Vintage Cars: sluggish acceleration, vacuum hoses, vacuum hose

Question
Hi Ron, I have a problem with 1980 mercedes 280e european model. It has 153 k miles.  The car seems to have slow acceleration up to 2000 rpm and then it accelerates normally.  Also when releasing the clutch engine seems very sensitive like it wants to stall. The car has a new battery and fuel pressure was recently adjusted. I can also smell fuel in intake manifold. The manifold inside the pressure plate and the vacuum hose going from valve cover to air filter is also greasy from inside.  Any ideas?

Answer
could be a few things, first off make sure dwell  ( best done with dwell meter) and timing are set to specs, timing has a huge influence on low end acceleration.
No vacuum hoses should be discolored from within.  If they are chances are you have a leak ( which can affect timing) renwew all connections and make sure no lines are cracked.  Look carefully for the source of the fuel smell, it does not take much of a leak to create a big smell.  I suspect all of your issues are related
Let me know how else I can help