My '82 300D was a dog for years. I just thought that's the way a diesel was supposed to be. Cleaning out the switchover valve line resulted in a significant improvement. A quarter turn on the ALDA really helped initial acceleration. Adjusting the valves helped a little. Also, my injection timing was quite retarded. Adjusting the timing helped a little, but the primary affect is that the engine now starts almost immediately. Adjusting the governor idle pin got rid of the "shakes."

The bottom line is that my "dog" now runs like a sewing machine and performs like a sports car. Well, almost like a sports car. I don't feel like I have to say a prayer before merging into traffic any more.