Lets Start with Larry,
From the PUB we determined that the cam shaft and the crank shaft were misaligned. Why I can not tell you as I have only owned the are at that time for 6 months. The Cam was nearly 20 degrees advanced when the crank was at TDC. From others experiences the Timing chain had been replaced. Additionally but unknown at the time the ignition coil was failing. I had originally replaced the points with a Crane Fireball Ignition and coil only a few months prior.
On the ride home from the PUB, the car had a distinct miss or skip between 2500 and 3000 rpm that was way more pronounced now that the timing was more accurate.
Once I got the car home I removed the gear from the cam shaft, adjusted the cam to TDC and re-assembled the gear and chain. I was suspect about the ignition system and in the process of the disassembly and re-assembly of many components to correct the timing issue, I discovered when removing the ignition coil that it was in fact leaking. Whether it was merely defective or had experienced some short circuit it was definitely not functioning normally. I replaced both the coil and the electronic pick-up with a Petronix unit. Once al back together and the timing spot on I now had a completely different car. The injection pump actually responded to adjustment and I could really make some progress.
For the rest, over the remainder of the season, I made many, Many, MANY adjustments to the IP, Idle was easy and now that I was no longer fouling spark plugs every fifteen minutes I could actually feel small changes in the cars performance. Idle was no problem, cold idle warm idle, cold start, warm start all improved immensely but the car still didn't perform the way I expected or as I have seen others. So off came the BIG NUT on the back of the pump to access the mid-range (1800-2800 rpm). After making more adjustments than I care to admit, remember every time you take that nut off the back of the pump you drop 1/2 quart of oil on the floor, I could not tune out a hesitation and a decellerating (sp) back-fire (Way to rich).
Now of course I have completed the linkage tour, I have replaced all of the ball studs and sockets on the linkages, thoroughly clean the fuel system and replaced all filters. I my mind have exhausted every tuning option I could think of. Additionally this car has 110,000 miles on the clock, it has had a valve job but I don't have a huge amount of history. Also the previous owner did not drive the car, from the service records I do have less than 300 miles had been driven from the time he had acquired the car in 2000 until I received the car in December 2009.
I did speak to Mike at Blackforest yesterday and about 45 minutes later after explain the history of the last year, he has given me some confidence that I have made the correct assumptions and am heading the right direction. I understand that this is not necessarily for the faint of heart or wallet but I have an expectation of performance from this car that has not been met yet and fortunately for Mercedes and Bosch this engine and pump are designed to still run when way out of adjustment. They inherently fail rich. If this car had a carburetor and it was this far out of adjustment it flat our wouldn't run.
Tony
