Just to give you some history.
The VM engine family was a modular family which came in
AFAIR 3 , 4, 5, and 6 cylinder.
BMW used both the 5 and 6 3 litres in the sterndrives which they or should I say I sold from about 1980 on.
I can recall my tech guy telling me he had pulled a new one apart and the crank journals were "octagonal". We had BIG problems with owners (usually Abalone fishermen) running full pelt then hot shutting down and coking the turbo.
The 2.4 VM won world diesel speed records and Land Rover anodised the heads for reliablity.
It gained a reputation for overheating which remains to this day.
There was a 2.5 version sold in the UK just prior to 200Tdi in RRC.
AFAIK the 2.5 is the same motor as in the old Cherokee which also had overheating problems. Hmm funny that. My guess is that a 2.5 Cherokee motor should bolt in.

There is now a 2.7? version with one head and overhead cams in the new shape Cherokee and Wrangler.
So the good news is that you should be able to get Jeep parts and I understand the bad news is that parts are expensive.

Graeme Cooper once told me long ago that the VMs were not too bad and actually had better torque than a 200/300Tdi. He was /is quite experienced in them. One person in our club had one and blew the head gaskets. They were fixed OK.

I tend to think one of the problems was that back then nobody was experienced with the angle torque bolts. I have read on the Jeep forum that you need a jig to refit the heads and the gaskets will fail unless a special tightening sequence is followed across the four heads.
Regards Philip A