I could use some advice please. I have an 83 380sel in sparkly condition with a blown motor. After a failed attempt at a 3.8 transplant, I bought a 79 turbo diesel 300 for a donor.

It runs decent, and aside from some glowplug, shutoff solenoid, and charge issues it seems a decent runner. If I recall corrrectly it has 160ish on it.

I've dug through thousands of posts already, but I assume that someone can more easily answer my questions directly, so here goes:

1. Do I need to swap rear ends(are the ratios different, and what should I go with)?
2. Will the driveshaft fit?
3. How do I go about the glowplug swap (should I fab a new system or retain the old)?
4. What else am I missing here?

It seems pretty straightforward but I'm looking at this with the lack of personal experience. For all I know there's a gremlin lurking at every corner.
Thanks in advance- Josh

 

I have the gas motor out, and am starting on the transmission. There is a wire below the linkage. What is it (I assume od wire), and how do i safely remove it. I don't want to bust a plastic clip that may be important.

Will the 79 turbo tranny work straight across with this wire or do I need to take it off of the donor diesel?

anybody have a link to schematics for an 83 380sel, and a 79300sd?