Fallen a little a bit behind with updating this thread so apologies for the mixed tenses 
A little more progress over the weekend and tonight. Spent saturday scubbing the living daylights out of the ABF block. Previous owner mentioned the rocker cover gasket had been leaking which he replaced but the aftermath was just ridiculous. Took several hours to get the front of the block reasonably clean and grease free and even then it wasn't perfect. Got the back of the block to do next weekend.
Think I may have to start buying shares in Gunk and brake cleaner - used 2 large cans of gunk and 3 cans of brake cleaner so far. Gunk is good but it doesn't really go too far.
As I say the engine was a right mess. Quite poor condition and rusty with paint chipping off all over the shop:
Plenty of elbow grease later and a lick of paint we have this:
I have to say I'm very disappointed with the finish of the paint. I hate how glossy the finish is (this will die down as it gets dirty with any luck) and it just generally looks a bit crap with a kind of hammered finish. A bit disheartening after all the effort of cleaning. I'm very glad I didn't splash out on expensive POR15 enamel as it's virtually impossible to get the block immaculate without stripping the engine right down as well as being a little paranoid about dropping degreaser into the block. The satin finish from Halfords I used on the 2E block previously looks a lot nicer but is rubbish paint. Anyhow it is just an engine block and you'll barely see it anyway. The upside is it seems to have adhered well.
A bit peeved I cleaned up a few other parts, main one being the throttle body. Autosol brought it up like new.
Finally tonights efforts have been continuing to clean up the bay. Ran out of degreaser but not bad for a first pass. The battery tray is excellent, I'm really happy with this as we all know this is a grot spot for mk2's. The whole bay has been waxoiled which I'm not sure if it's factory or whether a previous owner has done it. Either way it's all coming off and then I'll spray some fresh Dinitrol around when I'm done.
Wiring looms went off to RJ today so that's another thing ticked off. Need a couple of new hoses which have perished and also the wiring on what I think is the crank sensor looks a little iffy. Might have to replace it. Trouble is I'm getting to the stage where money has to be spent so progress might slow a little.
That's all for now.
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Finished cleaning up the engine and painted up the back of the block.
Before:
After:
Cleaned up the heat shields and bolted all of that back on:
Clean, etch primed and painted brackets:
Had to re-cover what is left of the Seat so wrapped that up yesterday. Few last bits to remove and then I really need to get shot of it. Yes, the neighbours love me.
Brought the Golf out of hiding yesterday to give the bay a final rinse of with the jetwash. The bay has come up pretty well all things considered with very little rust. It's not mint by any means but certainly not bad for a 20 year old car.
Stopped after that to help sort the brakes on my stepdads FTO. Not really my cup of tea but it makes a fantastic noise!
Cleaned up and painted the mk2 servo ready to go back on:
The mk2 wiring looms are help in with glorified zip ties which I cut off when removed initially. Decided to try and tidy it up a bit by robbing the ones off of the Ibiza which are a better design. Ibiza left, Golf right:
After a bit of discussion in the electrics section I got hold of some Raylon fabric loom tape recommended to me. Piece of cake to work with and looks pretty tidy and OEM once wrapped. Started with the drivers chassis rail and tidied up the routing. Not bother about running it through the legs as it's more hassle than it's worth in my opinion. Looks presentable and will be covered by the airbox anyway.
Can't remember if the lighting loom or engine loom fits along the top clips but have routed the lighting one for now:
Haven't finished wrapping the passenger side loom yet but started fitting some of the mk2 parts back into the bay - coil, washer bottle etc. I was hoping the Ibiza bottle may fit but unfortunately not (mk2 one is farkin' mahooosive!).
Also gave the battery tray a lick of paint; as I say it's pretty clean and very solid but a few bits of grot I wanted to treat:
Obviously not a perfect match but it's not bad at all and it'll be hidden anyway. I'm more interested in rust protection than finish in areas like that.
Lambda boss showed up on Saturday so will need to get that welded in. Did manage to liberate the Seat's but not sure whether it's worth just buying a new one?
Small tidy up of bolts to finish the evening off.
Discovered that annoyingly the Ibiza master cylinder uses larger nuts than the mk2 one so will need to modify the lines. I think I just need to chop the flare off of the end, swap the unions and make a new flare again. Not done this before so any pointers would be great.
Looking at VAGCAT it looks like my PB/2E water pump is the same as the ABF so will be swapping that over off of the old block as it was new when the 2E went in. Crack on building the ABF back up next weekend.
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