recall, but I've also been a bit nervous about knocking because of so much high altitude and mountain driving.  Now the car will live at about 10 meters above sea level.  In a very old post somebody in OZ advanced it to 8 deg so I followed their example.  BIG difference in SOTP (seat-of-the-pants) performance, and no knocking!  I was quite surprised at the difference.  If anybody feels that this is a bad idea, please respond.  But I like what it did for the car.  Happy motoring and cheers,

Nice write up. I noticed that your 6.9 is showing 100mph at 4000rpm. That doesn't look right. AFAIK it's about 27mph/1000rpm so you were travelling at 108mph or the rev counter is wrong.

[raueda1]

First, drove the old girl the long way from Salt Lake to lovely Essex CT, about 2600 miles.  We went through Wyoming (see pic) and on to Deadwood South Dakota.  Then to Sturgis a couple days before the crazy biker rally to get a taste for it.  Pic is Deadwood, totally taken over by bikers. Insane doesn't come close to describing.  We played blackjack with Hells Angels, which was fun.   Great trip, car ran beautifully.  All this was last week, not today, but close enough.

Then today I advanvced the timing a little.  It had been at 3 or 4 deg ATDC @ idle.  This is the spec if I recall, but I've also been a bit nervous about knocking because of so much high altitude and mountain driving.  Now the car will live at about 10 meters above sea level.  In a very old post somebody in OZ advanced it to 8 deg so I followed their example.  BIG difference in SOTP (seat-of-the-pants) performance, and no knocking!  I was quite surprised at the difference.  If anybody feels that this is a bad idea, please respond.  But I like what it did for the car.  Happy motoring and cheers,

Nice write up. I noticed that your 6.9 is showing 100mph at 4000rpm. That doesn't look right. AFAIK it's about 27mph/1000rpm so you were travelling at 108mph or the rev counter is wrong.

Nice catch!  You're right.  I know my speedo registers about 5 mph lower than actual as measured by GPS.  That would be 105, pretty darn close to what you figured, especially with all the other sources of error.  Also, my tires are oversized too though circumference very close to stock.  But many small errors can add up quickly.  Cheers,

[raueda1]

The fun just never ends.  I finally got official ignition wires (with the tubes) and installed them properly after finally finding the cable bracket next to the WUR.  Then had to remove the idle adjust and cold start casting to get the damn thing on the left side of the engine.  Also replaced cap, rotor, coil and installed non-resistor plugs.  It was surprisingly expensive.    Looks much neater though, and maybe slightly smoother idle and a hair faster.  Worth the effort. 

The do-list is slowly shrinking.  Next will be putting the footwell panels back, and pre-winter oil change.  Then new tires in the spring.  I've put about 30k miles on the car since I got it.  Then swapping MBtex for leather.  So much more to look forward to! 

Finally, if anybody is willing to take a well-lit picture under the driver side footwell, I'd be very grateful.  Thanks and Cheers,