Hey guys, I joined here because I'm looking to learn more about the OM617, and diesels in general honestly! I know the basics..but I still have questions..Like what are glow plugs? What do they do? Why do you need to wait for them to be "ready" before running the motor...whats the glowplug afterburner? Stuff like that lol..I understand the basics, Ip instead of fuel pumps, add fuel to cool EGT's and make more power..basically it seems fuel is king for making power in the diesel world, without it, you just have alot of heat lol.

Honestly, I was recently looking at spending a bit over 3000USD to build my jeep 4.0 in my 1987 jeep cherokee. It wasn't a storker build, more of a performance/economy oriented build! Then I remembered seeing a thread of a guy swapping in a 3.0L merc diesel on a jeep forum and remember hearing 25mpg, performance on par to the jeep 4.0 and so now here I am...ready to learn I've gained sooo much interest in this swap, thats it become a priority to learn as much as possible about it (om617) and diesels in general and put my build on hold until I decide whether this is a better option for me!
I've read almost all the swap threads, but I'm here to learn about diesels and particularly the OM617! How does it work, whats the do's and don'ts. I don't want to read more about swaps until I know the basics of what I'm working with!

I'm seeing output numbers around 116hp/180ftlbs which seems pretty good, less than my 4.0 (180/220ftlbs) but not bad! I know you can pull some more from these things fairly easy..and I guess my goal will be to get similar output like my 4.0..around 220-240ftlbs but get them as soon in the rpms as possible! Main concern would be to get the power lower in the rpms, sooner spool, broad torque curve! I have a camping/expo rig, so stumping pulling off idle torque isn't needed, but a broad torque band & still a nice top end for highway is always nice!
So far I've got a ax15, 3.55's and 30x9.5's & a 3" lift, with quiet a bit of weight added..around 3700lbs or so..probably closer to 4000lbs fully loaded for trips!
So teach me guys, I'm still searching and reading myself but give me the basics first, then I'll get into the rest!