diesel neon?

I have a 96 neon and i was thinking, "is there a way to somehow put a small diesel engine from a generator set or something into a neon to make it a diesel? i think that'd be the coolest, i'd be willing to document it and do the labor, but i dont know where to start with looking for an appropriate sized diesel motor. Has this ever been attempted before? the reason im thinking about this is because im in a diesel program at school and i think it'd be a great idea, for both fuel mileage and power. anyone else know anything or heard anything like this?