Motor Lacks Power/Hard Shifts

[armkb]

Recently bought a 1984 300SD, w/183000miles. Body in good shape...few small dents very minimal surface rust. One owner and judging by the looks of the under carriage I dont think its ever been driven in the salt here in the northeast. All the bolts come off without any effort...no rot holes to speak of. Seems the owner did kind of neglect the car for the last year or so. Needs an oil cooler as its got a slow leak at the bottom...and judging by the oil on all four rims I'd say its been dripping on the driver side wheel for some time.

Motor runs good. Starts up with first turn of the starter...good compression? Did the diesel purge, replaced fuel lines and filters, oil and filter changed with Delo, new air filter and air cleaner mounts, and turbo seal rings on the intake. Cleaned out the banjo bolt and line on the intake to the separation valve.

Anyway my question is that from a dead stop the engine is a dog until it hits about 2000 RPMS then it has decent power. Seems I have to floor it all the time to get it going. With the A/C on forget it...doesnt move at all. On the highway it runs fine. I know the valves probably need adjustment...just havent gotten to them yet. But what else should I be looking at? Turbo? Can hear it winding up and down so I think its working fine. I will adjust the wastegate soon when I finally figure out what kind of turbo I have. Alda adjustment? Injector timing? What else should I be looking for?

Also have a hard shifting tranny. Shifts hard in all upshifts with no flaring at all. How do I adjust the vacuum to soften the shifting points. I will be draining the trans soon and replacing the filter and fluid with Amsoil synthetic oil. Hope it helps.

One other thing. On the bottom side of my air filter where the blow by gets collected in the air cleaner there is a drain back into the oil pan. Is there some kind of rubber grommet that connects the air cleaner to the drain? Right know there is nothing there and unfiltered air is getting past into the turbo and intake thru the gap between the two parts. And the collected oil from the blow by is leaking out down onto the turbo. Thanks to all who can help me.