[tech]: i'm a moron, and other ramblings (long)

["Michael Abatzis" <abatzis2@hotmail.com>]

sigh. why to the scirocco gods hate me? so, to recap. follow my logic. tell 
me where i went wrong: dropped in new 2.0l 16v shortblock with my 1.8l 16v 
head. made a bad noise at startup, deep clunky noise coming from somewhere 
on the pass side of the engine. let it run long enough and smoke wafts out 
of that side. crap. so, thinks i, bad bearing? local vw mechanic agrees that 
it's a bad rod bearing (how did he check it, i'd like to know...). now i'll 
need a new new block. chris c comes to the rescue, brings me new 16v 2l 
longblock. offers to rebuild it, new seals, rings, etc. brian m lets me use 
his cabbie in the meantime. switch heads again, drop in the new block/old 
head. long process, only 1 day off in 3 weeks. finally get it done today, 
start it up, and...guess what? same exact symptoms, noise from same side, 
smoke, etc. arrrgggh! so it would appear that i must have bent a valve at 
some point, and this noise is piston vs. valve? smoke is from an unhappy 
valve guide trying to accomodate bent valve? didn't notice anything when i 
inspected the head, but i didn't look at the head much (it worked fine on 
the old block, right?) soooooo, 2 questions:
1. is there anything else that this could possibly be but something wrong 
with the head? maybe not a bend valve necessarily, but something? i have 2 
2l heads, i'll throw 1 on tomorrow if not.
2. what happens if i reuse the old headgasket and bolts? yeah, i shoulda 
bought studs, but i didn't know i'd be doing this much swappin'. i'd like to 
have 1 of the heads p&p'd within the next 6 mos. could my old stuff last 
that long? this is getting expensive

needless to say, this totally sucks.
silver lining: my other 2l block is probably still good.
dark cloud: my head is probably junk.

-michael
88 x.xl 16v scirocco--2 block swaps, 2 head swaps, one more on the way.

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