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PWNER - gerryvz

600Eric said:
Not only do we only get 91 Octane here in CA but we can only dream of being able to by gas that cheap.

[emoji35]

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:txflag::tejas::Texas::dasauf: Well, it certainly helps that about 60% of the gasoline refined in the continental USA is done within 100 miles or so of us down here.....
 
I think here in SoCal there are no dreams of cheap gas. Just nightmares. We are currently about $1.00 a gallon over Gerry's posted prices and 91 Octane to boot on the Premium.



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Wow. I saw 2.83 for Shell V-Power 93 on my commute today and was thinking it's too bad the tank is already full because that's a good price.
 
TerryA said:
I think here in SoCal there are no dreams of cheap gas. Just nightmares. We are currently about $1.00 a gallon over Gerry's posted prices and 91 Octane to boot on the Premium.



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Relatively close to my house, this morning I'm seeing $1.78 and $1.79 for Super at some cheap stations (Stripes/Sunoco and H-E-B supermarket pumps) and $1.99 for Super gas right now at a few Valero and Shell stations, but they are a bit out of the way for me. Regular gas...cheapest I'm seeing is $1.44 and $1.47, same as the Shell station I visited last night.

I don't think I've seen gas this cheap since circa 2003....

It's interesting to me, because in Oregon they would price regular gas, then mid-grade at $0.10 a gallon higher than regular, and then Super at $0.10 higher than mid-grade. And you would get 92 octane in Oregon and Washington.

Here in Texas, they price the regular very cheaply, but then they price the mid-grade about $0.30 higher, and then the Super at about $0.30-0.40 higher than the mid-grade. It's irritating.

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Guys....

It is incorrect to directly compare US and European octane ratings. If you do the research, you'll know that US and European octane calculations are done much differently.

US octane ratings are an average of research octane number (RON) and motor octane (MON) numbers. European octane ratings are the RON number only.

Generally, there is an 8-12 octane difference between RON and MON numbers. This results in US octane numbers posted on the pump being anywhere from 4-6 octane less than European numbers.

Thus, 92 or 93 octane "Super" gas in the US is easily equivalent to 96-99 octane European fuel.

Cheers,
Gerry


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Gerry, is it normal to have a 30-cent difference in price between regular, mid, and premium octanes? We usually see around 10-12 cents between each grade.

Strange that your regular is so low (ours is $1.99 at local Chevron/Shell, huge difference) while premium is so high (ours is ~$2.20 at local Chevron/Shell, pretty close to TX).

:seesaw:
 
gsxr said:
Gerry, is it normal to have a 30-cent difference in price between regular, mid, and premium octanes? We usually see around 10-12 cents between each grade.

Strange that your regular is so low (ours is $1.99 at local Chevron/Shell, huge difference) while premium is so high (ours is ~$2.20 at local Chevron/Shell, pretty close to TX).

:seesaw:
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It's normal for Texas fuel prices to have that spread between the grades, yes. I've seen that for the past 7.5 years that I've lived here. On the west coast I've always seen it around 10 cents between grades.

I really only pay attention to Chevron/Shell gas prices, although I did look up some "super cheap" prices on other brands to see what the current lows are. Valero seems to be one of the cheaper brands around here -- I am not sure of the quality of their gas as I only put Chevron and Shell into my gas tanks.
 
Here's what it costs near my home.

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You Texas folks got it real good!
 
Glen said:
Here's what it costs near my home.....

You Texas folks got it real good!
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God bless the Republic of Texas! :txflag: Did I mention we do not have a state or local income tax?

GVZ I was spitting distance to your place today...... Sorry I could not stop by and mess with Charlie :jono:
 
nocfn said:
GVZ I was spitting distance to your place today...... Sorry I could not stop by and mess with Charlie :jono:
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Ive been in my office in downtown Houston since 6:45 this morning....

Yes, those three buildings connected by the ring walkway are the Chevron offices in Houston. Right across the street from my building.

Cheers,
Gerry

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Driving to Dallas yesterday, I stopped in Centerville to fill up.

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I've seen gas at Chevron stations here in Dallas for even less than $2.00 a gallon for Super.


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Today I hit an Arco in Torrance, CA that is selling Regular Unleaded for $2.05 a gallon. I use the regular in my Caddy beater.
Maybe we will get under $2.00 soon. I won't hold my breath.
 
Today, I did a couple of things I've been wanting to do for a while.

First, I installed the V-8 shift knob that I've had for a couple of weeks. Turned out pretty well, methinks. I took the opportunity to clean the gear lever/center console/glove box area while I was at it.
File Apr 17, 6 19 40 PM.jpeg File Apr 17, 6 19 56 PM.jpeg


Second, I slightly modified the "E/S" switch to turn it into an "F/S" switch. Been meaning to do this for 11+ years on my car. This is for the BergWerks FGS. "F" = Fast - meaning it holds first gear longer. "S" = Slow - meaning it's "regular" FGS shift point. Had to do a bit of work with the corner of a razor blade and my magnifying glasses to make it good to the naked eye, but I think it turned out nice.
File Apr 17, 6 28 29 PM.jpeg File Apr 17, 6 28 50 PM.jpeg

Cheers,
Gerry
 
Looks nice! My silver E500 was set up similarly by the PO... except "F" is for First gear start, and "S" is for Second gear start. I have a separate switch, that I never use, to flip between the two selectable upshift points (higher vs lower RPM upshift).

:gsxracer:
 
gsxr said:
Looks nice! My silver E500 was set up similarly by the PO... except "F" is for First gear start, and "S" is for Second gear start. I have a separate switch, that I never use, to flip between the two selectable upshift points (higher vs lower RPM upshift).

:gsxracer:
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I remember !! Dem were some budget ballin' days !! I reversed mine so that FGS (on/off) is controlled by the round switch that is between the rear windows switches, and the FGS mode (sport/regular) is at the EF/S slider switch.
 
Looks good Gerry. Years ago, I scanned and reprinted the shift plate. Using Photoshop, I changed the F to S(sport) the S to E(economy). I also added some color, the P is red, D is green and reverse is yellow...it came out pretty good but not quite OE quality. I'm pretty sure there's a picture of it somewhere on the site...


Edit: here's a shot from when my rear view mirror went boing:
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Tonight I also replaced the air filters on my E500. It had been some time since I had done this (32,000 miles, almost 7 years). I like to change them at 25K. Used the set of Mann filters that I had in my parts stock. The old ones were dirty, but not horribly so.

As an experiment, seeing as I've temporarily removed my Wiecher's upper strut brace bar for a few years (I'll be putting it back on in the future), I decided to try out the RennTECH airbox that I acquired some years back. Went to the grocery store tonight and did some low-speed left-hand U-turns in the almost empty parking lot. No stalls or otherwise erratic behavior.

It's pretty nast with all of the carbon fiber cracks, but integrity is good and I'm keen to see how it performs.

Of course, my butt dyno was off the scale with that big airbox !! :wahoo:

Quick snapshot as I buttoned everything up from the air filter changeover. I didn't do a HOW-TO on the air filter change. I figured it's something that most everyone knows how to do. If you haven't changed your air filters and it's been more than 25K miles, I highly advise that you do it.

Cheers,
Gerry
 

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I hope all is well with you. I just saw a news story about the 20" rainfall in Houston.
 
The RENNtech carbon-fiber airbox has worked flawlessly for the past few days. I drove into work yesterday and today (60-mile round trip) and the engine has run perfectly, including a tight, low-speed, left-hand U-turn every morning into my office parking garage at Allen Center in downtown Houston. No problems whatsoever. I haven't had any time to exercise it at high speed to experience the dramatic HP increase that the airbox allows.

My custom Cocomats for my 560SEC finally arrived yesterday. I installed two of them last night, but need to put the two passenger-side mats in the car. Now, all three of my vehicles have Cocomats and I couldn't be happier.

All of the remaining G-wagen suspension parts (drag link and tie rod) arrived from Germany, via the MB Classic Center. Thus, my next job will be a front steering/suspension refirb (new steering shock, tie rod and drag link, along with all of the included ball joints). I'll also inspect the swivel ball grease seals to determine how much grease is leaking from them since I cleaned up that area last weekend. If they are oozing more grease than they should, I have all of the swipe seals and items to do a replacement for that, as well.
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Hi Gerry,

How are you? With all do respect do your experience which I respect a lot as I have learned from all you guys here, I don't agree with the changing of air filters as you mentioned every 25K.
The air filters in my opinion should or better I say shall be changed twice within oil changes.

Maybe you live in a 'clean' enviorment.... anyways this is what I personally do and have done in all my cars. I love changing air filters often as it keeps the engine healthy and it makes a different when overtaking.

Kind regards from Tirana, Albania.

Eno
 
Even every 30,000 miles is conservative for the average city slicker. Of course, add a lots of sand or dust, and more often may be required.

For what it's worth, most factory original equipment air filter systems have much of the restriction produced prior to the elements, even when considering heavily loaded elements at the end of their specified maintenance cycles. There is generally nothing to be experienced "when overtaking"
If air filters were not designed this way, filth would constantly be getting sucked through the elements.

While I'm harping on the subject, let me mention something most people have never done, and if they did, they would be astounded. Cut open a couple of small sections of air filter element and measure the area. Then, count the number of pleats etc., as required. Don't forget to count both sides of the pleats where required and do the math. There is an incredibly large filter in there. Also consider that the primary job of an air filter is to, well, filter the air, and that filter elements do a better job of filtering after they have been loaded, and this improvement in filtering quality continues right up until the point that the element perforates or the seals fail. Generally speaking, air filters are wildly over replaced by enthusiasts. So having said that, I am obviously very comfortable with Gerry's recommendation.
:klink:
 
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OK, so I'm confused. :scratchchin:

On the one hand, it sounds like I should be replacing my air filters every 5-10,000 miles.

But on the other hand, even 30,000 miles is too soon on them.

I think I'll just keep with the 25,000 mile interval I've been using for my vehicles for the last .... like, forever. I've got nearly 100,000 miles that I've driven my 560SEC, and nearly 70,000 miles that I've driven my E500. Neither engine seems to be falling apart. So I think I'll just keep doing what I've been doing.

Super appreciate the suggestions !!

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gerryvz said:
OK, so I'm confused. :scratchchin:

On the one hand, it sounds like I should be replacing my air filters every 5-10,000 miles.

But on the other hand, even 30,000 miles is too soon on them.

I think I'll just keep with the 25,000 mile interval I've been using for my vehicles for the last .... like, forever. I've got nearly 100,000 miles that I've driven my 560SEC, and nearly 70,000 miles that I've driven my E500. Neither engine seems to be falling apart. So I think I'll just keep doing what I've been doing.

Super appreciate the suggestions !!

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:doh: I was essentially expressing agreement with your suggested interval! See amended post above...
 
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Maui said:
I love your new title under Site Honcho.

:gvzgsxr:
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It's actually a pretty negative word in German -- more negative than the translation would suggest. But it's a joke, so what the hell. We have some interesting titles for individuals on this forum ("Bitter Mechanic" remains my favorite) and we live in some interesting times (said as I just received a Tornado Warning about 10 minutes ago).
 
About a week ago, I started noticing a pretty major leak (actually, I started smelling the leak) with some oil spots underneath my 560SEC. Popping the hood, I noticed that there was hydraulic fluid all over the inside of the passenger side of the engine compartment and dripping down the oilpan and right side of the engine. A quick inspection confirmed that it was hydraulic fluid.

Given that the hydraulic fluid container and radial piston (rear SLS) pump are both located on the left (driver's) side of the engine, I knew that it could only be one thing ..... a burst/leaking high-pressure hydraulic line leading from the pump rearward. This line runs along the passenger side of the engine, underneath the oil filter canister.

It was not an easy job, requiring around 6 hours of labor to do. A lot of things on the front of the engine had to come off, including the alternator, fan, harmonic balancer/crank pulley, and radiator. The hose was the original rubber hose with metal ends, and the entire bottom and right side of the motor were an oily mess. It required that the engine and compartment be pressure-washed to clean everything up and ensure a proper diagnosis of the problem.

Inspection of the rear suspension also found a couple of items: I also noticed that the rear SLS adjustment arm's ball joints were both very sticky and not working well, and the rear (Feind) sway-bar links were loose, causing a distinct clunking sound in the rear suspension over speed bumps and the like.

I also took the time to change the coolant, and to re-charge the A/C system with a pound of fresh R-12 Freon. Some of you may remember that I had the A/C system re-converted from R-134a (which didn't work at all in the Houston heat) back to the original R-12, along with a new compressor, expansion valve, and receiver/drier back in 2010.

Needless to say, things went well with the repairs, and the car is now back on the road and doing well in the 100F Houston heat the past couple of days. I guess I can't complain given that the high-pressure hose was the original, and 28 years old. I lost almost all of the hydraulic fluid (about an inch and a half remained in the bottom of the reservoir), but thankfully the radial piston pump remained lubricated and didn't require a re-seal.

Moral of the story ... check your SLS hoses carefully !! This applies to you 126 owners, as well as the .036 folks out there.

The car is getting ready to turn 240,000 miles, and nearing 60,000 miles on the rebuilt top-end that I did in 2010, and is just shy of 100,000 miles driven since I bought the car in September, 2002.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
Doin' the "captruff" thang at Uchi, Near downtown Houston .....

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Daughter and her gal pals ate there last night!

Hitting up Wallisville for Tacoma parts in the morning....
 
gerryvz said:
Driving to Dallas yesterday, I stopped in Centerville to fill up.

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I've seen gas at Chevron stations here in Dallas for even less than $2.00 a gallon for Super.


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93 octane????....for real?`no 98 octane?or even 95?
 
Gerry is lucky. At higher elevations in the USA, octane ratings are even lower. All the pumps in the Boise area are 87, 89, and 91 max. All are 10% ethanol blends.

We finally started getting some dedicated blue-handle zero-ethanol pumps, but only with 87 octane (good for the lawn mower, chain saw, snowblower, and 190E's. :D)

:hornets:
 
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