1987 300TD issues

[300TD87]

Hi, I picked Up a 1987 300TD recently and I thought It had pretty underwhelming power. I discovered A missing bolt for the intake crossover which helped throttle response, I have Also used diesel purge, replaced the fuel filters, and also found a vacuum line from the ALDA to the bypass switch that was disconnected. I was Able to get the 0-60 time from 23 seconds to 13, however I wanted To see what typical full throttle shifts should look like. I’m having an issue with 1st gear getting to 3800-4,000rpm and hanging until I lift, 2-3 happens at about 4,500rpm. What should I check First?

[Mad Max]

Since you had numerous vacuum issues, I would look to see if you have a vacuum leak at the trans, possibly at the governor or modulator...

[87tdwagen]

Check your bowden cable, this is a cable assembly near the throttle linkage that heads to the transmission and needs to be adjusted so that there is no slop or delay between the movement of the accelerator cable and the bowden cable.

Also full throttle shift points are indicated on the speedometer. Look for a series of small white dots, 1 dot top of first gear, 2 dots top of second etc. Those are the factory reference points and a good indicator of how close or far off your shifts are, they should shift at those points when floored WOT.

[tyl604]

If you are going 0-60 in 13 seconds you are doing really well.

[300TD87]

Perfect, thank you for the info. I replaced The vacuum hose at the modulator and it seems to have improved the shifts. However, Im now once again experiencing black smoke at idle and no power. The line running between the switch and The ALDA keeps
Coming loose, I drove it for a bit before realizing what happened, now that it’s hooked back up, I’m still getting black smoke and a lack of power. At WOT, it’ll just hang around 3,000rpm and slowly gain speed in 2nd and 3rd gear.