The diesel engine is usually much heavier than a gasoline engine. The Chevette front end can barely take the weight of the stock four cylinder and the V8 gasoline is really way too much for the stock Chevette front suspension. I won't go into trying to stop the thing with stock brakes.
That's my reasoning as to why I'd never try a V8 diesel in a stock Chevette, but I'll listen to anybody's opinion.