Hey folks, just an update.

I'm at around 300 miles on the conversion, and just fueled up for the second time. Calculated MPG thus far: 24.5. Not bad in a truck that got 12MPG as a gasser. This also includes LOTS of idling for various reason, literally hours.

How much fuel per hour does an OM617 use while idling?

The alternator seems to be holding it's own, and whatever the starter issue was, it seems to have gone away. I still need to pop the hood to shut her down and use a transmission funnel to fuel her up. Plans for the weekend include fixing both of these issues. The in-cab shutdown is a higher priority, I have to do that 15x more often than I fuel her up.

Thanks everyone. Tips, comments, or suggestions are most welcome.