He's Baaaack....

[reichsrundfunk]

Hello again fellow Studies. Just wanted to step up and say hello again to all my friends in the SDC! I am returning to the fold after a hiatus of two years. Just bought a beautiful all orginal 63 Lark Sedan with 37000 original miles and felt it was time to jump back in again full throttle. During my hiatus I acquired a pristine 1985 Mercedes-Benz 380SL (I call it my "Studebreak") and have enjoyed getting my hands dirty learning some of the , err..... lets say, interesting engineering differences between German cars and Studebakers. I'm keeping the Benz as our weekend sun cruiser, but am happy to get my hands back under the hood of a good, solid Studebaker. I look forward to chatting with many of you again!

-George-

[studeclunker]

Hi George! Welcome back!

[M15 Trucker]

George,
Welcome back, are you going to take your Lark to Riegelsville in November?

[Warren Webb]

Hey George, I'm just waiting for our new (to us) 380 SL to be delivered right now! My wife gave her old Benz to her daughter & I bought this one the next day. She was having withdrawals...LOL. Lets see some pictures of you "new" 63. Welcome back to the Stude fold!

[reichsrundfunk]

George,
Welcome back, are you going to take your Lark to Riegelsville in November?

Yes, that's the plan. Car should be ready to show off nicely by then. Its been off the road since 1991 and putting it back on so far has been uneventful. So barring alien abduction or being hit by a falling satellite I'll be there!
-George-

[reichsrundfunk]

Hey George, I'm just waiting for our new (to us) 380 SL to be delivered right now! My wife gave her old Benz to her daughter & I bought this one the next day. She was having withdrawals...LOL. Lets see some pictures of you "new" 63. Welcome back to the Stude fold!

Pictures forthcoming in a day or two! What year is your "new" 380SL? Mine is an 85.............. Once you realize they are not a sports car but rather a gran touring roadster you really mentally can get into the feel of them.
-George-

[Corvanti]

Hi and welcome back!

my '83 380SL i sold 3 years ago. should have kept her.

[reichsrundfunk]

FYI All, I finally uploaded some pix of my new Lark, now with the original paint all compounded out and polished! You will find the thread on the pictures forum " My 63 Lark Sedan - All Original"
-George-

[larkregal62]

BTW George, I think M-15 Trucker meant Reedsville Pa in November 0n the 21st and 22nd. Gordon

[Warren Webb]

Pictures forthcoming in a day or two! What year is your "new" 380SL? Mine is an 85.............. Once you realize they are not a sports car but rather a gran touring roadster you really mentally can get into the feel of them.
-George-

Ours ( hers, really) is also an 85. Right now it's sitting in a garage waiting for it to be inspected tomorrow to find out why it failed smog. NOX was 3 times over the limit. I looked & looked but couldn't find an EGR in it. Bought a shop manual on cd but it wont load. Meanwhile my 62 Champ developed a leak in the gas tank. If that's not enough the insurance company screwed up the vin so DMV put my registration in suspension so I cant drive it until that is cleared up. Meanwhile the battery gave out this afternoon on the 2000 Saturn that we use to drive the grandkids around. <sigh>

[reichsrundfunk]

BTW George, I think M-15 Trucker meant Reedsville Pa in November 0n the 21st and 22nd. Gordon

Ouch! Thats wayyyyyy further than Riegelsville :-( "Just down the road" turned into a three + hour trek. Well, I may be there. We'll see!
-George-

[reichsrundfunk]

Ours ( hers, really) is also an 85. Right now it's sitting in a garage waiting for it to be inspected tomorrow to find out why it failed smog. NOX was 3 times over the limit. I looked & looked but couldn't find an EGR in it. Bought a shop manual on cd but it wont load. Meanwhile my 62 Champ developed a leak in the gas tank. If that's not enough the insurance company screwed up the vin so DMV put my registration in suspension so I cant drive it until that is cleared up. Meanwhile the battery gave out this afternoon on the 2000 Saturn that we use to drive the grandkids around. <sigh>

I feel sorry for your poor guys out in California. Your DOT is sooooooo unforgiving.. I have my cars registered to an address I have in New Jersey, and by comparison it is a cakewalk. With our (NJ) historic plates, there is NO inspections (including emissions) - ever; NO unreasonable restrictions on driving the vehicle; NO annual registration renewal (its every three years and the fee is $0).

Now, with your 380SL, you will likely find the issue is the air mixture control is way out of adjustment. There is no EGR on this engine per se. This engine uses Bosch KE-Jetronic fuel injection which is a full mechanical CIS system. This is found at the top of the air intake, just in front of the air sensor plate throat (the hole in your air filter top just in front of the center wingnut is there to permit a 3mm Allen Wrench to extend down into the adjuster nut). I believe that your mixture is way off spec, and when I mean way off, - it can be as much as 1/4 turn in either direction. A 1/16th turn will have a drastic effect when read thru an O2 reader at the tailpipe. If it gets more than a certain small amount out of adjustment, the Lambda control cannot compensate for it, and the engine will run way rich or lean (usually rich).

Also, I would suspect that your mechanic, if he is good at vintage Mercedes engines, will replace the oxygen sensor before fooling around with the fuel air mixture as this also will cause the same problem you are having. Its just another cheap and very easy to replace part.

if the fuel / air mixture needs to be tweaked, you will find that 1/32 of an inch rotation of that adjuster nut will have a significant effect. Your optimal position will be to enrich the fuel very slightly from spec as this will give more power - and we know the 3.8L engine is a tad anemic!

These are very different animals than a Studebaker!

Good luck!
-George-