Thanks, compress.
I drove it quite a bit yesterday - it's about -2C here in sunny St. Albert. No idle problems, no kicking. Took it through Edmonton and out to Namao and back, which gave it a good city/highway run - it is running like a top. I'll inspect the IP and lines for any leakage, but I think I'm good.
As for the timing chain, I can find *lots* of people talking about their timing chain on here, but I haven't seen a DIY article about changing the timing chain on an OM602. DieselGiant.com has a good walkthrough for a 617, but with no garage, and very little experience, actually *changing* one of these things scares the hell out of me.
Fake edit: Is this the collection of links I'm looking for?
Diesel Timing Chain LInk Thread
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=1251434