Hey guys/gals. New to diesels here so I've been doing a TON of research. I've watched practically all of Mercedes Source's videos, read all of ForcedInduction's writeups on Mercedes Forum on how to tune the IP and wastegate. Still going very conservatively until I feel like I know what I'm doing.

A little about me: I'm a piston aircraft mechanic, and I've been fixing stuff my whole life. I've built motorcycle, car and aircraft engines and I know what goes on inside a machine. I find these old mechanical diesels very satisfying to work on since everything is mechanical and works with a fair amount of common sense. I am no stranger to engine internals, turbos, welding, ETC.

About the swap recipient vehicle: A 1990 Jeep Wrangler I've owned for the better part of 20 years. It has the old TBI 2.5 four cylinder in it, which has the dubious distinction of having the dumbest fuel injection system on Earth. There is no onboard diagnostics AT ALL, and troubleshooting can only be done by taking a live readout of the sensors while the engine is running, using a piece of dealer-only equipment that doesn't exist anymore. I'm tired of fooling with it. I will be reusing my AX-5 manual transmission with the help of a Koch swap kit.

About the donor vehicle: A 1985 300D I purchased from a Facebook group (of all places) for $500. OM617.952, MW pump, KKK turbo, 280k miles. It runs great, but I will be doing some tune up projects before it's pulled from the donor car, and then some more projects while it's on the engine stand. I need to troubleshoot/fix the vacuum shut off, replace the turbo oil inlet gasket, replace the glow plugs (has a weak one) and adjust the valves. While it's on the stand I'll clean a bunch of stuff up and probably rebuild the turbo, then once it's in the Jeep and operating correctly, I'll probably turn the pump/wastegate up for a bit more power.

I'll probably pester the crap out of you guys for help as I go along, since this is my first diesel project and my first Benz. Let me know if there are any common pitfalls for new guys or if you just plain think I'm an idiot. Thanks!