First off - I had to order various gaskets, headbolts, etc. to continue with the build. Had some trouble at Parts Source getting the proper parts ordered - they couldn't seem to understand how I am working with two different motors. After a few days I got some of the gaskets I need but they ordered the headbolts for the ABA head when I need them for the 16v head. The guy at the store gave me an unreasonably and frankly disrespectfully hard time with it too, going on a rant about how they can't just "order in random sets of headbolts till I get the right ones". It was odd, since he was just an employee - its not like it cost him anything anyway. Another frustrating thing about it was that I physically went into the store the day before to explain specifically how I needed the 16v head bolts and NOT the ABA bolts, and the guy at the counter assured me he ordered the correct ones. After some rude conversation he eventually said the manufacturer didn't make the headbolts for a 16v (though I think he was just frustrated and wanted me out of there) - so I'm just going to order them online - its probably cheaper anyway and I know exactly what I'll get, but it will take some time. This would be one of those times where it would be nice to live in the US and not have to worry about brokerage, duties and shipping.
I also received the parts I ordered from BBM - Dizzy Gizzy and a BBM fuel rail and FPR. I assembled the fuel rail but decided to leave the ABA distributor alone until I get the timing set with the new head on - I doubt it will matter since as mentioned earlier, I already took the timing belt off before aligning the distributor to TDC anyway - but all in all, I think I'll leave the distributor untouched till near the end - I figure the distributor will by my biggest risk of error.
Next I looked into the hoses - I have a replacement upper radiator hose that will run from the 16v head and has a coolant expansion valve return line attached to it. I then needed to figure out how to replace the ABA hose running between the water pump, oil filter and the old ABA radiator hose, since the old hose had this as one piece. Since I'm lucky and have the 16v bottom end, I realized the hose from that motor fit relatively well. I had a hell of time getting the hose off the ABA without the proper tools for the clamps, and everything is pretty tight in there. I ended up removing the AC lines from the condenser but unfortunately still pretty much destroyed the hose removing it. Eventually I got the new 16v hose in place. The heater hose running to the passenger side of the head will also need to be replaced but I have a new flange and the proper fitting hose for that already.
This is a picture of the 16v hose for the pump and oil filter:
Here is the new flange installed on the 16v head which will support the heater hose and one of the original two sensors on the ABA head. The other sensor fits into the actual head just below the gasket.
I then moved onto the pulleys - the cam gear on the 16v head I will leave alone. I replaced the tensioner and got rid of the weird ABA one. I then moved to the lower block and removed the serpentine pulley that attaches to the crank gear. Had lots of trouble with just one of the bolts in this thing - not sure why but it just wouldn't come out and eventually I stripped it. I thought about buying one of those stripped bolt removing kits, but costs just slowly creep up with all those sorts of random purchases, so I decided to just cut it off - it wasn't clean but I don't think it will matter in the end, and it got the pulley off as I needed.
I will also need to replace the crank gear and the intermediate shaft gear to fit the wider timing belt. At this point, I got pretty tired, and also realized when doing some research that the crank gear bolt is a "stretch" bolt that will need to be replaced. Luckily I hadn't placed my order for the head bolts yet so I left off there. The timing belt cover had all sorts of random little bolts and I didn't do a very good job of keeping track of where they went - so I'm a bit worried that I won't get that cover back on again.
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