Hi everyone. I was hoping to open up a bit of a dialogue about the Mercedes OM617. I am very seriously considering doing a swap with the Robert Davis kit. The kit apparently comes with everything needed to swap the motor into my land rover, but requires a pusher fan, and requires a swap to a thinner series 3 rad.
I was looking for any and all thoughts on this swap, and what kinds of things I can expect to run into.. maybe some comments on how to choose a suitable engine etc.
Also curious about performance, and how my truck will feel different from it's current state, which is a fairly strong 2.25 petrol.

My truck at the moment is a very reliable unit in general. I drive it as my only vehicle, and have only been stranded once with a cracked head (swapped head gaskets, and opened up a pre-existing crack). all other minor issues have been solvable on rout.
The reason I'm considering the swap is layers deep:
- I get terrible milage out of my truck, and with the amount that I drive it, I spend a huge amount of fuel. (up to $400 per month)
- power is pretty bad.. good for a 2.25, bad for everything else on the road. This is less of a concern than the next point…
- the highway miles I put on the truck (I think) is putting a lot of strain on the old engine. I might drive for 8 hours at 100km/h each (or every other) weekend.. I would rather not kill this engine, so I'm thinking if I swap it out now, I will still have the original engine in good condition should I ever want to do a full restoration back to original.
- diesel fuel in general is better for me. I have a tractor than uses it, and have it around most of the time
- the Mercedes om617 is apparently a great motor that if cared for can get many hundreds of thousands of miles on it. I plan to keep my truck forever, and this engine sounds like a good candidate in that regard.

if I have to boil it all down, the real main reason for the swap is so I can use the truck without worrying that the old gas 2.25 is about to blow. Right now I am constantly worried I'm stressing the motor, and so I end up just not doing the things I would like to do with the truck.