i am going to look at a 89 dodge 4x4 with 250,000 miles, for the purpose of running on wvo. i was wondering if any one has the compression specs for these engines (is this the 12 or 24 valve?)? also any info on things to look for specifically problems common to these vehicles as well as info on conversion pros/cons. only 4,000 and sounds to be pretty nice. i am a competant mechanic, just not at alll familiar with these cummins motors and would like to know a little before i go look at it.

Go to the Diesel Truck Resource forum. There is a lot of info there, you will learn a LOT. If you have any questions, join it and ask away. Another forum is Turbo Diesel Register. Good luck.

An 89 should be a 12 valve with a bosh rotary injection pump, no intercooler.

There are several discussions in the "Dodge Cummins" section of the "diesel vehicles" forum on this website. This one has lots of info ob different year vehicles.

This is my running description of info with my 92 dodge cummins, same engine as yours but with intercooler.

And yet another resource with good links and condensed info on the Dodge/Cummins. Here