Overhauling an OM617

[The Warden]

Hello!

My car's currently running happily, although I'll admit to being a bit unhappy about the level of blowby.

However, an opportunity's come up that I'm not sure whether I should take up or not. A friend of mine's going through an auto tech program at a local community college, and he's wanting a project engine for the final quarter of his class. Basically, the only thing I'd need to pay for is parts; all machining and labor woul dbe done by him as part of his class. Given that, other than the blowby, my engien seems to be in decent shape (runs well, doesn't seem to burn much oil although I do have oil leaks, etc), I'm guessing that the only parts I'd need are gaskets.

So, I'm torn between "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "I may not have another opportunity like this, so take it while I've got it to ensure trouble-free service over the next 500K miles".

What do you all think?

Any thoughts would be appreciated...thanks in advance!