I'm in the "getting information together" stages of a truck project:

Swap a diesel engine and manual transmission into a 97-04 2WD Dakota, convert the bed area to a flatbed fifth wheel, and build an ultralight fifth wheel trailer that is aero-matched to the Dakota. Aiming for a high fuel economy RV that has a reasonable level of amenities.

My preference would be to have an engine that is useable in close-to-stock condition (don't want to be changing turbo, rebuilding IP, etc.), with a torque peak at fairly low RPM so I'm not pulling at 4K up every mountain pass. Ideally the torque would match or exceed the stock V6's 220-235lb/ft of torque, and the peak power would be in the 150-170HP range.

I first looked at the 4BT (too heavy, too shaky, expensive), then the 4BD1/2T (too heavy, expensive), then I decided to browse Mercedes. Where I live I can buy two running cars with OM617.951/952 or about one-and-a-half with an OM606.961/962 for less than I'd pay for the Cummins or Isuzu. From a power standpoint I like the OM606, but I've not found a detailed walkthrough for "how to make it work in an alien body", whereas the OM617 seems to have ended up being put into everything larger than a motorcycle, with details about how-to.

Would anyone here happen to know if there's a guide out on the web somewhere that can point me to how to make the transplanted OM606 believe it's in a normal host body? The other problem inherent in this is that I don't think I will be able to find a donor car with a manual transmission, so I will also have to learn how to get the engine to play well without its native transmission.

Help?