Well may be your buddy knows what russians don't know.
But as far as soviet people know MK-17 is purely diesel engine (at least in mass production). There were convesions of that engine to glow. And many articles in magazines how to convert it.
To convert MK-17 to glow usually you have to do some major modifications, including increasing sub-induction ports, replacing weak ball bearing with stronger one, and replacing counter piston or cooling head of course. Glow conversion runs at 23500 RPM with 6.4x3 prop

http://www.rcpilot.h12.ru/engine01.html
http://yoline.3dn.ru/index/0-89
http://modelist-konstruktor.com/v_mi...nogo--kalilnyj