Reassembly.

Scotchbrite lubricated with alcohol cleans the deck quite nicely. Valve reliefs got cleaned also.

The TURBO headgasket is the only one available, and can be used on all 8V cars. I wonder what, if anything, has been changed about it. Maybe stronger seals around the pistons?

Head is torqued in 3 stages. Camtower gasket is in place.....

Finally the tower is installed. Chipped the paint on it a bit, but it will do. Hard to avoid it when removing and installing several times. It had better stay in its place for a while.

This was  a good opportunity to replace the old, brittle, plastic heater control valve. When it cracks, it has been reported that the clutch gets shower with coolant.... not a good thing. The one I installed is metal, and  made for an Audi 5000 (part number: Four Seasons 74671). Hopefully it performs just as well as it fits. Vacuum and coolant ports are the right sizes.

Intake manifold and fuel rail are back in, so it's starting to look more like an engine.

 

My 4-angle 1-1/16 wrench works pretty well for tensioning the belts. Plenty left to do, but I'm definitely past the half way point.

Taken from underneath the car. The alusil block has a neat look, it's much shinier than the aluminum used for the head.