The next task is to set up and install the pistons and cylinders.
I started by removing each piston and its rings one at a time and checking the ring gaps in the top and bottom of the cylinder. All the gaps were within spec so no action required, I just put everything back together.
Also, you can get the rings on and off with your fingers but it's kind of a pain. A $10 piston ring tool makes it extremely easy and way faster. Definitely worth having in my opinion!
Next I installed each cylinder individually to measure the deck height. I recommend doing this one cylinder at a time because each cylinder will block the adjacent cylinder's wrist pin, making it hard to remove! Worst case though you can always pull the cylinder off and leave the piston, then you just have to reinstall the piston into the cylinder again.
I also recommend checking that each wrist pin will fit into the connecting rod before trying to install the whole assembly. I ran into one that didn't quite fit. I carefully gave the inside of the connecting rod a light pass with a scotchbrite pad, cleaned it up, and then it fit.
Anyway, I measured each deck height and found they ranged from flush to -0.005" (meaning the piston protruded 0.005" past the cylinder.
I'm building a turbo engine so I want to set my compression ratio to 7:1. Looking in the manual, for zero deck height it specifies a total of 0.230" worth of shims (including the 0.060") head gasket.
So the manual told me I needed to use one 0.090" spacer and two 0.040" spacers per cylinder. Confusingly, the kit came with one 4-pack of 0.090" spacers, 2 packs of 0.060", and one pack of 0.040" spacers. So the only size spacer I could use two of per cylinder without buying more shims was 0.060."
I'm not sure why they didn't just include more lines in the above table, but the closest option with the provided parts would be to just use one 0.090" spacer, one 0.060" spacer, plus the 0.060" head gasket to get a total deck height of 0.210." With my lowest deck height cylinders of -0.005", that would give me a total deck height of 0.205". I found a calculator to do a quick check here: https://www.aircooled.net/vw-engine-calculator/
According to this, my tightest cylinders with 0.205" of total deck height will create 7.1:1 compression. Close enough!
Anyway moving on, I applied sealant to each cylinder and shim, and then installed everything onto the engine. I used a bunch of sockets as spacers so I could tighten the head studs a bit and make sure everything was fully seated and not going to move while the sealant set up.
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