Hello to All:
I'm new to the Forum & have a question. I have a 300D motor out of a 1979 that I want to install in a 1983 123 chassis with 1977 300D transmission. What problems will I encounter with this swap?Also wondering about the vacuum sw on top of the 123 valve cover which the donor motor doesn't have. Can I just swap valve covers? Any advice is welcome. Thanks

The first thing I think of is the fact that you are mating a turbo-charged motor to an NA transmission, which may not be able to handle the extra HP. I wouldn't worry too much about the vac switches on top of the valve cover. Just disable/remove them. They are just there to add frustration to adjusting trannie vac, but with a 77 trannie, I don't think you need to worry about that. Good luck

edit: whoops, didn';t see the engine was a 79.

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1989 300E 144K

Turbo and N/A transmissions are different, even look way different. A friend wanted to put my parts car tranny (240D)in his Turbo TD, no workie

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

OK, as Matt noted in his edit, you have no turbo to worry about. The problem with the '77 tranny is that it doesn't use vacuum for shifting, it uses a much different linkage system which ties into a totally different throttle linkage setup. Even if you had both cars, the accelerator linkage off the firewall is very different on a '77 vs the donor engine and the receiving chassis.
So, I think using that tranny would be difficult.....

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

The '79 engine is N/A by the way.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

As far as the engine itself, it should be a drop in fit with the usual parts swaps involved (trans support, shifter linkages, cooler lines, driveline, etc.)
The biggest problem I would see on the engine, is that you would need to buy the upgrade adapter kit for converting the glow plugs to the parallel newer pencil style, as the 79 should have the older series plugs and will not work on the 83's glow control relay.

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Chris
64 190D R.I.P.
80 240D W/617 engine -for sale
82 240D -for sale