Starting Issue, 1974 280 SE

Ji Carl,

great work! My guess would be the loose ground but that is speculation.

All's well that ends well !

Hi Carl, Great News, Congratulations!
You did the full check-up and the engine runs... and your car looks great!

I noticed you now havea little paint job left to do... shit happens!

One question remains:
I don't understand what you did with the trigger-points-set:

carl888 wrote: ...
8. Checked the dwell of the D-Jetronic points. I noticed that whilst the resistance was very low, the dwell of the points per side was asymmetric by 20 degrees. I could move the points enough in the housing to correct this figure (So the dwell was the same per side). ...

My reading is you loosened the screws and moved the points-set to another position.
An offset of 20° seems to be much.

But - constructive the points are adjusted and fixed in position by the three latches of the sheet metal that carries them. The screws are not meant for adjusting them.

I don't remember I sent you the figure for producing the tool I constructed - but this would be the 'correct' way to adjust the trigger-points.
I could send you the ready-produced tool, too. Shipping rates are quite low for such light-weighted letters.

Regards
Norbert

Thanks Volker and Norbert!

I will drive the car over the weekend and see it it lets me down! I hope it is fine.

Norbert: Yes, I reversed into the garage door when I was moving the car from the factory, I was very annoyed, but I already fixed the dent this week now that my enthusiasm for the car has returned.

With regards to the dwell of the points, I am sorry but I do not have a photograph to show what I did. Let me try to explain however. The mounting of the points assembly is fixed in relation to the distributor shaft, but on my set, I noticed that the points were slightly off centre to the three latches. So I actually moved the points assembly in relation to the latches and simply measured the dwell with a multimeter. The initial reading was about 10 degrees difference on the distributor (20 degrees on the crank). I am really unsure if such an adjustment would make any difference to the running of the car, but I suppose I was keen to cover as many variables as possible.

I would love this tool that you have developed. Can I buy one?

Regards,

Carl.

carl888 wrote: ...
I noticed that the points were slightly off centre to the three latches. So I actually moved the points assembly in relation to the latches and simply measured the dwell with a multimeter. The initial reading was about 10 degrees difference on the distributor (20 degrees on the crank). I am really unsure if such an adjustment would make any difference to the running of the car, but I suppose I was keen to cover as many variables as possible.

I would love this tool that you have developed. Can I buy one?
...

Hi Carl,
you had exactly the problem with the 'non-centered points' that lets one of the points fail a long time before the other side would do.
Even new points-sets are often not adjusted as exact as Bosch shold have done... I corrected the adjustment of some new points-sets during the last years.
But you are absolutely right - some difference between the point's adjustment will not make any remarkable difference in normal operation - as long as both open and close correctly.
The tool I developed let you adjust the gap to the original value - what means a maximum of reliabilty, because all possible tolerances are minimized.

I sent you a P.M. - shipped the tool to 'Down Under' once before.

Regards
Norbert