Okay, so it's been a few months since I've posted to the thread, so I figured an update is certainly in order. As I tossed around initially, the engine swap is ultimately what took place. I still haven't cracked into the 83's original 617 because I've been so busy with work, school and the resurrection of the car with the good engine.

So, the hood came off, as did everything that attached the engine to the car and then the engine came out. (wrecked, silver 1984):



Then, I pulled the "bad" engine out of the white 1983:

Then pressure washed the bay:


From there, I went to work replacing all of the gaskets and seals on the good 1984 engine:



(Only had pictures from replacing the front main)

Everything went extremely well. I ran into a small predicament when it came to the oil cooler lines; due to my infinite wisdom, I ended up trashing the threads on the bottom of the original oil cooler leading me to cutting the original oil cooler lines. I couldn't really find any replacements I felt were of adequate quality. Luckily, I have a friend who was gracious enough to send me new lines and a new cooler so that was all cleared up.

The next step was putting the new transmission onto the good engine. The previous owner had replaced the transmission right before the engine went south. (The work was done by a shop in Columbus, Ohio). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this.


So, once all of the detailed cleaning and polishing along with the gasket replacements were all said and done, it was time to put the engine back into the car. I was fairly shocked at how well this went!





So yes, the good engine and transmission fit back in like a glove. Of course, the next step was getting everything hooked back up. The final product looks phenomenal!

About a day later I was able to fill the car with it's fresh fluids and start it up for the first time. It ran wonderfully with the exception of a small oil leak at the connection between the lower and upper turbo drain tubes. Luckily, this was an easy fix as the pipe had become bent upon re-installation, so I swiped the one off of the other engine. I've been driving the car for the last couple days and it has been great.

Of course there are a couple bugs that need to be worked out. The engine rocks back and forth at idle and the transmission is shifting pretty hard. I'm going to try my luck with a new rack dampener for the engine. As far as the transmission goes, I'm going to go through the "janky" vacuum system and tweak the VCV and shift modulator as needed. I think that is all that is wrong, so we shall see.

Again, thank you to everyone who provided tips and tricks along the way. I finally have my car back for the summer and I cant wait to really hit the open road!

Cheers,
James

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'83 300D Turbo Diesel
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'84 300D Turbo Diesel