Here is a picture of my S420 I took a few months ago. I did a little bit of doctoring, heh, heh, heh. Of course, nobody was driving it. Did a little bit of commercialism to bug an arrogant BMW lover at work who drives a Toyota truck, and printed out an 8x10 to stick in his face. Comments welcome.
Y. Chachad

 

looks great man


how long have you had it? and how many miles on it

also how often do you change you oil?

 

ychachad,

Where did you get the extra horsepower out of the 420 engine?

Thanks in advance

 

Nice Car! Although your car kicks a$s, i have special love for bimmers!

Oh yea, i thought your car had 275hp? Anyways, i like it.

///S320

 

I have had the car for 6 months now. Got it with 67k miles, and it has 75k miles. I change my oil by blending different synthetic oils from different manufacturers, and with different viscosities depending on the ambient temperature. I change the oil every 5,000 miles, or depending on the change in temperatures. Hope that helps.
Y. Chachad

 

I'll answer Petie and //S320 in one reply. Yes, the stock 1995 MB S420 has 275HP, and 295 ft-lb of torque. But a new chip from Wetterauer in Valpo, Indiana, modified intakes, 2xK&N filters, Bosch Platinum +4, and low restriction exhaust have allowed me to slowly creep my power up to the performance levels stated in the photo. Yes, it makes a big difference, because the car is much more responsive, and my MPG gauge goes to absolute zero when I gun it, sucking more gas and giving more HP. The mods, while steadily cruising, also increased my mpg to 26 mpg at 70 mph. Total cost? about $2,000. I hope that helps.

Next up is lowering the car by 1-inch, 18-inch wheels, and Brembo brake pads.

Y. Chachad

 

You are the first person who does oil mixtures. I thought it was only me who did it.

 

I have been mixing my oils for some time now. I figured if this manufacturer has this in it, then adding this oil from a different manufacturer will give me an extra this additive. I got serious about oils when I started working with DuPont and their engineers on projects for my company. They make a lot of additives for the oil companies. Having access to Brookfield viscometers and refrigerators capable of doing extremely low temperatures, allowed me to play with different viscosities, and understand oil rheology better. Mainly, all testing I did was with colder temps. During the summer months I generally use heavier oils.

Time and time again, DuPont engineers told me: use synthetics, blend manufacturers, and PTFE (Teflon) does not do didley for friction reduction. And the amount of PTFE in additives when blended is less than 0.5 pho (parts per hundred of oil). From our wear tests, I know Teflon needs to be about 10-15 parts per hundred for it to provide any useful benefit. This just confirmed what I knew all along, but here were the experts telling me. At such high teflon loadings (10 to 15 pho), filtration becomes an issue.

Most wear occurs at startup, and the best thing that can be there is "synthetic oil". Dino oil does not stick as well to walls. PTFE is totally useless.

Rule of thumb that works for me:
Winter: Blend half and half 5W-50 and 0W-30 (or 5W-30) (all synthetics) 30 grade improves fuel economy and is a more stable oil.

Summer: I blend half-half 5W-50 synthetic and 10W-40 or 20W-50 dino oil. Dino oil saves $$$, and 20W-50 is a very stable oil at higher temps.

The 5W-50 is unbeatable for viscosity range, but has too many additives that break down sooner as well.

I hope that helps.

Y. Chachad.

 

I just did an oil change and put 2 quarts of Syntec and 6 quarts of mobil, all 10W40. Doy ou guys think that a 25% ratio is enough to benefit from the synthetic oil?

 

Supposedly, synthetic blends are about 25 to 50 percent synthetic. So you are in the right range. Blends are definitely good for summer weather, I would go at least 50-50 (save money) or 100 synthetic for winter temps below freezing.
Y. Chachad

 

Great Ride man! It even looks helluva good too!

(remember me on ClubLexus? )

 

ROFL nice car.... but have you ever driven a bmw? wanna race

 

Yes, I used to own a 1994 BMW 318 is. Fun car, great handling, low on power and amenities. Also drove a 199X (don't know what year) 735i. I was not impressed with it.

Race? No thanks.