Sveedy, how in earth did you get the top end of the motor this clean? Looks like iceblasted ... Pretty easy to do with the head off. Sprayed it with some hot water w/ detergent and let it sit overnight. Then throttle body cleaner spray and a small brush. It does make working on an engine much nicer.

I use old debit/credit cards coupled with throttle body cleaner for scraping gasket material off of aluminum. You can cut them to get a fresh sharp edge or to make a weird shape.

Keep it. Particularly if it's rust free. If you toss it, you'll just end up looking back and thinking " What if I'd done this ...?" If the car has been sitting awhile the rings might be a bit stuck. At least keep digging and do a compression test etc. 120,00 is pretty low for its age. At a...

^ Nicely done ! And that is some good compression.

Today I some time left, which gave me the opportunity to fix some more things. Replaced the passenger side damper motor for a used one. I’m going to keep the old one and try and fix it when I have more time. Furthermore, I’ve checked the compression. Seems to be quite ok for an engine with 450k km’...

I ordered two replacement exhaust valves from FCP for the '96 turbo. Paid top price for the OE brand (AE). This is what I got. Not only do they not look anything like the stock valves with this deep dish, but even this old woodworkers eyes can see a major offset or lack of centering. I honestly woul...

I have the Forge unit on my '96. It's a work of art. Do you need it ? Probably not. But it is nice to have, and changing springs is easy if your needs change.
I'm not sure about a BOV. I've heard it is more for sticks than autos.

^ Oh boy - here we go. Let me get my beer and chips

Well thanks to abscate generously parting with some of his stash (Many Thanks!), I now have a couple of replacements. These came from Skandix, and there is quite a difference between these and what I started with. While they are not as polished as the AE's, the casting/milling is much better, and ma...

Windows decided to stop working today. Took the master switch apart, and yuck...
Cleaned, reinstalled and windows work again, though one of the rears seems a little finicky.